ARTICLES
Following are articles that I have authored, co-authored, or to which I have otherwise contributed. Be sure to follow the View the entire article links to check out the complete articles. Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions.
DIMINISHED VALUE, LOSS OF USE, AND TOTAL DESTRUCTION CLAIMS
Published in Vintage Car Research newsletter, January 2019; Ferrari Market Letter, March 2019; MTS Journal [The Journal of the International Machinery & Technical Specialties Committee of the American Society of Appraisers], 2nd Quarter 2019
Moderate damage to a vehicle, especially an exotic, almost always results in the following claims: Repairs, Diminished Value, and Loss of Use. The following explains diminished value and loss of use claims, as well as claims for a totally destroyed vehicle. A Ferrari will be used in this explanation.
THE STEALTH CLAIM
Published in Sports Car Market magazine, June 2019
You ask, “What’s loss of use?”
The attorney explains that loss of use claims are “stealth” claims because most car owners and attorneys don’t know they exist.
The law compensates an owner for the loss of use of a vehicle, even if the owner doesn’t rent another car. The amount of the claim is determined by multiplying the number of days that an owner loses use of a vehicle by the rental value of the vehicle.
RUSSIAN ROULETTE
Published in Vintage Car Research LLC Provenance and Forensics Newsletter, July 2023. (Abridged version)
You just scored a 1991 Ferrari F40 in California, and had the vehicle shipped to you in Florida. Life is good.
Because you’re a long time collector, this is old hat; you’ve successfully shipped a number of vehicles in the past. But this time, you noticed some shipping damage. As you would expect, the company that shipped your vehicle repaired it.
Not long afterward, you heard about some concepts called diminished value and loss of use. ALL RIGHT! You then quickly submitted a claim to the carrier for these additional losses.
Unfortunately, this is when things went quickly and unceremoniously south—remember signing that Bill of Lading?
Oops!
BIG DAMAGE, LIMITED RECOVERY
Published in Sports Car Market, December 2023.
It sure seemed like a great idea. “Pete” was flying all the way across the country for Monterey Car Week, and there was a Ferrari he wanted for sale in Monterey. He planned to check out the car, buy it if it was a good one, and ship it back home with an experienced collector-car transport company. He was already looking forward to taking it on a proper weekend drive when he got back home.
Everything went according to plan—until the car arrived. As soon as the Ferrari came off the transporter, Pete saw the front-end damage. The driver admitted that the damage was the transport company’s fault, apologized profusely, and assured Pete that their insurance carrier would cover the damage. The celebratory drive would have to wait.
Unfortunately, Pete’s situation was about to get even worse. Here’s everything you never wanted to know!