Maison Law represents people who are hurt in rental car accidents due to another driver’s mistake. Our Modesto car accident lawyers aggressively seek compensation for our clients from reckless drivers and, in some cases, rental car companies. Please contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation for all local injury victims. It’s a no-risk opportunity to find out what your injury may be worth and how to hold insurance companies fully responsible for recovery costs.
How Do I Know If I Need a Rental Car Accident Lawyer?
If your rental car accident involves only property damage, you should be able to reach a fair agreement with your car insurance company and the rental car company without the help of a lawyer. But when you are seriously injured in a collision and another motorist is to blame, a Modesto Rental Car accident lawyer may prove an important protection.
Car insurance companies and insurers who provide protection through rental agreements will look for ways to avoid having to provide support. They can try to blame you for an accident you didn’t cause or question how bad your injuries are. can also afford corporate lawyers to attack your claim and withhold compensation.
Your lawyer fully investigates your case and uses the evidence to force insurers to accept responsibility. Then your Maison Law representative fights to get the most out of your injury claim for you and your family.
Who Is Responsible for an Accident Involving a Rental Car?
Someone in a rental car, new to the area, could make a mistake along Highway 99 and collide with your car. Someone in a rental car while they wait for their car to be repaired from a previous accident could also smash into you. You could also be in a rental car when a reckless driver in a personal SUV on McHenry Avenue rams your rental from behind.
You’ll naturally have a lot of questions about how you’ll pay your emergency room bills and who gets the car repair bills. Who will pay the rental car company that’s anxious to get its rental vehicle back on the road to make more money?
In some cases, an accident involving a rental car would be resolved much like an accident involving two personal vehicles. Many people who rent cars are covered by their normal car insurance to protect them if an accident occurs.
But there are other coverage options that may be purchased or that are provided as a perk with certain credit cards that can play a role in how an accident is resolved.
These are just some of the insurance choices that could affect how you receive accident compensation:
Property Damage Only
- Another Driver Responsible – If another driver strikes you while you are behind the wheel of a rental car, the driver’s auto insurance provider should be paying for the damage. Beware! Even when another driver is responsible, you could still have to pay for repairs so the rental company can restore its car and make money off it. You’d then be left to try to get that money reimbursed from the at-fault driver’s insurer.
- Your Car Insurance — If you caused damage to your rental car or someone else’s car, your auto insurance may cover the damages. Many insurance companies cover policyholders when they drive a rental car for personal use. It’s important to check on what your policy will cover before you sign a rental agreement. Unfortunately, the payment would likely come after you’ve had to pay a large deductible.
- Credit Card Coverage – Some credit cards provide accident protection when you charge a rental car. These protections usually repair or replace your rental car up to a certain limit. Credit card coverage usually doesn’t include support for injuries.
- Your Car Rental Coverage – If you purchased additional coverage through your rental car company, you should be covered for some, if not all of the damage. This may also come with a large deductible you must pay before coverage kicks in for the rest. There are also 3rd party car rental insurance providers you can go through to protect yourself before you rent.
Rental Car Accidents Involving Injuries
- Another Driver Responsible – Injured victims would seek help with recovery costs from the at-fault driver’s auto insurance company. It’s important to have a Modesto car accident lawyer protecting your interests in this situation. It’s a safeguard to keep insurance adjusters from trying to stick you with some of your medical bills.
- Your Own Car Insurance Policy — If you are at fault in an accident, it’s possible your own car insurance would cover the damage to the other vehicle and any injury costs for the victims.
- Your Rental Car Coverage – You may have paid for additional coverage documented in your rental car agreement. Depending on the coverage you purchased, the damage to vehicles and recovery costs could be taken care of. One coverage offered, Personal Accident Insurance, would help you with medical costs and support your family if you were killed in a tragic accident. There are also third-party insurance companies that specialize in rental car insurance.
- The Rental Car Company – If a rental car company somehow contributed to your accident, your lawyer would demand full compensation for your damages. A rental car business may have given you a car with faulty tires or worn brakes. They may not have warned you of potential dangers in the area. These and other circumstances might leave a rental car company liable for your damages and injuries.
After an accident in a rental car, always call the rental car company as soon as you can. You’ll find the emergency number on a sticker somewhere in your car or on your paper work. Do everything the rental company asks you to do so they can’t use something you didn’t do as an excuse to deny you coverage later.
Compensation Available for Victims After a Rental Car Accident
Gathering all evidence available will be the biggest key to collecting full compensation for your injury. Your lawyer will begin an investigation immediately, but if you are able to collect evidence immediately after a collision, you’ll increase your chances of success. You should call 911. Get a police response and call for an ambulance if anyone is hurt.
Take photos of the scene and any visible injuries. Get witness contact information. Contact your insurance provider, even if you weren’t at fault. You should also see your family doctor in the days that follow and get every injury documented.
Your lawyer assembles the evidence to submit a strong injury claim and includes a complete list of every hardship you and your family endured after the accident.
Your Maison Law attorney would demand support for a few things you may not have known could earn you additional support on a car accident settlement check:
- Hospital and medical expenses.
- Estimates for the support you could need over a lifetime after suffering a permanent physical disability.
- Travel costs as you may have to visit doctors out of the area and travel to appointments while you are on crutches or in a wheelchair.
- Support for the emotional trauma you are left with. Anxiety and PTSD symptoms you experience due to the trauma of a car crash. The depression you face during a long and difficult injury rehabilitation also factors in.
- Support for the physical pain you endure and the chronic pain that may be present in the years to come.
- Past and future lost income while you miss work.
- Damage or destruction of personal property.
Contact a Modesto Rental Car Accident Attorney
Contact Maison Law to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with an actual Modesto rental car accident lawyer. We want to hear what happened to you. We’re going to answer your questions and make sure you are fully aware of the insurance tactics you’ll face. These shady practices are meant to limit the money you receive. Avoiding these pitfalls will be key to earning what’s fair for your car accident injury claim.
If we can’t help you earn more, we’ll tell you that. But we want to make sure Stanislaus County victims and their families aren’t taken advantage of by corporate lawyers and insurance adjusters. If you feel we can help you earn more for your injury, you don’t have to worry about how you’ll pay us. We work on a contingency basis. That means we don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our legal fees come out of a settlement an insurance company must pay you.
