Subrogation and How It Affects Your Insurance Policy

Subrogation is an idea that's understood in insurance and legal circles but sometimes not by the policyholders who employ them. Even if it sounds complicated, it would be in your self-interest to understand an overview of the process. The more information you have about it, the better decisions you can make with regard to your insurance policy.

An insurance policy you hold is a commitment that, if something bad occurs, the business that covers the policy will make good in a timely manner. If your vehicle is in a fender-bender, insurance adjusters (and the courts, when necessary) determine who was at fault and that person's insurance pays out.

But since determining who is financially responsible for services or repairs is often a heavily involved affair – and delay often adds to the damage to the victim – insurance firms in many cases opt to pay up front and figure out the blame afterward. They then need a means to recoup the costs if, once the situation is fully assessed, they weren't actually in charge of the payout.

For Example

You are in a highway accident. Another car crashed into yours. The police show up to assess the situation, you exchange insurance details, and you go on your way. You have comprehensive insurance that pays for the repairs right away. Later it's determined that the other driver was entirely at fault and his insurance policy should have paid for the repair of your auto. How does your company get its funds back?

How Does Subrogation Work?

This is where subrogation comes in. It is the process that an insurance company uses to claim payment after it has paid for something that should have been paid by some other entity. Some companies have in-house property damage lawyers and personal injury attorneys, or a department dedicated to subrogation; others contract with a law firm. Usually, only you can sue for damages to your person or property. But under subrogation law, your insurance company is considered to have some of your rights in exchange for having taken care of the damages. It can go after the money originally due to you, because it has covered the amount already.

How Does This Affect the Insured?

For starters, if your insurance policy stipulated a deductible, your insurance company wasn't the only one who had to pay. In a $10,000 accident with a $1,000 deductible, you have a stake in the outcome as well – to be precise, $1,000. If your insurance company is unconcerned with pursuing subrogation even when it is entitled, it might opt to recover its costs by upping your premiums. On the other hand, if it knows which cases it is owed and pursues them aggressively, it is acting both in its own interests and in yours. If all of the money is recovered, you will get your full $1,000 deductible back. If it recovers half (for instance, in a case where you are found 50 percent to blame), you'll typically get half your deductible back, depending on your state laws.

Moreover, if the total loss of an accident is more than your maximum coverage amount, you may have had to pay the difference. If your insurance company or its property damage lawyers, such as personal injury lawyer Lithia Springs, GA, successfully press a subrogation case, it will recover your costs as well as its own.

All insurance agencies are not the same. When shopping around, it's worth measuring the reputations of competing companies to evaluate whether they pursue winnable subrogation claims; if they do so without delay; if they keep their accountholders informed as the case continues; and if they then process successfully won reimbursements immediately so that you can get your losses back and move on with your life. If, instead, an insurer has a reputation of paying out claims that aren't its responsibility and then covering its profit margin by raising your premiums, you should keep looking.

personal injury lawyer Lithia Springs, GA