When you have been in an automobile accident, your concerns are mostly about the personal injuries you’ve suffered—how do you make certain you get full and fair compensation for all potential losses, even the expenses you may incur in the distant future for physical therapy or rehab. You may give little or no consideration to the diminished value of your vehicle. After all, your insurance company paid to have it repaired and it runs just fine.
But what happens when you go to trade in that vehicle or to sell it? In today’s world, a savvy buyer will likely go online and look for documentation of any repairs made to your vehicle—Carfax, Consumer Reports, VinAudit, VinAlert, Autocheck are just a few sites that will provide, for a fee, a history of reported repairs to your car. Depending on the year and make of your vehicle, the fact that you were in an accident and had significant repairs can be significant. For example, one industry insider estimated that, even if your repair job was near perfect, the loss in value if you repaired or replaced a quarter panel in a 2015 Porsche Turbo S could be as much as $30,000.
In New Jersey, the way you determine how much you are entitled to for damage to your vehicle is a simple equation—the value of the vehicle immediately before the accident and its value after the crash. As a general rule, the courts have held that a fair measure of damages is the total cost of repair plus any depreciation in the value of the vehicle, as long as the total damages don’t exceed either the pre-crash value of the car or what would be considered the natural depreciation in the value of the car.
Contact the Highland Personal Injury Lawyers at the Law Offices of Harold J. Gerr
At the Law Offices of Harold J. Gerr, we have protected the rights of injured people in central New Jersey for more than four decades. We carefully choose the cases we handle, so that we can provide the highest levels of service and personal attention to each client. We are also happy to take over your case, if your first lawyer does not seem to have your best interests in mind.
To set us a free initial consultation, send us an e-mail or call our office at 732-537-8570.
