Auto Insurance Claims: diminished value, mazda speed3, small claims court

Question
In July of this year, my vehicle a 2008 Mazda Speed3  Grand Touring(w/8480miles) was involved in an accident. The other driver was found 100% liable at an arbitration hearing on nov 11. Their insurance company paid the $8,017 in property damage. Subsequently, I made a written demand for $5,000 in diminished value (without any appraisal or documented substantiation). This figure was simply based on an average of estimates I got from several auto claim specialist quotes. They responded with an offer of $800 to settle. I declined and advised them I would get prove for my claim for substantially more. Recently, I contacted a local appraiser here in the bay area California to hire them for an appraisal. Their rate is $375 for the report/inspection. They told me that 10 to 15 % is the most I should expect for a settlement offer. Is this true?  Several  other DV specialists were quoting 30% or more. Why the discrepancy? Is this appraiser trying to guarantee a settlement without a back and forth negotiation or small claims court avenue? Or is the 10/15%  a realistic amount to expect at most from insurance companies?  Also, the appraiser didn't mention that I could collect the appraisal fee as well. Is this only if I proceed to small claims court?  Thanks very much for your assistance.

Answer
As someone who has been involved actively in doing DV claims for the last 13 years, I can say that the 10-15% sounds low, on the basis of the age of your car and severity of damage (based on repair costs). However, you can go back and forth all day with the liability carrier of the at fault party, but unless you have more to base your demand on, don't expect much give from them. It is what it is. The state of your car post repair is the most important thing. For example, the paint film thickness of the repaired panels, missing FATS labels, and other signs of non-OEM assemblies on the car.

I always give my customers the strategy that the only definitive measure of the loss of value is to sell the car with full disclosure of the damage history, at which point one deducts the net proceeds of the sale from the pre-loss book value to arrive at a hard number. Only one insurance company has gone through that door and they're sorry they did.

As for the fee you paid for the appraisal, had their policyholder not caused the accident, you would not be in a position to have the appraisal done, so the cost goes to the causation for the loss. That is, all costs and losses you incurred as a result of the negligence of another party are due and payable in a court of law. And whatever is payable in court goes towards an out of court settlement, but is negotiable. Most of my customers settle for lump sum payments and forget about the reimbursement of the fees.