Following a car wreck, you want to focus on your personal injuries. You need to get the treatment you and your doctors decide on. Then you need to focus on getting better, minimizing your lost income, and trying to put the event behind you. Our personal injury team at the Miller Law Group has over 50 years of combined experience to help you with those things. We’ll show you how to get your property damage claim moving quickly.
However, what happens if you have to use your own auto insurance to handle your property damage? Sometimes, you may have to use your own collision coverage to get the repairs you need to your car, or even to pay for the vehicle if it’s totaled. This can happen if the defendant’s insurance company is dragging their feet, or if they have a more extensive investigation to perform which often happens if multiple vehicles were involved in the wreck, or if the defendant is claiming that you were partially or totally at fault. If that happens, you’ll probably use your own insurance to deal with the property damage. Otherwise, your car could be sitting at a body shop, racking up storage charges for weeks or even months, while you still don’t have a car to drive.
If you use your own insurance coverage, your company will subrogate on your behalf. That means they “step into your shoes” for purposes of your property damage claim, and they go through a process called inter-company arbitration to resolve the claim. This is a process where a group of adjusters from different companies than the ones involved sit down and hear several claims in a day, and decide who is really at fault. You don’t have to be involved in that process at all, except to provide your insurance company with any photographs or information on your car that they don’t have. If your company charges you a deductible, they will also try to get that back for you through this same process.
Navigating all this can be tricky. The good news is, property damage subrogation and arbitration are done completely separately from your personal injury claim, and our lawyers know how to answer your questions about the process and how to guide you through it. Contact us today for a free evaluation of your personal injury claim, and for free advice on your property damage claim. We’ve got your back.
