Car accident not my fault. Subrogation or small claims court?

Four weeks ago, some idiot pulled an illegal left turn right in front of me. I couldn't help hitting him. Police gave him a citation. Police report clearly says he was at fault, not me. I would have gone thru other driver's insurance company, Ameriprise, but no one could tell me how to go about it. After two weeks, I went thru my insurance company, progressive, becuz i needed my car fixed. I paid my deductible plus car rental costs up front. I was given verbal assurances by Progressive that once the Ameriprise agrees the other driver is liable I will get the money back. Ameriprise is not returning anyone's calls. Now I just got a letter from the subrogation unit that states I MAY NOT GET FULL OR EVEN PARTIAL REIMBURSEMENT if Ameriprise does not cooperate or if Progressive incurs expenses or legal fees! WTF! Should I take Ameriprise to small claims court myself instead of letting Progressive handle it? What options do I have for getting completely reimbursed?

OK. Just calm down and take a deep breath. This situation is nowhere near as bad as it seems to you.

I own a subrogation recovery company that works for different insurance companies and I tell you what is going on.

First off, the letter from Progressive is just a form letter, that's all. It's probably not worded in the right manner, but Progressive is just trying to give you a worse case scenario. Progressive is not going to incur any legal expenses on this file because both Ameriprise and Progressive are members of Arbitration Forums (AF). Think of AF as small claims court for insurance companies. Since both companies are members of AF they can't sue each other, so there won't be any legal expenses to incur. Any disputes must be done through AF and lawyers are involved. Ask your Progressive adjuster about it.

You can sue the other driver for your deductible. You CAN'T sue Amerprise, you must sue the other driver and you can only sue for your deductible and any other accident related expenses not covered by Progressive, like your rental car. Frankly, suing the other driver is a waste of time and about $75 for the court filing fee. Through the AF process, Progressive does all the work for you. FYI, depending in the state you are in you might be found to be partially at-fault for the accident (it;s called comparative negligence) and if you are your deductible and rental car expenses might be slightly reduced.

Progressive has one of the top Subrogation Depts in the business, I would let them to do their jobs. But call them so they can explain the AF process to you and make sure to ask if comparative negligence will come into play here. I think talking to your Progressive adjuster and discussing these things will help.

Good Luck

Progressive should handle the entire matter. That is what you "hired" them to do. You should not have to and should not do anything yourself. If you don't think Progressive is giving you the "protection" and representation you paid for, report this to your insurance commissioner and/or your office of consumer protection. Every USA state has both offices

You cannot sue the other company for your deductible. Your own insurance company has the right of subrogation. It is written in your policy. If the other company isn't paying your company, with the legal resources at hand, they wouldn't be paying you anything in small claims court anyway. Obviously, if you had tried to deal directly with the other company, you would not be any further ahead, likely your car would not be repaired yet. This is an unfortunate reality in the insurance world, and actually happens more often with AllState and State Farm, the 2 companies in the industry known by other insurance companies as the hardest to deal with.

By the way, it has always been the case that you get your deductible back "IF and when" your insurance company can recover it for you, unless the other company has taken the lead and authorized full repair at their expense. If the other company never pays a dime, you never get the deductible back, unfortunately. Remember, the deductible YOU SELECT is the share of the claim you are willing to pay if the claim is your fault, or if it CANNOT be collected from the other party when it isn't your fault. Your company is expected to do all possible, within reason, to collect on your behalf, but that does not include spending unreasonable amounts on the court action.