Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Maryland

Re: Parked car accident claim

When you settled the claim last year and accepted the money for the repairs, you signed a release giving up any further claims against the other driver or his insurance company. Thus, legally, you can no longer receive any compensation for a loss related to this accident.

When a vehicle is damaged in an accident, the law provides that the victim is entitled to the lesser of the repair cost or the diminution in value caused by the collision. Example: If you have a car worth $8000 before the accident which is badly damaged and would be worth only $500 in salvage value if unrepaired, the diminution is $7500. If it would cost less than $7500 to repair, the insurance company pays for the repair. If repairs exceed $7500, that's what they pay.

You said the car is "not the same" despite being repaired. If it's not performing as before, there was probably frame damage that should have been detected by the body shop and made part of the initial repair. Even after you got the car back, if you had made a timely complaint to the body shop, the insurance company probably would have covered it as an add on. Since so much time has now passed, you're probably out of luck, but you could call the claims adjuster and see if they're willing to take another look at it.