Tennessee drivers have 3 years to file a diminished value claim.

Check your Tennessee filing deadline

Enter the date of your accident below. We'll show your exact 3-year statute-of-limitations deadline and how many days remain.

Tennessee diminished value claim facts

Statute citation: Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105 (3-year SOL for injury to personal property)

Why this matters in Tennessee

Tennessee's General Sessions Court has one of the highest small-claims-style jurisdictional limits in the country — $25,000 for civil actions, which means virtually every DV claim can be filed there without strict small-claims rules. Combined with a comfortable 3-year property-damage SOL and Tennessee's active bad-faith framework, Tennessee is a relatively consumer-friendly state for DV claims. Tennessee is a fault-based auto-insurance state. Third-party diminished value claims against the at-fault driver's liability carrier are recognized under common-law tort principles. The measure of property damage in Tennessee is the difference between pre-loss fair market value and post-repair fair market value, plus the cost of repair where the repair does not fully restore the vehicle. First-party DV under standard collision coverage is more restricted; the typical Tennessee collision policy obligates the carrier to repair, and DV is not separately recoverable as a first-party claim absent an explicit policy provision. The Tennessee statute of limitations for injury to personal property is three years from the date of loss under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105(1). This is a comfortable window; file the written demand within 12-18 months and escalate to litigation by month 30 if no settlement is in sight. Uninsured motorist coverage is mandatory in Tennessee (Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-1201) — UM/UIM cannot be rejected entirely; minimum limits apply automatically. UM/UIM is first-party in nature. For total-loss determinations, Tennessee applies a 75% statutory threshold under Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-3-211: a vehicle is defined as salvage when the damage equals or exceeds 75% of the fair market value. The ACV negotiation can pull borderline vehicles out of the total-loss column with a strong independent valuation. The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (tn.gov/commerce/insurance) accepts consumer complaints. The Tennessee General Sessions Court hears civil cases up to $25,000 — one of the highest small-claims-style jurisdictional limits in the country. For amounts above $25,000, file in Circuit Court or Chancery Court. Tennessee's Consumer Protection Act (Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-18-101 et seq.) provides for treble damages plus attorney's fees in certain deceptive-practice contexts. Tennessee recognizes the bad-faith penalty under Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-105 for unreasonable claim denials — up to 25% of the claim amount in penalty for clearly unjustified refusals.

States with similar filing deadlines