Understanding The Subrogation Procedures For Your Auto Insurance Claim
Every auto insurance quote has a subrogation clause. The purpose of this clause is to protect the insurance company from being solely responsible for paying auto insurance claims for an auto accident when there is other insurance available that should have been paid out for the claim.
For instance, if you are involved in an automobile accident and your insurance company pays for the damages to your vehicle, as well as any injuries you may have sustained, and they later determine the other driver was at fault and has coverage, your insurance company has the right to seek reimbursement from that company for the money it paid out on your behalf.
When you purchase an auto insurance premium, and there is a subrogation clause, you’ve signed over your rights to your insurance company to act on your behalf to seek to get their money back’ that was paid on the claim. Your carrier can go after those monies from the other carrier, which may include suing for those funds. This can include money paid to you from your separate health insurance or other medical insurance carrier, as well. If your auto insurance carrier paid you monies for personal injuries, and you also filed a claim with your health insurance carrier and they paid the medical claim, either one of these carriers can file for their subrogation rights to get their money back. Subrogation usually occurs after the original auto insurance claim was filed. The carrier allows you to be paid for your damages and not have to wait to determine fault. As a show of good faith, you, as the insured, can release your rights over to your carrier so that they may recoup their funds if it is determined that another driver, or legal entity, was at fault and they had insurance that would have covered the damages that your carrier has already paid to you. Usually, your insurer will have you sign a subrogation release that assigns your right of recovery against the person responsible for your loss to your insurance company
Auto insurance quotes were not intended to assist people from profiting from an accident. Subrogation rights were put in place to keep people honest and to protect insurance companies from paying claims that another company was responsible for and would have paid. It is important that you remain in close contact with your carrier during this process as they are going back and forth between companies to determine fault and what has been paid to you. You do not want to have your auto insurance premium canceled due to not cooperating with your carrier. They are there to help protect your rights as well as their own.
