Everything about a car accident is terrible. The most significant and noticeable effects are bodily injuries and bad health. After a car crash, medical attention is primary, and rightly so. However, a car accident often results in vehicular damage and may devalue the vehicle as a result. Even after repairing your car’s damaged parts, the accident has still substantially reduced your car’s value.
If you plan to sell your car someday, you need to know how much the accident devalued your vehicle. You can recover the cost of repairs and your car’s diminished value from the at-fault driver in Maryland. For this purpose, it is essential to retain a car accident attorney’s services.
What Is Diminished Value?
If you get involved in a car accident, your vehicle’s market value automatically drops. Other factors affect an automobile’s worth, but significant car crashes have the most drastic effects on its value.
The result is that many people will pay higher for a car with no accident history than they would pay for one that has been in a crash. Some people wouldn’t even buy a fairly-used vehicle with an accident history. The fear is usually of recurrent repairs as a result of the collision. So what causes a car to devalue?
Diminished value is the difference between your car’s financial value before and after the accident. Calculating this financial difference due to the devalue isn’t as easy as it appears, and many times, you need the aid of an expert. In Maryland, you can receive compensation for this reduction in value.
Four Factors that Determine How an Accident Devalues Your Car
Many factors determine how much value your car loses after a crash. We discuss four of them below.
1. Age of the Vehicle
How old your vehicle is can determine its value after an accident. Parts of an older car will be weaker; therefore, it will be more susceptible to damage in a crash. If the vehicle was an older model, an accident only drives its value lower.
Fewer people will buy the older models of any car. So, an accident only makes the automobile less attractive. However, a great car expert can fix up the spoilt parts and give you an edge in the market.
2. History of Accidents
If your car has a long history of accidents, it will be worth even less after another collision. Since every crash leaves your vehicle with lower value, many such accidents may make it worthless. What’s more? An insurance company will be reluctant to pay a diminished value claim because they can argue that the car is useless.
3. The Nature and Extent of Damages to the Vehicle
A significant accident will usually leave your car with extensive damage. And even if your repairer does good work, the vehicle will still lose considerable value. Conversely, a good mechanic can quickly fix any minor damage to your car following a small accident.
Some parts of your vehicle, such as a broken taillight, can be easily replaced without being visible. However, for some damage, one will have to look at the car’s accident history to be aware of them.
4. The Quality of Repairs
Who repairs your car and how they perform the repairs has a significant effect on your vehicle’s value after a crash. The mechanic’s expertise and the quality of materials they use determine your automobile’s worth.
An unscrupulous repairer may fix your vehicle with inferior quality parts. Furthermore, the mechanic may not be appropriately skilled to identify all the car’s harm in the accident. And even where they find the faults, they may not be able to fix them properly.
Therefore, it is necessary to send your vehicle to adequately skilled personnel for repairs after an accident. Your car is already losing value; don’t let a lousy mechanic compound your woes.
Other factors that affect the worth of your car after an accident include:
- The year of manufacture and model.
- The vehicle mileage. The latter is the number of miles it traveled or covered.
Let Pinder Plotkin Help You Get Compensation
If you get injured in a car accident or your car was damaged, you can receive compensation from the at-fault driver. After a crash, it is essential to move with speed and tact, and you cannot do it on your own.
You will need an experienced car accident attorney in Maryland to help you with your legal strategy. Our lawyers at Pinder Plotkin have won many car accident compensation claims for our clients. We are confident that we can win your case, too, if you let us represent you. Call us today to schedule a FREE consultation.
