Forced depreciation? was: how do I save a car from being totaled?

[Jim Zerrip <jzerrip@magicnet.net>]

This message has nothing to do with saving a car from being totaled, but it is along the lines of dealing with insurance companies after a wreck.  Here's my dilemma:

As you might remember my 1 month old '96 A4Q was rear-ended in mid-March.  The family and I got out OK but the car didn't fare too well.  However, both insurance companies could only find $10,000 worth of damage when they did their initial estimates.  So, they weren't even willing to talk about a total.

My question is this:  Has anyone had experience in recovering a claim for "forced depreciation?"  From what I've been told, this is the decreased value of the car due to the fact that it has had major damage.  One dealer I spoke with said that disclosing the fact that the car had frame damage could result in $6-8K less resale value if I decided to trade it in right away.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.  As of today I've been without my A4Q for as long as I had it before the accident...I miss my Audi!

Jim Zerrip

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