Subrogation and How It Affects Your Insurance Policy

Subrogation is a term that's understood among insurance and legal firms but sometimes not by the people they represent. Rather than leave it to the professionals, it is to your advantage to understand an overview of how it works. The more you know, the more likely it is that relevant proceedings will work out in your favor.

Any insurance policy you have is a promise that, if something bad happens to you, the business that covers the policy will make good in one way or another in a timely fashion. If your vehicle is rear-ended, insurance adjusters (and the courts, when necessary) determine who was to blame and that person's insurance covers the damages.

But since ascertaining who is financially responsible for services or repairs is sometimes a time-consuming affair – and delay in some cases increases the damage to the victim – insurance companies usually decide to pay up front and assign blame after the fact. They then need a means to recoup the costs if, in the end, they weren't actually in charge of the payout.

Can You Give an Example?

You are in an auto accident. Another car crashed into yours. Police are called, you exchange insurance information, and you go on your way. You have comprehensive insurance and file a repair claim. Later police tell the insurance companies that the other driver was entirely to blame and his insurance should have paid for the repair of your auto. How does your insurance company get its funds back?

How Subrogation Works

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. Under ordinary circumstances, only you can sue for damages done to your person or property. But under subrogation law, your insurer is considered to have some of your rights in exchange for making good on the damages. It can go after the money that was originally due to you, because it has covered the amount already.

How Does This Affect Policyholders?

For a start, if you have a deductible, it wasn't just your insurer who had to pay. In a $10,000 accident with a $1,000 deductible, you lost some money too – to the tune of $1,000. If your insurance company is unconcerned with pursuing subrogation even when it is entitled, it might choose to recover its losses by boosting your premiums and call it a day. On the other hand, if it has a competent legal team and pursues them enthusiastically, it is acting both in its own interests and in yours. If all of the money is recovered, you will get your full thousand-dollar deductible back. If it recovers half (for instance, in a case where you are found one-half to blame), you'll typically get half your deductible back, depending on the laws in your state.

Moreover, if the total loss of an accident is more than your maximum coverage amount, you could be in for a stiff bill. If your insurance company or its property damage lawyers, such as criminal defense lawyer Portland OR, pursue subrogation and wins, it will recover your expenses as well as its own.

All insurers are not created equal. When shopping around, it's worth looking at the records of competing agencies to evaluate if they pursue legitimate subrogation claims; if they resolve those claims fast; if they keep their customers informed as the case continues; and if they then process successfully won reimbursements immediately so that you can get your funding back and move on with your life. If, instead, an insurer has a record of paying out claims that aren't its responsibility and then covering its profit margin by raising your premiums, you'll feel the sting later.