The System Of Diminished Value In Vehicle In U.S Tort Law And Its Implications

According to American law,diminished value in vehicle refers to the loss caused by the difficulty in completely repairing the vehicles after accident or negative evaluation of vehicles.There are two basic types of diminished value: repair-related diminished value and inherent diminished value.The diminished value in vehicle has similar legal nature with real estate value loss,which is represented by housing diminution loss,but they have different law mechanisms.In different historical periods,based on the differences between legal system,social change and insurance development,the diminished value in vehicle has gone through the development process from “unrecoverable damage”,“recover compensation” to diversified compensation mechanism,which is reflected by the basis of imputation such as causality,fault and severity of damage.There are two types insurance claim of diminished value in vehicle: liability insurance and property insurance.The former one applies to law of tort,its compensation payment relies on tort remedy.The latter one applies to law of contract,its compensation payment relies on insurance contract explanation.There are two types computing method of diminished value in vehicle:objective computing method and subjective computing method,and its compensation scope is restricted by legislative policy.The civil law should recognize the relief possibility of diminished value in vehicle and its rely on liability requirement and legal effect.