Estimate recoverable subrogation.
How much subrogation potential is your dealership leaving behind each year? Adjust the inputs to match your operation and see the number.
Your subrogation volume
Why does subrogation recovery fall short for most dealerships?
Subrogation demands have deadlines. Carriers have response windows. State statutes of limitations vary. A manual tracking process — spreadsheets, DMS notes, email reminders — doesn't enforce any of these. When follow-up depends on someone remembering, the recovery rate falls toward zero as claim volume grows.
Structured subrogation tracking changes the math: every matter gets a demand date, a follow-up schedule, and a handler who owns it. Deadlines are enforced by the system, not by memory. The result is materially higher recovery on a portfolio that was already generating the dollars — they just weren't being collected.
Common questions about subrogation recovery.
What counts as a subrogation claim for a dealership?
Any claim where a third party is liable for the loss — a customer's carrier owes for loaner damage, a vendor owes for on-lot damage, or another driver's insurer covers a collision involving a dealership vehicle. Each of these creates a recoverable subrogation right that expires if not pursued.
Why do dealers typically recover only 10-20% of what's owed?
Most dealerships track subrogation matters in spreadsheets or DMS notes with no deadline enforcement. Demands go out once and are never followed up. Statutes of limitation vary by state, and carriers exploit any gap in follow-through. Without a structured pipeline, most claims are abandoned before collection.
What recovery rate should a structured process target?
Dealerships using structured tracking with demand pipelines and deadline enforcement typically reach 60-75% recovery on identified subrogation matters. The estimator above uses 70% as the structured baseline. Your mileage will vary by claim type and carrier cooperation, but the gap between current and potential is usually the same: large.