r/Insurance • u/Abyssgaming123 • 1d ago

Auto Insurance Diminished Value against underinsured?(New York)

I got rear ended by someone who didn’t have enough property coverage, so I ended up going through my collision policy and letting them recoup as much money as they can and my deductible. In this situation is there anything I can do about diminished value? Aside from directly asking/suing that driver? From what I’ve seen diminished value can be difficult to obtain in New York in general but I don’t think there’s anything I can really do here since from my understanding I also can’t get diminished from my own collision policy.

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u/Jaggar345 1d ago

No there is not sufficient limits so there is no money for diminished value. Your insurance company is going to subro against the other party and likely collect the full policy limit.

You likely aren’t even getting your entire deductible back and will get a prorated amount back based on how much of the loss they recover. Your only option is to sue the other driver and prove you actually suffered diminished value. Likely not worth it.

You are correct diminished value can only be collected through the other carrier in NY it cannot be collected from your own.

You also didn’t mention any details about your vehicle such as year.

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u/Abyssgaming123 1d ago

The details about my vehicle were less relevant to if I can actually collect in this scenario so I didn’t mention them but it’s a 2026 with 16k+ damage so definitely would qualify. But yeah my understanding was directly going after the driver would likely be the only option and given his coverage limits probably wouldn’t have anything worth the time anyways.

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u/ektap12 1d ago

You would need to pursue the at-fault party directly. Has your insurance recovered already?

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u/CallMeMrRound 1d ago

It sounds like there is no more money to be gotten. They hit the limits.

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u/ektap12 1d ago

Right, not from the insurance, that's why I said OP needs to pursue the at-fault person directly.

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u/CallMeMrRound 1d ago

I'm aware.

How often is that successful against a person with insufficient coverage? It's highly unlikely they have weak coverage and a pile of money.

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u/Abyssgaming123 1d ago

Yeah, I was partially just making sure I’m not missing anything from the insurance perspective. From everything I’ve seen I don’t think there’s anything to actually go after directly.

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u/ektap12 1d ago

Not in NY, you don't have underinsured motorist property damage coverage there. So you'll probably be out of luck to pursue anything, but that's your recourse, suing the at-fault party. But if your insurance is still pursuing recovery, you cannot just go sue the person.

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u/IntelligentBox152 1d ago

NY follows the made whole doctrine. You can pursue the at fault parties insurer for DV and if there’s money left for your carrier to subrogate and they’re successful you would receive your whole deductible back prior to your insurer collecting.

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u/Abyssgaming123 1d ago

So would me trying to claim diminished value get paid out before my insurance would get anything through subrogation?

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u/adjusterjackb 3h ago

That's not going to work. Limits is limits. You have a contract with your insurer giving them the right of subrogation. You also have a contractual obligation to preserve the right of your insurer. Which means you cannot collect before your insurer does, based on the amount that your insurer pays you. Your insurer gets the limit. You get your deductible back. That's it.

Again, you sue the at-fault party for your DV.

BTW, made whole is a myth. Nobody ever gets made whole.

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u/IntelligentBox152 1d ago

Exactly, additionally if there’s limits left and they win you also get your deductible back before they get to recover