Overview

We represent claimants who suffer damage to their vehicles in a car accident or in other situations.

If your vehicle sustains damages, your options can often seem confusing and bewildering. In many instances, the insurance company will deny your claim, or maybe give you the run around. Our firm will help you through that morass. We will deal directly with the carrier on your behalf and work to get you a worthwhile recovery.

Below we further discuss the various types of claims which could arise in the automobile damage context.

Collision Coverage

If your car sustains damage in an accident one option is to look to your own insurance carrier. If you make a claim for coverage with your own insurance carrier this is often called a “first party claim”. Your claim for compensation will be based on whether or not your automobile insurance policy carries collision coverage.

If a claim is made you will likely be responsible for paying the policy’s applicable deductible. The deductible in an auto policy will normally be around $500.

Insurance Company’s Election to Repair

Automobile insurance policies will often have a provision in them that allows the insurance carrier to make an election to repair the vehicle in lieu of issuing payment to its insured. What is the consequence for the insured if his or her carrier makes an election to repair the vehicle?

The courts in Florida have indicated that, when the insurance company makes an election to repair, a new contract is then created between the insurer and insured. Under this “new” contract to repair the insurance company is bound to restore the vehicle to the insured within a reasonable time.

If the insurance company makes its election to repair, the insured’s damages or losses relating to the vehicle will not necessarily be limited to the terms of the underlying policy. For instance, if the insurance carrier fails to restore the vehicle within a reasonable time, after electing to repair the vehicle, the insured could have incurred damages for his loss of use resulting from the carrier’s conduct. Even if the insured’s policy may not have provided specific coverage for loss of use, the carrier could still be liable to the insured for loss of use damages since those damages would have emanated from the new contract undertaken by the carrier to repair the vehicle.

Property Damage Liability

Under Florida law, vehicle drivers must carry property damage liability insurance. Florida Statute 324.022 requires drivers to carry $10,000 on account of property damage liability. This type of insurance will cover the driver of a vehicle when he or she causes damage to the other driver’s vehicle in an accident.

In a liability claim the claimant will submit the claim against the other driver’s insurance carrier. This situation is often referred to as a third-party claim. Usually, proof of the other driver’s fault will be shown in the traffic crash report. The claimant will have to work with the adjuster for the other driver’s insurance company to settle the claim. If the property damage liability carrier refuses to settle the claim, then you could file suit against the at-fault driver and seek to recover your damages in court.

Diminished Value Claims

One of the more contested issues that arise in vehicle damage claims is diminished value, or, diminution in value. In simple terms, diminished value is a way to measure the plaintiff’s loss or damages.

What is diminished value?

Assume you get in an accident and your vehicle is damaged. The other driver’s insurance company then pays you for the cost to repair your vehicle. However, once the car is repaired there could be a tangible loss in the market value of the vehicle. In other words, even though your vehicle has been repaired your vehicle is now worth less than it was in its original condition before the accident occurred.

Diminished value represents the amount of value that the vehicle had lost by reason of the fact that the vehicle had been involved in an accident. Diminished value has been defined as the difference between the pre-loss value of the vehicle and its value after it undergoes all of the necessary repairs.

Can you recover for diminished value?

Recovery will depend on the specific factual situation of your case. In first party cases, where the insured has a claim against its own insurance carrier, it may be challenging to recover diminished value. The reason is that the insured’s claim for recovery will be based upon the terms and conditions of the automobile insurance policy. If there is no coverage for diminished value in the policy, then the insured will not be able to recover for loss of diminished value from their property carrier.

In Siegle v. Progressive Consumers Insurance Co., 819 So..2d 732 (Fla. 2002), the Florida Supreme Court addressed the insured’s diminished value claim in the context of a first party situation. Siegle, the insured, was involved in an automobile accident. Her insurance carrier, Progressive, had the option under the policy to pay Siegle for the damages or make the repairs. Progressive elected to repair the insured’s vehicle. However, after the repairs were completed, Siegle sought to recover from Progressive the diminished value caused to her vehicle as a result of the collision.

Based on its reading of the insurance policy, the Court rejected Siegle’s argument that she was entitled to recover the diminished value to her vehicle. The Court reasoned that Progressive had a contractual obligation to repair and restore the vehicle to like kind and quality. Progressive performed this function. But, the Court read nothing in the language of the policy that also required Progressive to pay Siegle the diminished value of her vehicle.

Diminished value claims could have a better chance of success in third party claims. A third-party claim is when the claimant pursues a claim against the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Third party claims are usually tort-based claims. Here, it is common for the claimant to assert a negligence claim against the other driver.

The court in McHale v. Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co., 409 So.2d 238 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982) indicated that compensation for loss due to diminished value can be recoverable to the vehicle owner in certain situations. The court, in interpreting a rule of damages from the Restatement of Torts, stated that “damages are not limited to the cost of repairs actually made where plaintiff shows that the repairs did not put the property in as a good a condition as it was before the injury”. 409 So.2d 239. The court goes on to state, “the cost of repairs made plus the diminution in value will ordinarily be the proper measure of damages, with the burden on the plaintiff to prove…that he suffered the additional damage of diminution of value”.

In short, the McHale case suggests that a plaintiff in a negligence-type case would have the opportunity to recover damages for diminished value to the vehicle, in addition to the cost of his or her repairs. But the plaintiff would have to prove that the vehicle suffered a loss of diminished value as a result of the accident.

Loss of Use of Damaged Vehicle

In vehicle damage cases loss of use may also be recovered.

When the owner’s vehicle is subject to repairs, and, therefore, it is not available to the owner, damages may be incurred for that vehicle’s loss of use. It may be appropriate to consider the cost of renting a replacement vehicle during the period of repairs, whether or not a car has been actually rented. However, as one case put it, the span of time for loss of use damages would be limited to the time that is reasonably necessary to procure the parts and make the repairs.

Commercial Vehicle Insurance Requirements in Florida

Commercial motor vehicles which operate on the roads and highways of Florida must secure certain minimum insurance requirements. The definition of a “commercial motor vehicle” may be found under section 320.01(25), Florida Statutes.

Commercial motor vehicles must have the following minimum levels of combined bodily liability insurance and property damage liability insurance in order to comply with Florida law:

  • A commercial motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of at least 26,000 pounds, but less than 35,000 pounds, must carry $50,000 per occurrence.
  • A commercial motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of at least 35,000 pounds, but less than 44,000 pounds, must carry $100,000 per occurrence.
  • A commercial motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of 44,000 pounds or more must carry $300,000 per occurrence.

If your vehicle was damaged in Broward, Palm Beach, or St. Lucie counties, or in cities that include Boca Raton, Coral Springs, Plantation, Boynton Beach, Parkland, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, or Fort Pierce, please contact my office for legal assistance.