[lorinzo]

More often than not . . . you cannot collect from your own insurance company because diminished value claims are excluded from your insurance policy.

Assuming your jurisdiction allows for diminished value claims and you had nothing to do with causing the accident . . . if some other person causes damage to your car and the repairs do not restore the car to its pre-damaged value, then, the other driver (and his/her insurance company) is required to compensate you for all of your damage.

Your event ($20k in repairs) will likely show up on a CarFax (or similar) report. From that point forward, the car will have a black cloud hovering over it. When you go to sell, some potential buyers will never contact you because they do not want to assume the risk of future problems. As a result, you will have fewer buyers which generally results in a lower sale price. The buyers that do contact you will throw the CarFax report in your face and push for a lower sale price. When you go to trade, the dealership will tell you that because of CarFax report your car does not meet their "certified pre-owned" requirements and offer you less in trade value. This loss was caused by the other driver and you should be compensated for this.

You are going to have to fight for your diminished value claim. There is no established formula. The other side is going to argue that they paid to fix your car and that “diminished value” claims are speculative. While it is true that you will not know the exact extent of your diminished value until you actually sell or trade the car, there can be little dispute that your car has less value simply because it has been “tagged” as being involved in an accident.

You should hire an automotive expert to evaluate the car, analyze the extent of damages and prepare a report as to his/her opinion as to the diminished value.

Best of luck.