Diminished Value Calculator offers a free estimate and a collection of guides on the drop in a car's worth after an accident. Ashford Partners LLC operates it.
- Cost to drivers
- Free
- The two numbers
- Market range and 17c figure
- Referral fee, if any, paid by
- The appraiser or lawyer, never you
Our Estimate Method
The calculator asks you three questions.
- Damage. What the body shop repaired. This can range from panels or bumpers only all the way up to a badly damaged frame. The frame is the metal skeleton of the car.
- Mileage. How many miles the car had on it when it was hit.
- Value before the crash. What the car was worth right before the accident. You can find this, for example, from Kelley Blue Book or NADA.
Those answers give you two numbers. The first is a market range. You take the car's value and multiply it by a share that depends on the damage. That share runs from 2% to 5% for panels only, up to 15% to 30% for a badly damaged frame. The shares come from published appraiser tiers and a CarGurus study of 2 million listings. That study found cars with an accident history sell for 3% to 12% less.
The second is the 17c figure. It comes from the formula many insurers use as a starting point. You take 10% of the car's value, then multiply it by a damage number and a mileage number. It gives $0 when only panels or bumpers were damaged. It also gives $0 at 100,000 miles or more. It grew out of the Georgia case State Farm v. Mabry (Ga. 2001).
The full method page lists every study and shows how each range was set. Both 17c multiplier tables are on the 17c formula page. Our table of claim rules for every state links each rule to its source, a court ruling or a statute.
The result is provided as general information. It does not serve as an appraisal, and none of the content is legal advice.
Our Income and Referrals
Our service costs you nothing. The appraiser or lawyer we connect you with might pay us a fee.
Calls to the number on the site and requests for a claim review may be passed by us to a single diminished value appraiser or a lawyer who handles car claims. That business may send us a payment for the referral. Drivers are not charged by us at all.
That fee does not affect the estimate. The calculator gives you the same numbers whether you call or send in a request.
Contact
Email hello@diminishedvaluecalculator.org or call (855) 589-7222.
Ashford Partners LLC
100 North Tryon Street, Suite 4700, Charlotte, NC 28202, United States