WHEN A CAR INSURANCE COMPANY SUES WILL I GET BACK MY DEDUCTION?

Your insurance company represents you and has the right to seek reimbursement from the responsible party for what they paid and what you paid.
1. Specifically tell your adjuster that you want them to include your deductible in the total amount they try to get from the other driver.
2. When they do receive money from that person, you should be reimbursed based on what percentage of the total they received. For example (simple math here…) if they paid $1000 and you paid $500, they ask for $1500 total. If all they can get from the other driver is $500, then that represents 33.3% of the total amount sought. You should get 33.3% of the $500 you paid, or $167, and they keep 33.3% of the $1000 they paid, or $333. Your $167 and their $333 added together equals the total they were able to collect, $500.

At some point, the insurance company will decide further pursuit of funds from the other driver will cost more than the liklihood they will collect anything else, so they will close the case and you may only receive a portion back. If that happens and you want to try to collect any amount you didn’t get back through their efforts, you’ll have to check with your adjuster to find out if you can seek it on your own. If they settled for less and the other driver signed a release, then you are bound by the terms of that release (as the insurance company represents you), and cannot seek more $ from the other driver. If the just give up the chase, you may be able to continue on your own.

Regarding the other driver getting a no insurance fine…probably not but maybe. Are you in California? If so, then if the accident had total damages above $500 (ask your adjuster to verify this amount), but no police report was filed, you are required to file a DMV form reporting the accident on your own to the DMV. There you can report all the other driver details and you’ll have to leave the section about their insurance information blank. So the DMV will know about it, but whether they act on it is random. Finally, I believe that you can file the accident report anyway, regardless of the cost of damages.

Check on this: Do you have Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage? And do you have Collision coverage? If so, then ask your adjuster if you have a deductible waiver. Most policies are written like this:
A) liability coverage, plus Uninsured bodily injury coverage and a $3500 Uninsured property damage coverage (no Comp or Collision coverage, usually for older cars of lower value). This means if an uninsured motorist hits you, your injuries are covered to the limits and you can use up to $3500 to fix your car (no deductible applies).

or

B)liability coverage, plus Comp & Collision, plus Uninsured BI coverage and a Collision Deductible Waiver. This means that if the uninsured motorist hits you, bodily injury is covered to the limits, and your car will be repaired up to the market value and you don’t have to pay your Collision deductible, it is waived due to the uninsured motorist.

I’ve recently found many insurance adjusters & agents are not aware of this deductible waiver and you may actually have more coverage than you realize!