Two years ago, I bought a brand new Honda Fit. They are fantastic cars, and I bought it new with the plan that my unborn children will learn how to drive in the thing. It’s a great little car, very economical, and while it does not work well with my current life (it’s the perfect car for a small family but Hubs is in a wheelchair 50% of the time… and the car is too small to handle wheelchairs) frankly I love my little car.
Two weeks ago, during a nasty hailstorm that took out lots of windows in my neighborhood, I was rear ended.
Kaleigh's broken butt
After wondering if they were going to total my car (and glad that I had gotten gap insurance AND had paid down my principle on the loan when times were good so I’m not underwater), I got a call today saying that my car is going to be repaired and handed back to me.
Well, what does this mean as far as my financial plans? Well, since my Kaleigh’s resale value has dropped since she went from being flawless to being a car that had been in an accident, I’m going to learn more about filing a diminished value claim. Since I’m in Texas there’s a chance that it won’t go through, but since hubs and I were talking about trading in my car to get a wheelchair van, and that is now No Longer An Option, I’m going to pursue it. I’m kind of irritated that we will no longer be able to trade my car in for what I’ve put into her.
If I do get the diminished value claim through, however, I am wondering if I should do this myself or if I should go with a company that handles this sort of thing. I found http://www.appraisalgroupofamerica.com/Diminished_Value_claim_in_Texas.htm, who would be more than happy to take my money to do battle with Kemper Insurance Company with me, and http://www.diminishedvalueoftexas.com/, who will also do battle on my behalf for a reasonable fee. I’m tempted to read up on it an try it myself, first, but I have no issues hiring these guys, or lawyering up if I need to.
My basic understanding is this: Since the other person was at fault, and my car is worth less on the resale market, I can have his insurance company pay me the gap between what my car WAS worth (I saw similar cars in similar condition for 14k on Craigslist, and between Kelley’s Blue Book, NADA and Edmond’s my car was worth between 12 and 14k), and what it is worth now post-wreck, they must compensate me for the loss in equity and value.
If they do give me any money I’ll apply it to the car loan so that I will owe only what the car is currently worth, and that way all my months of pre-payment to stay away from being upside down on my loan (owing more than the car is worth) won’t be for nothing.
Not being upside down on my loans is also important to me. Having my equity portion in my car yanked out from under me and forcing me upside down on my loan makes me a very sad panda, indeed.
I’ll update as I learn more. Hopefully this won’t derail me too badly for my plans for financial freedom.
