Depreciation following collision

breadmonkey

Hi all,

I was rear ended at the lights a while ago. The damage was extensive but cosmetic (nothing mechanical or electrical) and cost 55% of the car's value to repair. That's based on the insurance company's valuation at the time.

I understand that this affects the resale value of the car but is this purely down to people's perceptions or is there something else at play? I mean, you can't tell from looking at it that it was ever involved in a collision and the car's performance is entirely unaffected.

Any suggestions on how I could go about quantifying the depreciation?

MuppetCheck

Often they allow 10% of the repair costs as depreciation.

Del2005

breadmonkey wrote: »

Hi all,

I was rear ended at the lights a while ago. The damage was extensive but cosmetic (nothing mechanical or electrical) and cost 55% of the car's value to repair. That's based on the insurance company's valuation at the time.

I understand that this affects the resale value of the car but is this purely down to people's perceptions or is there something else at play? I mean, you can't tell from looking at it that it was ever involved in a collision and the car's performance is entirely unaffected.

Any suggestions on how I could go about quantifying the depreciation?

A person with experience of repairing cars will spot it, as it's nearly impossible to match paint even respraying the full panel won't completely match the next one.

ironclaw

A car is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. Simple as. I'm looking for a particular model at the moment for a project, and they are guiding in and around €6 to €7k. Saw one recently and it was filthy, I mean needed a chemical valet. Body work was not in pristine condition by a country mile and had lots of spot rust. Service history stopped over 100k before, so it needed work. Given it was for a project, I didn't care too much but the offer was going to reflect it. Seller said he think about it, and the car subsequently sold to another party. The kicker? It sold for €700 more than a car that was utterly pristine with bucket loads of service history.

The general car buying public don't really seem to care much and on the private market, its not going to effect you in my opinion. People want a car, and the faster you can put it in their hands the better. Its why we have a thousand threads a year of horror stories. It comes down to whether you want to declare the damage or not. I would, as I'm the honest type and an interested seller will disregard. I've seen people buy cars with far more serious damage than you describe, even knowing it in advance of the purchase. Put it up at the going market rate and describe the damage, not on the ad, in person, with the receipts to prove to be upfront about it.

ironclaw

A car is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. Simple as. I'm looking for a particular model at the moment for a project, and they are guiding in and around €6 to €7k. Saw one recently and it was filthy, I mean needed a chemical valet. Body work was not in pristine condition by a country mile and had lots of spot rust. Service history stopped over 100k before, so it needed work. Given it was for a project, I didn't care too much but the offer was going to reflect it. Seller said he think about it, and the car subsequently sold to another party. The kicker? It sold for €700 more than a car that was utterly pristine with bucket loads of service history.

The general car buying public don't really seem to care much and on the private market, its not going to effect you in my opinion. People want a car, and the faster you can put it in their hands the better. Its why we have a thousand threads a year of horror stories. It comes down to whether you want to declare the damage or not. I would, as I'm the honest type and an interested seller will disregard. I've seen people buy cars with far more serious damage than you describe, even knowing it in advance of the purchase. Put it up at the going market rate and describe the damage, not on the ad, in person, with the receipts to prove to be upfront about it.

To Elland Back

You can usually claim up to a max of 20% of the cost of repairs (not the vehicle value) for depreciation, depending on the age. Very hard to get any allowance on vehicles over 3 years old

breadmonkey

Thanks for the replies it's not as bad as I thought. The car itself is 2013 and I've had it less than six months. By the time I go to sell it I guess this shouldn't be much of an issue.

As regards disclosing the damage, I think where I live it's a legal requirement to do so where the damage exceeds 2k. Not sure how that is enforced but I think it's better to be up front about it. I have the detailed receipt from the repair shop anyway so nothing to hide.

ytareh

Got 2k for this on a nearly new car once .If you fight tooth and nail you might get 500-1000 but they will deny you're entitled to it at every step .A repair that a sales manager can't spot is a very rare thing . 5-10% of cases max ?