Legal Question in Insurance Law in California

Consequential damages, car accident

Is the party who caused an accident resulting in a significant damage to the vehicle liable for all the cost of restoring the vehicle to it's pre-accident condition and for the loss of value of said vehicle?

Case specifics: 1 year old luxury sedan (Blue Book >50k) 10k miles parked in a drugstore parking lot. Reckless driver causes damage estimated at 10-15k. No injuries, car empty.

Question: Is there a possibility of collecting the difference in value of the vehicle before and after the accident from the insurance of the driver who caused the accident and a compensation for loss of warranty?

Argument: The loss of resale value is a direct consequence of the driver's carelessness and the owner of damaged vehicle suffers a loss since the vehicle is not in a resale condition despite the repairs performed.

Any comments or opinions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you.


Asked on 10/09/98, 2:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Ken Koury Kenneth P. Koury, Esq.

Re: Consequential damages, car accident

You didn't say whether your car was insured. Being that it was an expensive car i assume that it was insured and your insurance company paid for the repair. That being the case your right to recover was assigned to the insurance company so you can only recover your deductible. If there was a problem with the repair you can still collect from the repair shop.

Ken Koury

Kenneth P. Koury, Esq.

5807 Topanga Cyn Blvd., Suite G-201


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Answered on 12/28/98, 1:37 pm


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