Deborah's complaint:
August 21, 2013

Insurance Company: Hartford
Coverage Type: Auto/Boat/Motorcycle

• Claim Handling - Unsatisfactory Settlement/Offer
• Claim Handling - Denial of Claim

My son's vehicle was hit by an insured of Hartford Insurance. Hartford paid to have the vehicle repaired. Until this time, my son's vehicle had not been involved in any accidents. The auto sales industry and individuals alike use and rely on CarFax. Now, due to the accident the car presents with a "bad CarFax report." Given this there has been a diminution of value of $3750.00-$4443.00. This was determined by taking the vehicle into a Subaru dealership and asking what they would pay or give as a trade in value for the vehicle with or without "bad CarFax report." I provided this information to a Hartford claims supervisor. He responded by stating that "Any claim for diminished value must be proved. There can be no determination of a loss in value until there is an actual sale of the vehicle that was damaged. The value of the the car prior to the loss can be shown, but without selling the vehicle there is no way to determine you actually suffered a loss in its value. The document you provided to us from Subaru is a subjective opinion and does not show that you actually lost any value in your vehicle." When ever it is that the car is sold or traded in, a CarFax will indicate the accident. Many private buyers would not consider the purchase because of this, so our opportunities to sell are limited. A dealership would offer much less because of CarFax- but now I must SELL the car, incur the loss to be reimbursed for the damage caused by their insured? When the Hartford representative says, my documentation of diminished value is a "subjective opinion" one has to wonder who he thinks it is that give the trade in values, purchase price of the vehicles when you go into a dealership..it is a trained person who makes the value assessment based on the vehicle's condition. Does this mean that a person's property can be damaged, overall value of property can be negatively impacted without any reimbursement or mitigation? The Hartford representative must know that if the car is sold, I must provide documentation of before accident value vs. after accident value..I will no doubt be told that these values are "subjective" as well. The injured party just has to eat the loss unless you are in the position to resell the vehicle? Has anyone else dealt with a situation like this? Is this posture industry wide or insurance company specific?

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