March 2, 2009...8:24 am

Quick and Easy Ways to Estimate Vehicle Value for Property Damage Settlement

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Any attorney who deals with car accidents will know just how important it is to resolve a client’s property damage claim as soon as possible. Of the many problems that face clients who have been in a car accident, the simple fact that they don’t have a vehicle for some time often creates as many headaches as anything else.

If you are working with a client and trying to assess what his/her vehicle was worth at the time of an accident, you should know about these three websites: (with one more cool thing to follow)

NADA Blue Book

Kelley Blue Book

Edmunds

The really cool thing, and the reason for my post, is this – what do you do if your client needs you to estimate property damage values for an older accident? Say, an accident that is a year old?

Edmunds lets you do “historical value pricing” to determine what your vehicle was worth in the past. You don’t get an answer right away, but they’ll send you an email with the info you need, and it’s free! I don’t usually shill for businesses, but I thought this was pretty cool.

Oh, and obviously, you’ll probably need a live witness to prove vehicle value at trial. If you’re looking for a quick and dirty way to estimate value, here’s your answer.

(Howard Zimmerle is an auto accident attorney in Rock Island and Moline Illinois).

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