Subrogation is a concept that's well-known among legal and insurance companies but sometimes not by the customers who employ them. Even if it sounds complicated, it is in your benefit to understand the nuances of the process. The more knowledgeable you are, the better decisions you can make with regard to your insurance policy.

An insurance policy you own is a promise that, if something bad occurs, the company that insures the policy will make good in one way or another in a timely manner. If your vehicle is hit, insurance adjusters (and police, when necessary) determine who was to blame and that party's insurance covers the damages.

But since ascertaining who is financially accountable for services or repairs is typically a time-consuming affair – and time spent waiting often compounds the damage to the victim – insurance companies in many cases opt to pay up front and figure out the blame after the fact. They then need a method to regain the costs if, once the situation is fully assessed, they weren't actually responsible for the payout.

Can You Give an Example?

Your electric outlet catches fire and causes $10,000 in house damages. Luckily, 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 responsible for the damages. The home has already been fixed up in the name of expediency, but your insurance agency is out $10,000. What does the agency do next?

How Does Subrogation Work?

This is where subrogation comes in. It is the method that an insurance company uses to claim payment 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. Normally, only you can sue for damages done to your self or property. But under subrogation law, your insurer is given 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.

How Does This Affect Individuals?

For starters, if your insurance policy stipulated a deductible, it wasn't just your insurer that 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 lax about bringing subrogation cases to court, it might choose to recoup its expenses by increasing your premiums and call it a day. On the other hand, if it has a proficient legal team and pursues those cases aggressively, it is acting both in its own interests and in yours. If all of the money 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, depending on the laws in your state.

In addition, 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 local criminal defense attorney Spanish Fork UT, successfully press a subrogation case, it will recover your expenses in addition to its own.

All insurers are not created equal. When shopping around, it's worth looking at the records of competing agencies to determine whether they pursue winnable subrogation claims; if they do so fast; if they keep their customers apprised as the case goes on; and if they then process successfully won reimbursements right away so that you can get your funding back and move on with your life. If, on the other hand, an insurer has a reputation of honoring claims that aren't its responsibility and then covering its profitability by raising your premiums, you should keep looking.