vehicle depreciation

VEHICLE DEPRECIATION

Traffic accidents are accidents that can have negative consequences for the entire society. In our country, traffic accidents occur every hour, even every minute, and as a result of these accidents, people sometimes lose their lives and sometimes their health. It is a known fact that expecting these accidents to end completely is a pipe dream, but minimizing them requires effort first from the state and then from the drivers.

What is vehicle depreciation? Vehicle depreciation is not just the cost of repairs resulting from damage sustained in an accident, but also the decrease in the vehicle's market value as it would have been in an undamaged state.

When we look at the statistics in our country, one point that stands out is that vehicle damage accidents are consistently the most frequent. The issue of who will cover the damages resulting from accidents where vehicles are damaged, and the practice of vehicle depreciation compensation, which did not exist before, is a new process becoming widespread in our society.

In our country, people are still only constantly turning to insurance companies due to damage sustained by vehicles in accidents, and since insurance companies are unwilling to pay for the decrease in vehicle value, legal proceedings are now being initiated.

Not every vehicle involved in a traffic accident experiences a decrease in value. The first condition for a decrease in value to occur is that the vehicle involved in the accident must be either blameless or partially at fault. If the vehicle is blameless, it can receive full compensation for the decrease in value, while if it is partially at fault, the compensation is proportional to the driver's degree of fault. Furthermore, factors such as the vehicle's mileage and market value are also very important in determining the vehicle's depreciation.

So, who covers the depreciation in value of your vehicle? Your annual vehicle insurance premiums include coverage for depreciation in value. This coverage comes into effect if you have an accident and damage another vehicle, and it covers the resulting decrease in value. In short, vehicle depreciation is recovered from the insurance company, not from the at-fault vehicle owner or driver.

Let's talk a little about the legal process required to claim compensation for the depreciation of a vehicle. First of all, no more than two years must have passed since the accident the vehicle was involved in.

When an accident occurs, the necessary documents are a definitive expert report, a photocopy of the driver's license and vehicle registration, damage photos, an accident report, and a claim petition. These documents are then submitted to the insurance company of the at-fault vehicle. Applications are made to the insurance companies' email addresses or via registered mail with return receipt requested. If the insurance company does not respond within 15 days for insured claims (15 business days for comprehensive insurance claims) or if the claim is rejected, a lawsuit is filed with the Insurance Arbitration Commission. This lawsuit is reviewed by expert witnesses and a decision is made within approximately 6 months. However, it is also possible that the insurance company may cover the vehicle's depreciation in value without filing a lawsuit, and the matter is resolved within approximately 15 days. If the insurance company rejects the claim, the procedures mentioned above are followed, a lawsuit is filed against the insurance company, and the depreciation claims and lawsuits go to arbitration. The Insurance Arbitration Commission, headquartered in Istanbul and operating throughout Turkey, quickly resolves all unilateral disputes.