For those motorists planning to keep their car for a lengthy period, having a
diminished or wrecked car value should not be too great a concern.
However, given that car history checking is increasingly becoming standard
procedure in the used car buying market, anyone who plans to sell their car and
upgrade at any time in the short to medium term may find themselves hit by
diminished car value.
This is because potential car buyers may not be prepared to pay as much for a
car that has sustained impact damage, no matter whether it has been
satisfactorily repaired or not. Therefore, a vehicle’s accident history may be
used as a bargaining tool to bring the asking price down.
It can be argued that repair damage can impact on the reliability and safety of
any vehicle, in particular, repairs to the chasis, accidents which have
resulted in the deployment of airbags and flood damage - see
buying a flood damaged car.
While
fully
comprehensive insurance policies will ensure that damage to a vehicle
is rectified, there is generally no compensation for the resultant potential
loss in value (diminished car value).
If, in future, compensation for loss in value as a result of accidental damage
were to become included as standard in auto insurance policies, premiums would
no doubt skyrocket.
