Originally Posted by MattP725

This is a subject that I doubt many people have success with...

First off how can you say what losses you are out? Insurance is about being made whole... if your car is repaired and driving fine that should be it. You can't really prove that someone wouldn't be willing to give you full value. Additionally what would they even base it on? Is it fair to the company to give you a 3k diminished value payment based upon a value of say $20k after accident/23k mint? What if you kept the car until the resale is 10k... you wouldn't have the same diminished value... maybe someone would take 1k off due to it being in an accident several years ago.

I just find it hard to believe that an insurance company would compensate someone for a loss they have not yet realized.

Also a dealership is going to look for any excuse to give you a lower price on the trade in so that argument is hard to prove... I am sure they would list a clean car and a car that had a small fender bender for pretty much the exact same price. They are just trying to increase their profit margin by giving you a reason for a lower offer.