Diminished value claims in Utah

Claims against the at-fault driver

In Metcalf v. Mellen (1920), the Utah Supreme Court held that an owner suing over damage to a car can recover the reasonable cost of repairs and any depreciation in market value remaining after the repairs.

The case is old but has been treated as good law. The owner still has to prove the drop in value.

Claims under your own policy

The 50-state survey we rely on found no Utah decision on diminished value under an owner's own auto policy. The policy wording controls.

In a 2024 interview, Utah Insurance Commissioner Jon Pike said Utah law says little about diminished value and the department cannot make an insurer pay it. When an insurer declines, the remaining path is the courts.

Filing deadline

Utah Code 78B-2-307(3) gives four years for a claim involving property damage to a motor vehicle, or personal property damaged in a motor vehicle accident. The four-year rule was added in 2023.

Utah's general three-year period for injuring personal property (Utah Code 78B-2-305) points motor vehicle claims to that four-year rule. A Utah attorney can confirm how the deadline applies to your dates.

How diminished value claims tend to go in Utah

Because Utah has no statute or rule on diminished value, a third-party request usually comes down to proof of the drop in value after repair.

Many insurers answer a diminished value request with a formula rather than a market study. The best known is the 17c formula, which came out of the Georgia class actions over first-party claims that followed State Farm v. Mabry; its name comes from paragraph 17(c) of an injunction in one of them. It starts from a capped share of the car's value before the crash, then reduces it with damage and mileage modifiers. A law-firm survey notes it was built for that class action and has not been formally adopted for general use.

Adjusters commonly ask for proof that the repaired car is worth less, not only proof that it was damaged. Records that tend to matter: the final repair invoice and photos, the estimate showing any structural or frame work, the vehicle history report entry, and written market evidence such as dealer quotes or listings for the same car with and without an accident history.

Lost value is easiest to show once repairs are finished, because the value after repair is what gets compared with the value before the crash.

If you have a complaint about claim handling

The Utah Insurance Department takes consumer complaints about claim handling, though the commissioner has said it cannot require an insurer to pay diminished value. File with the Utah Insurance Department.

Next steps

• How Reclaim's diminished-value check works
• Estimate a figure with the diminished value calculator
• How to file a diminished value claim
• Diminished value claims in Colorado
• Diminished value claims in California
• Diminished value rules in every state