Do I Get my Property Damage Deductable Back in a Tampa Auto Accident?

The question of whether you get your deductable back in a Tampa auto accident for damages to your property depends on several factors. A Tampa car accident lawyer will tell you that if you’re at fault for the accident you are definitely not going to get your property damage deductable back. But you probably already knew that.

What happens if you aren’t at fault? You can get your deductable back even if you have your own insurance company repair your property damage. But this assumes that the at fault party has property damage insurance. If they do have property damage insurance, the at fault party’s insurance will reimburse you or your insurance company for monies that were paid for repair of the vehicle damaged in the Tampa auto accident. For example, let’s say that you are in an auto accident Tampa and your car suffers property damage. You call your insurance company who will then send an adjuster to look at your vehicle and have you take it to a repair shop. The repair shop will look to you to pay the deductable which is generally $500.00 for repairing your vehicle. Your insurance company will pay the rest.

After this is done, your insurance company will then get in touch with the at fault party’s insurance company and demand that they reimburse for the monies that your insurance company paid out for the repair of your vehicle. The at fault insurance company’s obligation to pay this money back to your insurance company is called subrogation rights. Under the law of subrogation, your insurance company is entitled to reimbursement from the at fault party’s insurance company. This process of subrogation may take up to six months to a year. Sometimes if there’s a dispute as to who was at fault for the Tampa car accident, Tampa accident lawyers will tell their clients not to expect their deductable back as soon since the two insurance companies will take their respective claims to arbitration which can then delay the process.

But what happens if there are multiple cars involved in the Tampa auto accident and the total amount of property damage exceeds the at fault party’s available limits. In that case, your insurance company may only receive a pro rata share of the money it paid out for the repair of your vehicle. In that specific situation, you are likely to only receive the pro rata portion of monies that the insurance company received. For example, if the insurance company received only 80% of the money that it paid to have your vehicle repaired, then you are likely to only receive 80% of your deductable back. So if you have a deductable of $500, you’ll only receive back $400.00 even though you were in a Tampa auto accident that was not your fault.

If you’re involved in a Tampa car accident and don’t want to have to pay anything out of your pocket in way of a deductable you might consider having the at fault party’s insurance company adjust and repair your vehicle. Generally speaking, Tampa injury lawyers will tell you this can make sense. But some people prefer using their own insurance company, thinking that if they have a problem along the way they’ll have someone that is on their side help to resolve the issue. Of course, that’s not always the case but may be more likely to be true if the at fault insurance company is a 2nd or 3rd tier company. Or, if there’s a dispute regarding liability or the at fault party refuses to get in touch with their own insurance company to accept fault for the Tampa auto accident they caused, it may make sense to go through your own insurance company who can adjust the claim and get the repair going more quickly.

A Tampa car accident can be a significant disruption to your personal life. Tampa injury law firms will advise you that it may make sense to contact a lawyer to understand your rights so that you can avoid any unnecessary delays in getting your car repaired and your deductable back.

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