Dear Friends,

I will ask the question before I go into details. Is anyone familiar with dimunition of value?

My sister owns 2002 CLK 320 convertable which she purchased new for 67K (special order)!! Well, last month she stopped at a orange-near red traffic light, but the vehicle in front of her (Big Greyhound bus!) overshot the intersection and then decided to back up. As he was backing up, he did not realize that my sister was behind her in her CLK with nowhere to go. To make a long story short, the bus crushed the front end of her car while she had her horn blaring.

GLI is the insurance company Greyhound uses. They paid for the whole front end to be replaced (Hood, Grill, Bumper and 1 headlight). Even though they did a perfect job with paint and allignment of the new parts, the first dealership we took the car to for an appraisal, they detected that all the bolts on the hood and radiator panel had been "turned." One dealer offered her almost 10k below retail and the other offered her about 8k below wholesale saying that Mercedes couldn't certify the car and that they would have to auction it.

Now, I know that the car has depreciated since she drove it off the lot and racked up 18k miles, but surely she should not be responsible for the depreciation resulting from a negligent bus driver. The Police report clearly indicates that the accident was purely the bus driver's fault and that she couldn't have done anything under the circumstances to avoid it.

GLI is offering her only $1500.00 in dimunition of value. Does she have any recourse short of getting an attorney? Does anyone have connections with in GLI since I spoke with the agent and he was extremely rude to myself and her.

Thanks for reading and any advice!

Waj