Subrogation is a term that's well-known in legal and insurance circles but often not by the people who hire them. If this term has come up when dealing with your insurance agent or a legal proceeding, it would be in your self-interest to comprehend the steps of the process. The more knowledgeable you are, the more likely relevant proceedings will work out favorably.

An insurance policy you have is a commitment that, if something bad occurs, the insurer of the policy will make restitutions without unreasonable delay. If your vehicle is hit, insurance adjusters (and police, when necessary) determine who was at fault and that person's insurance covers the damages.

But since figuring out who is financially accountable for services or repairs is often a time-consuming affair – and time spent waiting sometimes adds to the damage to the victim – insurance companies usually opt to pay up front and assign blame afterward. They then need a means to get back the costs if, when there is time to look at all the facts, they weren't actually responsible for the payout.

Let's Look at an Example

You head to the doctor's office with a gouged finger. You give the receptionist your medical insurance card and she takes down your plan information. You get taken care of and your insurance company is billed for the expenses. But on the following morning, when you get to work – where the injury happened – your boss hands you workers compensation forms to file. Your workers comp policy is actually responsible for the payout, not your medical insurance company. It has a vested interest in getting that money back somehow.

How Does Subrogation Work?

This is where subrogation comes in. It is the process that an insurance company uses to claim reimbursement 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. Under ordinary circumstances, only you can sue for damages to your self or property. But under subrogation law, your insurance company is given some of your rights in exchange for having taken care of 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 one thing, if you have a deductible, your insurance company wasn't the only one that had to pay. In a $10,000 accident with a $1,000 deductible, you lost some money too – namely, $1,000. If your insurance company is timid on any subrogation case it might not win, it might choose to get back its costs by ballooning your premiums. On the other hand, if it has a capable legal team and pursues them enthusiastically, it is acting both in its own interests and in yours. If all ten grand is recovered, you will get your full $1,000 deductible back. If it recovers half (for instance, in a case where you are found one-half to blame), you'll typically get $500 back, based on the laws in most states.

Moreover, if the total expense 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 personal injury law firm Sumner WA, successfully press a subrogation case, it will recover your losses as well as its own.

All insurers are not the same. When shopping around, it's worth scrutinizing the reputations of competing companies to evaluate whether they pursue winnable subrogation claims; if they do so without dragging their feet; if they keep their accountholders updated as the case proceeds; and if they then process successfully won reimbursements right away so that you can get your money back and move on with your life. If, instead, an insurer has a record of honoring claims that aren't its responsibility and then safeguarding its income by raising your premiums, even attractive rates won't outweigh the eventual headache.