How to determine vehicle value after accident.

There has been and will always be a total disconnect between a vehicles value after an accident. Whether that be from a total loss or just your everyday fender bender. Throughout north America there are hundreds of of thousands of accident a year and the auto industry would like to have you think that your vehicle is worth less.

I always say to my customers, adjusters and whom ever else is disputing a vehicle value to show me one single dealership, car lot, auction or private sale that takes into account depreciated value from an accident. The answer will always be there isn’t any. Why do think that is?

When trying to determine vehicle value after an accident you always go back to the condition before the accident occurred to obtain your value. Never allow an agency to put an arbitrary price on your vehicle because they have some special magic calculator at their disposal to calculate a vehicles value after an accident.

One thing that always prissiest in the appraisal business is that it’s all about price and if someone wants your type of vehicle. It always amazing me that if someone really wants it ,they will buy it, accident or no accident.

There is only one thing that matters. If your vehicle has been fixed to factory standards. Your insurance or local governments authority has approved most companies for repair service. Yes, there will always be scammers out there that do the repairs in their garage and hide everything with paint but that is always the gamble with buying anything used. One thing that is a must to look for in the used car market is if the vehicle is platted.

Institutions that give car reports are nice, but again, out side of major problems buying used is always a roll of the dice as we look at a vehicles reputation opposed to accident history. Repair s and recalls are more favourable factors to focus on when searching vehicle value. Yes, if there are two identical vehicles side by side and one has been in accident I would definitely take the one with no accident. But the rule of numbers tell us that if one sells so will the other. It’s just a matter of time. If we go back to our first point that dealerships know this, we can see why they don’t settle for less, so we shouldn’t either.

My advice is stay firm in your belief of your vehicle value. The current market place will dictate the vehicles value, not some sort of fake depreciation value the auto industry likes to come up with. If there was a true depreciation formula out there, companies like mine would know and use it to create a fair playing field … but… of course there isn’t.

Accidents happen .... We should still get fair value