VEHICLE DEPRECIATION
Vehicle depreciation is an item of damage that the party with less fault in a traffic accident may claim from the party with more fault 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 emphasised 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, it is accepted that the exchange (fair) value of the vehicle after repair will be less than the exchange value before the incident, and that 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 included as a special regulation 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 not regulated in this law and general conditions regarding such compensations and moral damages.’
Therefore, the loss in value of the vehicle will be claimed in accordance with the provisions of the compensation of the damage arising from the wrongful act titled ‘Debt Relations arising from Wrongful 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 mentioned article to the loss of vehicle value; an accident must have occurred, a loss of value must occur 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 accident should be determined and accordingly, the difference between the damaged state should be accepted as loss of value.(Court of Cassation 17.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 defences of the parties.(Court of Cassation 17.HD. 2015/11245 E. 2016/1045 K.)
On the other hand, since the loss of vehicle value is within the scope of actual damage, it will be possible to take the fault rate as the basis for compensation and the payer may claim the 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 avoid liability.
PERT CASE
It may be confusing at this stage whether the vehicle value loss can be claimed in case of ‘Pert Status’. The concept of pert is used for vehicles that have suffered heavy or complete 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 that does not accept repair will be considered pert. In the event that the vehicle is written off, the claim for loss of value will not be accepted, instead, the scrap value of the vehicle will have to be paid. Because 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 value of the vehicle that has been totalled to the aggrieved vehicle owner as compensation.(Court of Cassation 17.HD. 2016/2020 E. 2016/5739 K.)