MA consumers whose cars were wrecked by an at-fault party must now burden the court system to obtain judgements to collect for their vehicle’s diminished value.

Are car owners in Massachusetts now being forced into litigation in order to obtain compensation for the diminished value of their vehicles after accident repairs? A third-party claimant must obtain a final judgment against the insured party to pay for their cars’ diminished value.

In a 6-0 ruling, The Massachusetts Supreme Court upheld a ruling that the Massachusetts standard auto policy does not require an insurance company to pay inherent diminished value to  claimants whose vehicles were damaged by their insureds. In order to qualify for this compensation – available to claimants in the vast majority of states – a car owner would have to go to court, present evidence and obtain a judgement against the responsible party. This is both cumbersome to car owners in Massachusetts and also presents an unprecedented burden on the court systems throughout the state. Many of these DV claims that show vehicles losing only a few thousand dollars in value won’t be contested, thereby depriving consumers in the state from receiving fair compensation. But there are numerous DV situations showing vehicles losing tens-of-thousands of dollars. Those car owners will surely consider litigation.

At trial, will the owner of the cars that caused the crashes have to defend themselves? It seems as if The Massachusetts Supreme Court has created a regrettable zoo-like atmosphere.

The “new” policy in place is the 2016 Standard Policy which relaced the 2008 Standard Policy. Under the terms of the Standard 2008 Policy, auto diminished value was recoverable. It was the State Insurance Commissioner who approved the exclusion of diminished value in the later version. A Massachusetts state statute allows the Commissioner to approve exclusions – which he did – excluding diminished value claims from insurance company responsibility.

In the 2016 Standard Policy, Part 4, Page 10: A sentence was added, specifying: “The amount we will pay does not include compensation for any decreased value or intangible loss claimed to result from the property damage unless otherwise required by law.”

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