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Subrogation is a term that's understood in insurance and legal circles but rarely by the customers who hire them. If this term has come up when dealing with your insurance agent or a legal proceeding, it is in your self-interest to know an overview of the process. The more you know about it, the more likely relevant proceedings will work out favorably.

Any insurance policy you hold is a promise that, if something bad happens to you, the firm on the other end of the policy will make restitutions 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 at fault and that person's insurance covers the damages.

But since determining who is financially accountable for services or repairs is sometimes a tedious, lengthy affair – and delay sometimes compounds the damage to the policyholder – insurance companies in many cases opt to pay up front and figure out the blame after the fact. They then need a means to regain the costs if, when all the facts are laid out, they weren't responsible for the expense.

Can You Give an Example?

Your electric outlet catches fire and causes $10,000 in home damages. Happily, you have property insurance and it pays for the repairs. However, in its investigation it discovers that an electrician had installed some faulty wiring, and there is a reasonable possibility that a judge would find him accountable for the damages. You already have your money, but your insurance agency is out ten grand. What does the agency do next?

How Subrogation Works

This is where subrogation comes in. It is the way that an insurance company uses to claim payment when it pays out a claim that turned out not to be its responsibility. Some insurance firms 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 done to your self or property. But under subrogation law, your insurer is given 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.

Why Do I Need to Know This?

For starters, if you have a deductible, your insurer wasn't the only one 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 timid on any subrogation case it might not win, it might choose to get back its expenses by raising your premiums and call it a day. On the other hand, if it has a capable legal team and goes after those cases enthusiastically, it is doing you a favor as well as itself. If all $10,000 is recovered, you will get your full deductible back. If it recovers half (for instance, in a case where you are found 50 percent responsible), you'll typically get half your deductible back, based on the laws in most states.

Additionally, if the total loss of an accident is over your maximum coverage amount, you may have had to pay the difference. If your insurance company or its property damage lawyers, such as fall lawyer greater atlanta area, successfully press a subrogation case, it will recover your costs in addition to its own.

All insurance agencies are not the same. When shopping around, it's worth looking at the records of competing companies to find out whether they pursue winnable subrogation claims; if they resolve those claims quickly; if they keep their clients updated as the case proceeds; and if they then process successfully won reimbursements right away so that you can get your losses back and move on with your life. If, on the other hand, an insurer has a reputation of paying out claims that aren't its responsibility and then protecting its bottom line by raising your premiums, you'll feel the sting later.