bkundla

Thank you, everyone, for giving me guidance in this matter. This morning I talked to a service manager at the Subaru dealership, whose body shop and service center did the repairs on the car. He's going to check the car out this weekend and give me a written report on the value now. I think between my original sales receipt, the Subaru's documentation, and the fact that the woman's insurance company outright lied to me about diminished value laws in PA, I think I may have a chance of winning this. I'll post when I get some results.

Thank you for the replies. Fairtax4me.. The car is a Forester 2.5X, Premium, automatic, with all weather package and back up sensors. It has about 98,000 miles on it. The impact was on the passenger side, just about where the front door connects to the body of the car. Pretty much the whole passenger side of the car was replaced. I don't understand much about the structure of cars, but the when I asked about frame damage, the insurance adjuster from my company said the car doesn't have a frame; he said it has posts on each side. He said the passenger side one was damaged and they'd pull the car apart, put a new one in, and push the car back together. The front bumper cover and fog light were replaced. The hood was repaired. The right front fender, liner, and splash guard were replaced. Resistor was replaced. Right front wheel was replaced. Right control arm, strut, stabilizer link, knuckle, mount plate, and hub assembly were replaced. Outer and inner tie rods replaced. the roof was repaired; electrical damage to the sun roof was repaired. Right rocker panel repaired. Right hinge pillar and rocker molding replaced. Both passenger doors replaced. Rear tail light and bumper repaired, rear splash guard replaced, cracked exhaust was replaced. The car doesn't have a rebuilt/salvage title. With the amount of damage, I expected the car to be considered totaled. KBB value was 13,500 and the damage was 9000. One rep from my insurance company said they would total a car at 65%. These damages were at 67%. But then the case manager told me sometimes they go up to 75%. The problem with using the online grading sites is that the repaired car falls under the excellent category; to move into any of the lesser categories they all list some type of visible, structural, or mechanical damage. My car has none of those now, it's just the car's history that will affect the value. Quidam: I thought the car would be totaled. Both my insurance company and that of the woman who hit me said not. Rooster2: Although there are no laws requiring her company to pay diminished value, there have been cases where it was awarded in Pennsylvania. I think I should have a good chance of succeeding, considering I had just bought the car the day before the accident. The value didn't diminish from the usual wear from driving; it was diminished purely by the history of the accident. Plus, her company rep outright lied to me. He told me that he talked to his manager and the manager said that, unfortunately, in Pennsylvania the law states that you can't collect diminished value until you sell or trade the car. I had a feeling he was just trying to shut me down. I got off the phone with him and immediately called the state insurance department, where I learned there are no laws governing this. If her company won't pay the diminished value, it will go to small claims court. I would hope they would settle with me, instead of having it brought to light in court that they lied to me. Again, thank you all for your replies.

Hi, I had posted a month or so ago about problems with my wrecked car, which had been in the body shop for almost two months, and had been returned to me, then sent back to them, four times. Eventually the problems were resolved (at least I THINK they've all been resolved!). I live in PA, a state that has no laws on diminished value claims. Because the car was hit just 24 hours after I purchased it, I'm pretty upset at the loss in value. Even though I know it may be quite a battle, I've decided to file a diminished value claim. I've talked to the people at the company where I purchased the car. Although they say if they were to sell the car now, they would reduce the price by at least $2000, they don't want to provide me with any written proof that my car is no longer worth what I paid for it. To try to determine the value of the car now, I've tried all the usual online sites that give car value, but none of them give me the option of saying the car has been wrecked. (Damage was extensive, over $9000 in repairs.) The only option I know I have is to hire an appraisal company to determine the value of the car, after the wreck. However, this is rather expensive. Could anyone tell me if they know of any site, where I can find the value of a wrecked car? My insurance company has said I'm on my own in this and has been no help at all. Thank you, in advance, for any answers provided.

Thank you for your reply. My problem is that I had the car towed to a body shop owned by a man who has several different dealerships... Subaru, Buick, Honda, etc. I thought certified Subaru mechanics would be repairing the mechanical damage. Nope, the body shop guys have been doing it. I've been telling them since October that they shouldn't have replaced only the tire that was blown out. It's the same tire, but one step newer. I'm suspecting that's why I now have road noise that I didn't have before, and that the same tire is causing the pulling that still exists, after three alignments. At least they SAID they've aligned it three times. Once everything else is taken care of, I'll end up replacing all the tires. It's funny you mention the exhaust. The first time they returned the car to me I told them there was a noise from the exhaust. According to them I didn't know what I was talking about. This latest time I returned the car, they suddenly discovered they needed to replace the exhaust. As for taking either a mechanic or the insurance adjuster for a test drive, I can demonstrate the screeching, but the bumps happen randomly. I couldn't guarantee they would feel it. This time the car is going directly to the Subaru service center to be checked out. I'll ask them to check all the different things you've mentioned. Hopefully they'll find the problem that the body shop guys think is in my head. Again, thank you.

Hi, I'm new to the forum and hope someone can help me. On October 10th of this year I purchased a pre-owned 2010 Forester X 2.5, Premium package. 24 hours later I was hit on the passenger side of the car, causing extensive damage to both the side of the car and parts underneath. Some of the damage was to the front suspension and steering gear and linkage. The repair shop is still trying to get my car running correctly. I've taken it back four times. This time, when I got it back, there are a couple problems and I think they believe it's my imagination. When turning the wheel sharply, in either direction, (as in backing from a parking space) there is a lot of screeching. The power steering fluid is fine. When making fairly sharp turns (as in turning from our drive to the main road) we sometimes feel a bumping under the car. Just one bump, not a series of bumps. It's definitely not under the tires; it's somewhere under the body of the car. Three times in the past couple days I've also felt this same bump while driving straight, on the highway. Could anyone provide me with some idea of what is going on. I have no faith at all in the repair shop, even though they're part of a Subaru dealership. Thank you for any help.