How do you get your automobile insurance deductible back for your property damage claim? Let’s say you are driving down Redwood Road in West Valley City when you come to a stop at a red light. Unfortunately, the vehicle behind you doesn’t stop and hits you, slamming you forward.  Your bumper and the trunk of your car are completely smashed in.  You can’t drive your car anymore.

The car accident wasn’t your fault. You reach out to the insurance company of the person that hit you and they don’t return your phone calls. You need your car fixed so you can go to work, so you can’t sit around waiting forever to hear back from the other person’s insurance company. So you decide to have your insurance company fix your car. Then you find out you will have to cover the $250 or $500 deductible. But the accident wasn’t your fault!

There are a few options. Depending on which insurance company you have and the situation with the accident, some insurance companies will actually waive your deductible. They do this because they can see that they will get reimbursed from the other insurance company.

Another option is to reach into your savings account and pay the deductible out of pocket. If you choose this option, assuming the accident was not your fault, you will nearly always get the deductible money back later. Keep in mind that sometimes the process can take a while depending on how quickly your own insurance company sends a request to the other insurance company to pay them back everything they paid to fix your vehicle, plus your deductible. While typically this takes only several weeks, I’ve seen situations where this process has taken several months, if not longer. A lot depends on how aggressive your insurance company is.

What if you insurance company won’t waive the deductible and you don’t have the money to pay the deductible out of pocket? This is where having a law office helping you with the accident, such as ours, can be a big benefit. If you also have an injury case that we are handling, we can arrange for a cash advance for you to cover the deductible. Keep in mind that many law offices will not assist with these cash advances, but we do as a service for our clients. If this is your situation, contact us and we can discuss the details of exactly how this works and how you can benefit. 801-738-9999. We look forward to assisting you.