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Document checklist

The documents a diminished value claim is built from, sorted by who holds each one — because most of the file sits with the body shop and has to be asked for.

There is no official diminished value claim form. What a claim is made of is evidence: what the car was worth before, what was actually repaired, what the record now shows, and what the insurer put in writing. This list sorts that into what you hold, what your repairer holds and what the insurer sent you.

Pick the claim type and your state, tick things off, then copy or print the list. Nothing is saved or sent — the ticks live in the page and clear when you reload.

Your claim

Who is the claim against?*

State

Optional. Adding it appends your deadline, court and regulator.

0 of 20 ticked. Ticks stay in this page and are gone when you reload — nothing is saved or sent.

Your car, before the accident

Held by You

Year, make, model, exact trim and VINTrim decides the value. A base and a top trim of the same model are thousands apart, and a comparison built on the wrong one is easy to dismiss.
Odometer reading on the day of the accidentMileage is one of the three inputs the insurer's formula uses, and their schedule zeroes out at 100,000 miles.
Evidence of what it was worth the day beforeA dated valuation print-out for your trim and mileage, the listing you bought it from, or a written dealer offer. This is the number everything else is measured against.
Photos of the damage before the repair startedif it existsWhat was hit, and how badly, is the other input the formula uses. Photos also show what an invoice line item cannot.
Service historyif it existsA complete history is part of why a clean example sells higher, which is the comparison your claim rests on.

The repair file

Held by Your body shop, on request

Final itemised repair invoiceThe total is not enough. The line items are what show whether structural work was done.
The original estimate and every supplementSupplements are where hidden damage appears. An estimate that grew twice tells a different story from one that did not.
Parts list showing what was replaced and what was repairedReplaced panels, aftermarket parts and repaired structural members affect resale differently, and none of it is visible in a total.
Frame or structural measurements, before and afterif it existsWhere they exist they are the strongest evidence that the damage was structural rather than cosmetic.
Paint, blend and refinish recordsif it existsBlending into adjacent panels is one of the things a buyer's inspector looks for.
Post-repair scan and calibration reportsif it existsOn a car with driver-assistance sensors, calibration records matter to the next buyer and to the repair quality argument.

What the insurer has sent you

Held by The at-fault driver's insurer

Claim number and the name of the adjuster handling itEvery letter you send needs them, and a claim with no reference number is a claim nobody can find.
Any written offer, in the wording you received itThe figure and the words around it are the evidence of how it was produced. A phone call is not a record.
Any worksheet, formula or percentage they quotedif it existsIf the number came from a 17c worksheet, that is a checkable arithmetic exercise rather than a measurement of your car.
A denial letter, if one was sentif it existsThe stated reason for a denial is what the response has to answer, and it is often a formula rather than a legal position.
Any release they asked you to sign — kept unsigned for nowA property-damage release can close the value question along with the repair. Read what it covers before signing anything.

Evidence of the loss itself

Held by Public sources

A vehicle history report on your VINThis is what makes the loss permanent: the next buyer sees the accident whether or not the repair was perfect.
Listings for the same year, trim and mileage with a clean recordOne half of the comparison. Screenshots with dates, not links that will expire.
Listings for the same car carrying an accident recordThe other half. The gap between the two sets is the loss, and it is the thing no formula looks at.
A written trade-in or purchase offer from a dealerif it existsA dealer's own number on your specific car, in writing, is hard for anyone to argue with.

This is the evidence you gather. The report that turns it into a figure, and the letter you send with it, are the part we sell — and the calculator will tell you whether that is worth doing before you spend anything.

Calculate My Value Loss How the whole process runs

Collect it in this order

Start with the repair file, because it is the part you do not control. Shops keep estimates, supplements, parts lists and measurements, and they release them on request — but not always quickly, and not always after a few months have passed.

The valuation evidence comes next and is the easiest to date-stamp: a print-out for your exact trim and mileage, taken today, is worth more than a remembered figure. Last comes the market evidence, which is the half of the argument the insurer's formula never looks at.

What to ask the shop for, in those words

Ask for the complete repair file, not the invoice: the original estimate, every supplement, the parts list showing what was replaced against what was repaired, any frame or structural measurements, and the post-repair scan or calibration reports if the car has driver-assistance sensors.

A total on an invoice tells you what the repair cost. The line items are what show whether the damage was structural, and that is what both the insurer's formula and our own method turn on.

The one document worth reading twice

A property-damage release is the form an insurer sends to close the file. Depending on its wording it can close the value question along with the repair, which is why the checklist keeps it in the list and unsigned.

We are not a law firm and this is not advice about signing anything. Read what the form covers, and if it is not clear, that is the point at which an attorney in your state is the right person to ask.

What this list stops short of

It stops at the evidence.

The free calculator tells you the likely size of the loss before you spend anything, which is the only honest way to decide whether the rest is worth it.

Questions

Is there a diminished value claim form?

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No. No insurer or regulator publishes a standard diminished value claim form, and any page offering one is offering its own template. A claim is made by sending a written request with the evidence behind it, which is what this checklist assembles.

What documents do I need for a diminished value claim?

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Proof of what the car was worth immediately before the accident, the complete repair file including the estimate and supplements, the accident record itself, anything the insurer has put in writing, and evidence of what comparable vehicles sell for with and without an accident on record. The checklist above lists each one with the reason it matters.

Will the body shop give me the repair file?

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Usually, on request — it is a record of work done on your own vehicle. Ask for the estimate, the supplements, the parts list and any measurements rather than just the invoice, and ask sooner rather than later.

Do I need photos from before the repair?

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They help and they are not essential. Damage severity is one of the three inputs the insurer's formula uses, and photos show what an invoice line cannot. If you do not have any, the repair file usually carries the shop's own photographs.

Does this checklist include the demand letter?

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No. This is the evidence you gather.

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This is an estimate, not an appraisal or a promise of payment. It's based on the information you entered and general market data. Insurers may dispute or deny claims. Read the full disclaimer.