Back in November my wife was rear-ended. Cops/Trooper showed up and took statements from both parties. Driver that hit her admitted fault and showed proof of insurance. We immediately went through our insurance to get her vehicle repaired with the understanding that they would go after the other driver's insurance company to recoup their costs plus our out of pocket deductible. We gave our insurance company the police report and photos of the others drivers license and insurance information. A few days ago I get a letter from our insurance stating:

"Our investigation has revealed that the party responsible for damaging your vehicle is uninsured. We have attempted to contact them to collect reimbursement for the damages to your vehicle but they have been unresponsive. To continue our attempts to recover what is owed, we are turning this matter over to a collection agency. Because we are attempting to collect from someone who did not carry insurance, it is unlikely we will be successful. We will only contact you if we need your assistance, or are able to collect from the responsible party. You have the option to take legal action to pursue your deductible and out of pocket expenses. If you choose to do this, it is important that you let us know, as we both cannot pursue your deductible at the same time."

Than the very next day I get another letter stating:

"We are filing a claim against the responsible party for the total amount of damage to your vehicle, including your deductible of $500.00. It usually takes about three months from the date we make our request to receive reimbursement. However, if we do not receive full cooperation from the responsible party, it could take longer. We will make every effort to recover the money as quickly as possible and will inform you of any further developments."

I have yet to be able to actually get someone on the phone to find out what in the cornbread hell is going on. If the person is truly uninsured is it worth the effort myself to try and recover the $500 we are out of pocket? The whole situation just pisses me off!

Nor worth the edit effort unless you just want to make a point.

I’d say yeah it’s worth the effort but going by what the letter says your not going to be out any time or court costs so let them battle it out and hopefully you’ll get your money back. Sounds like you just need to have your ducks in a row in case they need more info out of you for some reason. I’d just sit back and see what happens.

The insurance company is already going after your $500 deductible as part of the claim. Let them handle it.

Who are you insured with?

I had that happen once and got a check for my deductible about 2 years later.

Gives me a little hope then!

I'm still waiting on my check 10 years or so later. The good news though is that the first $500 the insurance company collects, they send to you. You are in a boat that more people in this state have dealt with probably than haven't (not too much of an exaggeration).

Had to deal with the same situation about ten years ago. Never got a dime from her. The damage was just under $500, the cost of my deductible.

Damn, I did not realize that.

how much was the total damage? if you know how to locate the adverse party, you can actually file the lawsuit yourself in small claims/district court (jurisdictional limit just went to $20,000) and don't need a lawyer. unfortunately, even though this was not your fault, if the insurance company does not recover the money, this will affect your claims experience and could ultimately affect your premiums.

^^ This.

They will probably not get blood out of a turnip but if they do the OP will get his $500 deductible back.
Someday.

And this really has nothing to do with uninsured motorist coverage.
That part of your policy will ( or is supposed to) compensate you the bodily injuries that are suffered at the hands of the negligent responsible driver
that has no liability insurance. It has nothing to do with the property damage side of the claim. GEICO is just trying to get back the collision coverage that it
had to pay to fix your vehicle from the responsible driver. They stand in your shoes to the extent they pay your property damage - and even a future UM bodily injury claim in terms of going after the responsible driver to pay them back what they have to pay you.

What he said. No way I would spend more money on a filing fee to get an uncollectable judgment.

Total amount paid out by our insurance was a little over $10k.

Good luck. I've been waiting to get my $500 deductible I paid after a 16 y/o girl without insurance t-boned me while I was sitting still at a stop sign in 1996.

Ins will go after it.

I got T-boned by a driver with metlife auto insurance. I had gieco at that time.
Metlife treated me like a criminal and did their very best to screw me over.
I had to get a lawyer and finally got the amount I originally asked for, with the help of my under insured coverage through gieco.
Of course the lawyer got more than I did, but at least it finally got what was fair.... Three years later.

A coworker of mine was hit a little over a year ago the other driver was at fault. Well there was him and 2 others in his truck. The other driver had Allstate insurance but something I had never thought about was the amount of coverage the other guy had. Which is what I assume was the minimum required. I think it was 100 grand per accident medical. My friends shoulder surgery was over 50 and then all the Physical therapy and missed work time. Also that amount is split between 3 peoples medical so now he is having to go to his insurance on the underinsured part.

State minimums are $25,000 per person, $50,000 per incident.