Below is a testimonial from a satisfied customer.

            A few years ago, I was rear-ended in my sports car while I was stopped at a red light, minding my own business. It was disappointing, but it was technically all fixed by insurance. Later, I came to a point in my life where it was time to consider selling that car. Recognizing that buyers these days commonly buy car reports such as Car Fax etc., I decided to pull the report for the vehicle, so I would know what people would see. Glaring back at me, were reports of the rear damage that totaled around $25000! No one would want to buy my car at a decent selling price after seeing such a thing. I realized that in order to sell it, I would have to lower my expectations—severely.

            How is it fair that a vehicle will be worth less after a collision, when the owner isn’t even at fault? Someone else made a mistake; yet, I was going to lose money because my vehicle was worth less. Doesn’t sound pleasing, does it? I was lucky, because a year prior, an appraisal had been done on my vehicle. The appraiser, Ed Grieve, informed me that he also does something similar for cases of inherent diminished value. With the amount of money I was going to be losing on the sale of my sports car, it was sounding like it might be something worth considering. I would have never heard of such a thing if he hadn’t mentioned it. When I wanted to learn more about “inherent diminished value,” I couldn’t find anything informative online that would confirm that it is real, or recognized by insurance companies. My fiancée even thought that maybe the notion was a scam, due to the lack of information.

            Despite information being essentially non-existent, I decided to pursue the appraisal, because if I was going to lose money selling my car anyways, I figured I might as well take a shot in the dark. Ed was able to provide me a few examples of court cases, where other individuals had successfully sued for inherent diminished value. First, I filed a claim through provincial court. During the collision, there were actually two other vehicles involved. The car that rear-ended me was actually rear-ended by a van and the impact caused the car to move forward and hit my vehicle. I technically had to sue the person who hit me, even though it wasn’t his fault, so I involved both drivers in my claim. After that, I sent demand letters for payment to both of these individuals.

            For a while, it was a bit of a waiting game to see what would happen. Eventually, the insurance companies of these drivers sent me replies in the mail. The counter claims were…interesting. The replies on behalf of the person who actually hit me were straightforward—indicating that he was not at fault because he was hit by someone else. The representative of the person in the van who was actually at fault made farfetched claims. They said the collision was caused by me “failing to indicate an intention to stop,” and “operating a vehicle without due care and attention.” How could these claims be true if I was stopped at a red light? I was countered with a demand letter sent back, insisting that I drop the case, or I would be responsible for covering the legal costs of the other parties. My fiancée was really beginning to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into…

            Some time passed after receiving notice of a court pre-trial and I was patiently waiting for the day to approach. It was set for the beginning of December. About a week before the pre-trial, I received a phone call from the lawyer for the insurance company of the individual who had been driving the van. After all their strange claims, the lawyer explained that he wanted to settle the case outside of court. He offered me 8500 dollars to settle—this was worth half of what my claim could have potentially been. Feeling like this was an adequate amount, I decided to accept the offer, although, I was concerned about the conditions. In the original agreement, they wanted me to swear not to share information about the case or the settlement with anyone. After my experience with not being able to locate any information about inherent diminished value, I decided that I did not want to keep this private.

            Hoping to help others that might encounter a similar situation, I decided to settle for less money to have the conditions regarding privacy removed from the agreement. Shortly after, I received my cheque without any other hassle. This summer I will be able to sell my vehicle with minimal loss, because I was able to recover a significant portion of the difference in value thanks to Diminished Value of Alberta. Inherent diminished value is a real thing and I hope my story inspires you to pursue action for yourself.

- Tim Ellis