It can differ depending upon the situation however in general it can take about 6 months for a subrogation to go through and you to receive back the money you paid out for your deductible.

After paying a claim caused by the negligence of another driver not insured by your insurance carrier, your insurance company will usually assign an adjuster to pursue the negligent party (or their insurer) for reimbursement. Some insurance companies call this type of adjuster a Payment Recovery Adjuster whose job is to subrogate with the at-fault party and to keep the customer informed on the status of our payment recovery efforts. Other companies have a subrogation department (often called "subro") who takes care of this once your insurance company's portion of the claim is closed.

On a typical claim, a the payment recovery adjuster will notify the negligent party or that party's insurance company that the victim's insurance company is pursuing reimbursement of their customer's deductible and the amount they paid out on the claim. Next they will send claim documentation and proof of payment to the negligent party or that party's insurance company.

Usually the adjuster will have to negotiate with the negligent party or that party's insurance company and continue to follow up until reimbursement is received or until all efforts are exhausted in trying to do so. If the insurance company is successful in their subrogation efforts they will be able to send a check to the customer for the deductible amount once they receive payment from the at-fault party or that party's insurance company.

In some situations your insurer will not recover the full amount they request. This sometimes occurs when the other party involved disputes the cause of the accident or does not have insurance. While insurance companies typically make every effort to recover the appropriate amount they cannot guarantee recovery of your full deductible normally since they may not receive all of their monies they paid out either from the at-fault party.

As you can tell the subrogation process takes time so payment recovery usually takes about six months. Sometimes payment recovery happens more quickly if the other party was insured and the details of the accident are not disputed. However, if the negligent party or that party's insurance company does not cooperate, recovery could take longer.

In some cases your insurer may not be able to recover anything at all. The length of the process depends on the amount of cooperation they receive from the negligent party or that party's insurance company. Since your insurer also wants their monies repay they will usually make every effort to recover money as quickly as possible. Keeping a customer happy and recovering a policyholder's deductible is also something an insurer will normally want to do.

Keep in mind that states have different rules regarding payment recovery, and some states do not allow payment recovery for some coverages. To find out California's laws regarding subrogation you can contact the CA insurance department. Speak to your agent to find out how exactly your specific insurance company deals with subrogation and recovering a policyholder's deductible.