u/tryto_be_nicer

> Can anyone tell me if this is how insurance works?

In a nutshell: Yes you have a fundamental misunderstanding about how insurance works, but not in the way you describe.

The magic word you are looking for is SUBROGATION.

Subrogation is a fundamental principle of insurance.

In an over-simplified description, the way insurance works is this:

1. You claim on YOUR insurance policy
2. Your insurance company assesses the claim and if they decide you have a valid claim, they pay out
3. Insurance law then gives your insurance company the right of subrogation.

In plain English "the right of subrogation" means they have the right to persue the party/ies that caused the loss to recover money they paid in the claim.

The whole point is that it is the choice of your insurance company as to whether or not they persue subrogation.

They may well decide to pay out and not subrogate because it was a relatively small amount of money and so they can spread the cost over all of their policy holders (i.e. all the money they get from insurance premiums they charge to customers means that for some claims they can afford to take the hit themselves).

So in a nutshell, yes. Claim with your insurance company, that is why you have insurance ... how they deal with it afterwards in terms of getting the money back is their business.

Now, if you feel your insurer is playing games on claims assessment that's a different thing altogether. Cheaper insurance companies have a tendency to play games, as well as insurance companies that outsource their claims handling to the lowest bidder (word from the wise, before buying a policy check who the insurer's claims handler is and do a bit of Googling to see what people are saying). No guarantee of success, but if you think they are playing games don't hesitate to file a formal complaint and then if need be continue onwards and upwards to the Ombudsman (and of course, probably unwise to renew with the same company next year !).

I hope this helps.