Yes and No, Some insurance companies will accept reports even if the appraiser has not made a physical inspection. However, if your appraiser does not inspect your vehicle he or she cannot determine your vehicle's specific value, condition, flaw and defect diminished value, repair method and repair related issues. Your opportunity to collect what your entitled to may be reduced by not having the vehicle inspected. Additionally if your diminished value claim happens to go court your appraiser would be easily rejected as an expert because an inspection was not made.
An insured is the policy holder and in most cases is the at fault driver. A claimant is usually not the at fault driver and seeks payment from the other parties (insured) insurance company.
The insurance company, technically does not owe you anything they owe their policy holder, the insured. This is shocking to most people but you do not have a physical contract with that insurance company to require them to pay you anything. (Unless both the insured and the claimant have the same insurance company and you filed a separate claim under your own policy to collect diminished value.) However, it has been our experience in most cases claimants can reach a good settlement without going to court..
I don't presume to speak for the Insurance Commissioner however, we have obtain the following letter (Click Here To View Attachment).
It's best not to cash the check at this point wait until you get a better settlement and mail that check back to the insurance company.
Less than 2% of our clients have to file a lawsuit to collect diminished value.
Yes he or she can, however, you will still need an expert / appraiser to inspect your vehicle and provide you with a report to document your diminished value.
A word of caution before hiring a Physical Injury Attorney. Some of these attorneys will only handle your physical injury claim mainly because that is where they will make the most money. In most cases it only takes a little more work on their part to handle your property damage claim. I suggest that you find out before you hire an attorney if he or she will handle your property damage claim.
Additionally, I would even require them to add it to your contract or provide you something in writing that states that they will handle your property damage claim.
Diminished value is determined by our professional opinion. We do not use formulas because one specific formula would not be fair or accurate in every claim. However, again we do take several things into consideration in determining diminished value, such as, the vehicle's age, miles, condition, value, type of vehicle (YUGO vs. BMW) and of course method of repair and flaw and defect based diminished value.
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