Legal Nature Of Vehicle Depreciation And Compensation
VEHICLE DEPRECIATION
Vehicle depreciation is an item of damage that the less negligent party in a traffic accident may claim from the more negligent party and/or its insurer in accordance with the provisions of tort for the sudden decrease or loss of the value of the vehicle before the accident.(Balcı-Tokbaş-Demirbag, “Sorula Vehicle Depreciation”, p.12)
In other words, even if the vehicle damaged as a result of the accident is completely repaired, the value of the vehicle in the repaired condition will be lower than the value of another vehicle with the same characteristics and without any damage, as the vehicle will bear the traces of the repair. In practice, this current value difference is called ‘vehicle value loss’.
In the decisions of the Court of Cassation, it is emphasized that even if the vehicle involved in the accident has been completely repaired, since the vehicle involved in the accident will bear the traces of the destruction, its exchange (fair) value after repair will be less than the exchange value before the incident, and the value of the vehicle in the repaired condition should be compensated, no matter how well the vehicle is repaired, as a rule, it will be lower than the value of the vehicle of the same quality that has never been damaged.(Court of Cassation 4th HD. 2002/130 E. 2002/4512 K.)
LEGAL NATURE
Although ‘loss of value’ is not specifically regulated in our laws, Article 91 of the Highway Traffic Law No. 2918 states; “Compensations within the scope of compulsory financial liability insurance are subject to the procedures and principles stipulated in this law and the general conditions prepared within the framework of this law. The provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations dated 11.01.2011 and numbered 6098 on torts shall apply to the matters that are not regulated in this law and general conditions regarding the said compensations and moral damages.”
Therefore, the loss of vehicle value will be claimed in accordance with the provisions on compensation for damages arising from tortious acts titled ‘Debt Relationships Arising from Tortious Acts’ regulated in Article 49 of the Turkish Code of Obligations. According to this article; “Whoever harms another with a defective and unlawful act is obliged to compensate for this damage.” If we apply the aforementioned article to the loss of vehicle value; an accident must have occurred, there must be a loss of value in the vehicle as a result of the accident, and there must be a causal link between the loss of value and the accident.
When calculating the loss of value, if there is no damage to the vehicle to be made the subject of the lawsuit before the date of the accident; the market value of the vehicle without an accident should be determined and accordingly, the difference between the damaged state should be accepted as loss of value.(Court of Cassation 17th HD. 2014/15955 E. 2014/13034 K.) In addition, in the calculation of loss of value, the model, brand, features, damage, repair operations, usage style, mileage and age of the vehicle on the date of the incident are taken into consideration by the court together with the claims and defenses of the parties.(Court of Cassation 17th HD. 2015/11245 E. 2016/1045 K.)
On the other hand, since the loss of value of the vehicle is within the scope of actual damage, it will be possible to base the compensation on the fault rate and the payer may claim fault as a reason for release from liability. For this reason, the one who is at fault or less at fault in the occurrence of the accident will be released from liability and/or may claim a discount in proportion to his/her fault, provided that he/she proves his/her claim. Otherwise, it will not be possible to be released from liability.
PERT CASE
At this stage, it may be confusing whether or not vehicle value loss can be claimed in case of ‘total loss’. The term ‘total loss’ is used for vehicles that have suffered heavy or total damage. A vehicle that is damaged as a result of an accident and whose repair cost exceeds the value of the vehicle on the date of risk or does not accept repair will be considered as a total loss. In the event that the vehicle is totaled, the claim for loss of value will not be accepted; instead, the vehicle’s totaled (scrap) value will have to be paid. Since it will not be possible for the vehicle owner to put the vehicle for sale or sell it for a price below the fair value, it will not be possible to request compensation as ‘loss of vehicle value’. In this case, the Casco insurer company will pay the current market value of the totaled vehicle to the aggrieved vehicle owner as compensation.(Court of Cassation 17th HD. 2016/2020 E. 2016/5739 K.)
You can access our other article examples and petition examples by clicking here.