Diminished value on bikes?
Assuming the bike was restored to pre loss condition, to be made whole you have to figure in the reduced value of the bike in a future sale.
The easiest way to describe this to someone is if you have 2 identical vehicles for sale on a lot, and one has been in an accident, and one has not, the damaged one will not bring the same money at sale, and that is a damage you need to be compensated for.
Ask your local bike shop if they have an appraiser they work with. I an a licensed Appraiser in MA, VT, RI and Florida ( NH has no license requirement) and I have been hired as an independent appraiser for valuation disagreements.
Assuming the bike was restored to pre loss condition, to be made whole you have to figure in the reduced value of the bike in a future sale.
The easiest way to describe this to someone is if you have 2 identical vehicles for sale on a lot, and one has been in an accident, and one has not, the damaged one will not bring the same money at sale, and that is a damage you need to be compensated for.
Ask your local bike shop if they have an appraiser they work with. I an a licensed Appraiser in MA, VT, RI and Florida ( NH has no license requirement) and I have been hired as an independent appraiser for valuation disagreements.
My understanding is diminished value is different from depreciation.
When someone hits your vehicle and a claim goes thru an insurance company, said vehicle -even after being repaired 100% as new- will have a report on its vin# as being in an accident.
Try to trade in the same vehicle, same mileage same condition, one with a clean car fax report, the other with an accident report. The dealership will pay much less for the one with an accident report.
That is what diminished value is about, as long as you are not at fault and your State Law permits it, you should pursue compensation for diminished value.
Salvage title is only issued if a total loss is given on a vehicle. After a vehicle has had a total loss, even if repaired and back on the street, no insurance company will ever pay for total loss again. Dimished value has no play in this case.
The reason for my question is because there is no car fax for bikes that I know about, so I wanted to know if the insurance adjuster would play that card.
I spoke with the adjuster, he gave me quite a run around about it, they expect ppl to not know what DV is. At the end of the conversation he said he thought it was my right to pursue it.
And although there is no "car fax" for bikes, and BTW car fax is the biggest joke on the planet, it is used by the dealers to lowball your trade more than anything, and Car Fax had do agree to, as part of a lawsuit they lost, that their data does not cover everything, and I know lots of times cars made it thru a major repair clean as a whistle.... including a ZR-1 Vette that was uninsured that was sectioned and resold... the whole back clip was replaced... but I digress, every insurance company reports to a industry database. Ask your insurance agent to run the VIN on your next purchase before you make it and see how many claims have been paid on that VIN.
What is the amount of diminished value? As much as you can get out of the Insurance company.
Starting with a notarized letter from a dealer stating an undamaged bike would be worth X, but a repaired bike is worth X minus Y due to the known history of the bike, the opinion of a licensed damage appraiser with their opinion, etc. There are Appraisers in NJ that do nothing but give expert testimony in these cases, especially on high end cars where tens of thousands of dollars are involved.
I just did a total loss on a 71 Benz with a stated value of 475K, Since the car had 14K miles on it, and won many awards, there was no way it could ever be repaired to pre loss condition. I set the diminished value at 250K, and wrote 238K in damages. We got 220 grand for the damaged car from a German buyer who shipped it to Germany.
And although there is no "car fax" for bikes, and BTW car fax is the biggest joke on the planet, it is used by the dealers to lowball your trade more than anything, and Car Fax had do agree to, as part of a lawsuit they lost, that their data does not cover everything, and I know lots of times cars made it thru a major repair clean as a whistle.... including a ZR-1 Vette that was uninsured that was sectioned and resold... the whole back clip was replaced... but I digress, every insurance company reports to a industry database. Ask your insurance agent to run the VIN on your next purchase before you make it and see how many claims have been paid on that VIN.
What is the amount of diminished value? As much as you can get out of the Insurance company.
Starting with a notarized letter from a dealer stating an undamaged bike would be worth X, but a repaired bike is worth X minus Y due to the known history of the bike, the opinion of a licensed damage appraiser with their opinion, etc. There are Appraisers in NJ that do nothing but give expert testimony in these cases, especially on high end cars where tens of thousands of dollars are involved.
I just did a total loss on a 71 Benz with a stated value of 475K, Since the car had 14K miles on it, and won many awards, there was no way it could ever be repaired to pre loss condition. I set the diminished value at 250K, and wrote 238K in damages. We got 220 grand for the damaged car from a German buyer who shipped it to Germany.
The Benz is a good candidate for dv, but the everyday driver is exposed to risk the owner is aware of everytime it hits the road. The amount the dealer quotes as dv is very subjective. My point is, how can any body put a dollar amount on dv before they realize what the value has been reduced to?
Well the NJ State legislature seems to think there is a way to do it.... it is law there








