Subrogation is an idea that's understood in insurance and legal circles but often not by the policyholders they represent. Even if it sounds complicated, it would be in your benefit to comprehend the nuances of how it works. The more you know, the more likely relevant proceedings will work out in your favor.
An insurance policy you own is a commitment that, if something bad occurs, the firm on the other end of the policy will make restitutions without unreasonable delay. If your home is robbed, your property insurance agrees to pay you or facilitate the repairs, subject to state property damage laws.
But since determining who is financially responsible for services or repairs is typically a tedious, lengthy affair – and delay sometimes increases the damage to the policyholder – insurance companies often opt to pay up front and figure out the blame afterward. They then need a way to recover the costs if, ultimately, they weren't in charge of the payout.
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 out your claim in full. However, the insurance investigator finds out that an electrician had installed some faulty wiring, and there is a decent chance that a judge would find him liable for the loss. The home has already been fixed up in the name of expediency, 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 method that an insurance company uses to claim reimbursement after it has paid for something that should have been paid by some other entity. 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. Ordinarily, only you can sue for damages to your person or property. But under subrogation law, your insurer is considered to have some of your rights 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 Does This Matter to Me?
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 be precise, $1,000. If your insurer is unconcerned with pursuing subrogation even when it is entitled, it might choose to recover its costs by increasing your premiums. On the other hand, if it has a knowledgeable legal team and pursues them enthusiastically, it is doing you a favor as well as itself. If all 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 accountable), you'll typically get $500 back, based on the laws in most states.
Moreover, if the total cost of an accident is more than your maximum coverage amount, you may have had to pay the difference, which can be extremely costly. If your insurance company or its property damage lawyers, such as Divorce attorney american fork UT, pursue subrogation and wins, it will recover your costs as well as its own.
All insurers are not created equal. When comparing, it's worth researching the reputations of competing companies to evaluate if they pursue winnable subrogation claims; if they do so without dragging their feet; if they keep their policyholders advised 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, on the other hand, an insurer has a record of honoring claims that aren't its responsibility and then protecting its income by raising your premiums, you'll feel the sting later.