Subrogation is a term that's understood among legal and insurance firms but often not by the policyholders they represent. Even if you've never heard the word before, it is to your advantage to know an overview of how it works. The more information you have, the more likely it is that relevant proceedings will work out in your favor.

Every insurance policy you own is a commitment that, if something bad happens to you, the firm on the other end of the policy will make good in a timely manner. If your vehicle is rear-ended, insurance adjusters (and the courts, when necessary) decide who was at fault and that person's insurance pays out.

But since ascertaining who is financially accountable for services or repairs is regularly a heavily involved affair – and time spent waiting in some cases adds to the damage to the victim – insurance firms in many cases decide to pay up front and figure out the blame after the fact. They then need a path to get back the costs if, once the situation is fully assessed, they weren't actually in charge of the expense.

Let's Look at an Example

You go to the emergency room with a deeply cut finger. You hand the nurse your medical insurance card and he takes down your policy information. You get stitches and your insurer gets a bill for the services. But on the following afternoon, when you get to work – where the accident happened – your boss hands you workers compensation forms to file. Your workers comp policy is actually responsible for the hospital trip, not your medical insurance. The latter has a right to recover its costs somehow.

How Does Subrogation Work?

This is where subrogation comes in. It is the way that an insurance company uses to claim reimbursement when it pays out a claim that turned out not to be its responsibility. Some companies have in-house property damage lawyers and personal injury attorneys, or a department dedicated to subrogation; others contract with a law firm. Normally, only you can sue for damages to your self or property. But under subrogation law, your insurer is extended some of your rights for making good on the damages. It can go after the money originally due to you, because it has covered the amount already.

Why Do I Need to Know This?

For a start, if your insurance policy stipulated a deductible, it wasn't just your insurer who had to pay. In a $10,000 accident with a $1,000 deductible, you have a stake in the outcome as well – to the tune of $1,000. If your insurer is lax about bringing subrogation cases to court, it might choose to get back its losses by ballooning your premiums and call it a day. On the other hand, if it has a knowledgeable legal team and goes after those cases aggressively, it is acting both in its own interests and in yours. If all is recovered, you will get your full deductible back. If it recovers half (for instance, in a case where you are found one-half accountable), you'll typically get $500 back, based on the laws in most states.

In addition, if the total cost of an accident is over your maximum coverage amount, you may have had to pay the difference, which can be extremely spendy. If your insurance company or its property damage lawyers, such as mableton personal injury lawyer, pursue subrogation and succeeds, it will recover your losses in addition to its own.

All insurance agencies are not created equal. When comparing, it's worth looking at the records of competing agencies to determine whether they pursue winnable subrogation claims; if they resolve those claims with some expediency; if they keep their customers apprised 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, on the other hand, an insurer has a record of honoring claims that aren't its responsibility and then safeguarding its bottom line by raising your premiums, you should keep looking.