Your car is worth less after an accident, but you can get money for lost value | WSOC-TV

追加: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]If you get into a wreck, your car may not be worth as much going forward even after it's repaired. But you may be entitled to money for the difference.

[00:00:09]Action 9 attorney Steve Jenky doesn't want you to leave any cash on the table.

[00:00:15]It's called diminished value. It's the difference in your car's value before the wreck versus after the wreck, and you may have to ask for it. I always wanted one. Roy Estes always wanted a BMW like this.

[00:00:29]>> But I'm afraid something might happen to it, so I don't drive it very much. And something did happen. He says a driver hit him in a parking lot. And I never let off the horn, and she backed into me anyway. He says she admitted fault and that he filed a claim with her insurance, Farmers. He asked for diminished value, about five grand he says, based on research he did online.

[00:00:51]He says Farmers countered with 250. I said, "I'm not going to take that." So he found more data and sent it. He went up $50?

[00:01:00]And what did you say to that?

[00:01:02]I said, "It's not not reasonable." Estes told me he offered to take $2,300.

[00:01:08]He said he'd back it give you $500.

[00:01:11]Again, Estes said no. I feel cheated.

[00:01:14]It's a nice car. Billy Wilkoyak is an insurance adjuster. Drivers hire him to fight for diminished value. If you were to look at two vehicles on a car lot, and one's been wrecked and one's not been wrecked, which one are you going to buy? How do you figure out the right value?

[00:01:28]>> Cuz I take the year, the make, the model, the mileage, and the severity of the accident, and I look at the marketplace and what it's doing. And when it comes to diminished value, you may have to ask.

[00:01:37]>> They're not going to tell you. They're not going to volunteer the information.

[00:01:40]>> point was to drive it as little as possible, so you you baby it. Yeah, it's it's it's my baby. Yeah, I don't Roy Estes stayed persistent and told me after several weeks of back and forth, Farmers agreed to pay him $2,380.

[00:01:56]Bottom line, if the wreck was your fault, you probably won't get diminished value, but if it wasn't, you should be entitled to it. In both Carolinas, you have 3 years to recover diminished value. And a side note here, when it comes to repairs, I always like to tell you, remember, you pick the body shop.

[00:02:13]Don't let anyone else tell you where to go. Remember, it's your car, your choice. In North Charlotte, Jason Stoogenke, Channel 9 Eyewitness News.

[00:02:24]Farmers emailed Jason, quote, "Every claim is evaluated and reviewed on an individual basis. While we cannot comment on specific claims, we work with claimants throughout the claims process, taking to an account the circumstances of the loss and any new additional information they may provide."