Diminshed Value Claims

JALLEN4 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:

lawjohnson wrote:

ItsyRV wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Diminished value is a joke. So if I had an accident that damaged a front axle on a vehicle or a fender. And it was replaced with new? How is the vehicle worth any less? The vehicle is repaired to how it was before the accident. So how is it now worth less? The only way it would be worth less is if the repair wasn’t done properly and corners were cut.

I don't think you understand the meaning of diminished value.

Try this, you go looking for a vehicle. You find two of the exact same year, make, model, color, miles, etc., etc. They both drive and were maintained in same shape. Now, you pull a vehicle history report and notice that one has an adverse notation of "Accident - Front End - Major" showing. Are you saying you would not value the one without the accident higher and the one with the accident lower?

Take a car/truck into a dealer to trade it in that has had damage that was reported and on a car facts and see what happens. You will not be offered as much as a car with a clean car fax.

That's what I have been saying. Car fax was originally conceived to give a potential buyer a heads up that the car was repaired and to have it inspected before purchase. It is not intended to devalue a vehicle. It is up to the customer to decide if a vehicle is worth any less after it is inspected.

Actually, CarFax was conceived purely to make money. They invented their own market and ultimately exploited the consumer. They have reported damage to vehicles and driven the value of the consumer's cars down drastically with the idea that if there was ever damage it must be worth thousands less. There were laws in place to protect the consumer from flood damaged vehicles, salvage titles, bent frames, etc long before they came along. The intelligent buyer who now uses Carfax is the same buyer who before researched their purchase and had them inspected to make sure the vehicle was worthy of purchase. The careless buyer doesn't look at the CarFax or doesn't do the still necessary inspection. CarFax is far from capturing all the information.

Right behind the CarFax ploy along comes the lawyers selling the diminished value concept as another money maker from the consumer. While insurance companies are the ones writing the checks it takes very naive people to not recognize that ultimately we are all paying for the nonsense with increased insurance premiums. Another case of people inventing their own industry and then selling people on the idea that their $40,000 vehicle loses 10% of its value if it suffers a $1,000 damage and is reported by CarFax. Again, it takes a very naive population to believe that concept is valid and we are the ones suffering the loss.

People are taught that CarFax is protecting the consumer from the big bad dealer. Really? The dealer simply follows the market direction and starts subtracting major money from your value when you show up with a car with reported damage. Since people can't tell the difference between minor and major, every incidence starts costing big money. The only people losing and winning nothing in this deal are you and me.... the average consumer!