North Carolina is a Diminished Value state. In North Carolina “The plaintiff’s actual property damages are equal to the difference between the fair market value of the property immediately before it was damaged and its fair market value immediately after it was damaged.”

This Diminution of Value takes place through what is can be defined as the appraisal clause: 

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1. The difference in the claimant's and our estimate of the diminution in fair market value is greater than two thousand dollars ($2,000) or twenty-five percent (25%) of the fair market retail value of the vehicle prior to the accident as determined by the latest edition of the National Automobile Dealers Association Pricing Guide Book or other publications approved by the Commissioner of Insurance, whichever is less.

2. Translation: To submit a diminished value (DV) appraisal to an at-fault insurance company, the DV appraisal must be at least $2000 greater than what you have been offered or a difference of 25% reduction in value in order to formally invoke the appraisal clause. Once invoked, the insurance company must hire their own third party appraiser to complete their own independent assessment of the vehicle's diminished value. The insurance hired appraiser must reach out to your appraiser and the two third party appraisers negotiate and come to a mutual agreement for the vehicle's inherent diminished value.  The at-fault insurance company must then settle for the agreed-to diminished value figure. 

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