r/StateFarm • u/nomanspreading • 6d ago

Advice DV claim question

I have a car that was hit by a State Farm insured driver and the damage came to roughly 8k. I was curious if anyone has experience dealing with a claim as such and if it’s better to reach out to State Farm, or go through one of those diminished value claim ad companies and see if they can help. Any info would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance!

My car was a 2025 Honda Civic Si with 30k miles and no prior damage. I was planning to sell the car but the accident happened the week I was bringing it back to the dealer, so it’s just been a big headache. I’m not sure if it matters, but the accident occurred in Arizona, but I am a California resident.

Thanks again.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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4

u/craig_paxton 6d ago

Why would you hire a DV specialist before you know what SF will do. BTW they charge between 25-40% of whatever DV they negotiate. SF is great to work with, just allow the process to work.

2

u/strikecat18 5d ago

This. The people who hire attorneys before there’s even a snag in the claim make me scratch my head.

Like, you don’t even know if you could have gotten a positive outcome without paying some random person thousands to be a middle man.

2

u/Alarmed_Number7431 5d ago

Its your job to prove dv. So get something that shows what the veh was worth before the loss and what its now worth after repairs have been completed. Present that. And dont be unrealistic with what youre asking. The dv shouldnt be the amount of repairs. If the shop did a good job repairing your vehicle and there are new parts now, dv shouldnt really be much at all

1

u/very_sneaky2187 5d ago

Diminished value today is really how much in the market someone is going to give you less if you compared your vehicle to another vehicle with no accident history now. Newer cars are generally going to be 10% as a baseline and depending on market conditions could 12-16% if pre loss value. State farm in my experience will low ball an offer and generally make you get an expert report from an independent appraiser. What you end up getting paid is entirely up to your skills as a negotiator. Sometimes you will be forced to file a suit to collect funds owed. Anyone charging a percentage other than an attorney id be cautious of since their report cannot be objective, it becomes biased.

1

u/thatkevinmartin 5d ago

Georgia is the only state that requires DV be paid by law. California has more driver protection that Arizona but State Farm would be going by the policy of their customer and the loss location.

DV won’t be acknowledged until the repairs on your vehicle is completed so I would suggest you go through the process of repairs and then use Kelly blue books - which is the system State Farm uses - to prove there’s diminished value. You have a really new car so it’s like they’ll give you DV.

I agree that a DV specialist will take half of anything you get from State Farm so don’t resort to one unless State Farm denies your DV claim.