Diminished value of your vehicle is recoverable in third-party cases only. You can only recover from third-party at fault insurance companies and you cannot make a claim under your own uninsured motorist insurance. All drivers must carry minimum liability insurance, and the statute of limitations is 2 years from the time of the accident.2007-R-0011.

Plaintiff is entitled to recover the reasonable repair costs and any residual diminution in value.

Connecticut Case Law Proving Diminished Value:

Littlejohn v. Elionsky, 36 A.2d 52 (Conn. 1944); Stults v. Palmer, 141 Conn. 709 (1954); Damico v. Dalton, 1 Conn. App. 186 (1984); Alexander v. Bailey, 55 Conn. L. Rptr. 653 (2013); Chenevert v. Turek, 2013 WL 6671512 (Conn. 2013); Corridino v. Kovaks, et al., 2013 WL 8118969 (Conn. 2013); Sheldon v. Soucy, 2014 WL 1814279 (Conn. 2014); Bartnick v. Stehr, 2014 WL 5094332 (Conn. 2014); Muckle v. Pressley, 2017 WL 1429932 (Conn. 2017).

The true rule is that the measure of damages is the difference between the fair market value of the car before the collision and its fair market value afterwards … However, if the automobile damage may be repaired and the repairs will restore the car to substantially its former condition, the cost of repair will ordinarily furnish proper proof of the loss. Although the plaintiff’s vehicle could be driven after it was repaired, it still had diminished value because of the accident, and consequently, the vehicle was not restored to its former condition of ‘full’ fair market value.