In West Palm Beach, a car accident involves more than just bodily injury and medical bills; it frequently involves high-end luxury vehicles where a “clean” Carfax is worth tens of thousands of dollars. When a Tesla, Porsche, or Range Rover is involved in a collision, the vehicle’s market value plummets instantly—even if the repair shop does a flawless job. Florida law allows victims to file a “Diminished Value” claim, which is reimbursement for the steep drop in resale value caused by the accident history. When high-value property damage meets personal injury, calculating your total settlement requires precision.
Understanding Diminished Value in Florida
Diminished value is the gap between what your luxury vehicle was worth the second before the crash and what it is worth after it has been fully repaired. Buyers will rarely pay full market price for a Mercedes that has structural repair history.
Under Florida Statute § 626.9743, you have the legal right to pursue compensation for this depreciation. However, there is a major catch: you can only file a diminished value claim if you were not at fault for the accident. Furthermore, you cannot file this claim against your own insurance company, even if you carry comprehensive full coverage. It must be filed as a “third-party claim” directly against the at-fault driver’s property damage liability policy.
How to Prove the Drop in Value
Insurance companies actively try to deny diminished value claims or use arbitrary formulas (like the infamous “17C formula” from Georgia, which Florida courts have not formally adopted) to drastically artificially cap your payout at 10% of the vehicle’s value.
To win a diminished value claim in Palm Beach County, you must provide hard proof. This typically requires:
- Hiring an independent, licensed auto appraiser to generate a formal report comparing pre-accident and post-repair values.
- Gathering all OEM repair invoices, focusing heavily on frame damage or deployed airbags, which severely impact resale value.
- Requesting “Loss of Use” damages, which compensates you for the daily rental equivalent of your luxury vehicle (often $100+ a day) while your car sat in the repair shop.
Separate Checks, Separate Strategies
It is crucial to understand that your vehicle repair/diminished value claim is handled completely separately from your Bodily Injury (BI) claim. You will likely deal with two different adjusters. Do not let an adjuster trick you into signing a global “Release of All Claims” in exchange for fixing your car, as this will legally bar you from pursuing a high-value claim for your physical injuries and future medical care. Always compartmentalize your property damage from your injury valuation.