Maison Law represents people hurt in rental car accidents due to another driver’s mistake. Our California car accident lawyers aggressively seek compensation for our clients from reckless drivers and, in some cases, a rental car company like Dollar Rental Car. 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 Dollar Rental Car accident lawyer may prove to be an important protection.
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. Dollar Rental Car 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 Dollar Rental Car Accident?
After a scary collision on a California freeway, you can be left in shock and perhaps some real pain. And if a rental car is involved, there may be a lot of confusion over who will a victim’s car repair bills and medical invoices.
Are rental car drivers covered? What if you are struck by someone in a Dollar Rental Car vehicle? Does a renter have to have auto insurance?
When rental car drivers are simply covered by their regular car accident insurance, an accident involving a rental car would be resolved much like an accident involving two personal vehicles.
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 Dollar 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 policy 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 at the Dollar Rental Car counter. 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 Dollar 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 California rental 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 by Dollar, Liability Insurance Supplement (LIS), would cover injuries caused to another driver. Personal Protection Package (PPP) would cover any injuries to you or someone riding with you. This option would also support your family if you were tragically killed in an accident.t
- 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.
What Should I Do After an Accident in a Dollar Rental Car?
After an accident, and after you’ve received any medical care needed, you’ll want to contact the Dollar Rental Car Company to let them know what happened. After an accident, you should find a sticker in the car with a phone number to call. The number will also be found in your rental agreement paperwork.
The company website goes over the steps you should take after an accident:
- Check if everyone is okay. Contact 911 before contacting Dollar. Contact local police or the CHP even if no one is injured.
- Get the name of the officer investigating the accident, the phone number, and the police accident report number.
- Once the scene is secure, call Roadside Assistance at 800-235-9393.
- If the vehicle is being towed, be sure to tell the tow truck driver and police officer that the vehicle belongs to Dollar. DO NOT give consent for any repairs to be done to a vehicle.
- Fill out an accident report for Dollar Rental Car. You can file your claim here.
There’s also some valuable evidence on the scene that you should try to obtain if you are left strong enough. This evidence will help prove what happened and keep Dollar or another insurance company from trying to blame you for an accident you didn’t cause:
- Use your cell phone to take pictures of the scene. Show the damage to all vehicles. Take photos of any visible injuries.
- Get contact information from witnesses.
- Contact your insurance provider and alert them of the accident.
- If you rented the car for a business trip, you should contact your employer to see what insurance company you’ll need to inform.
- Go see your own doctor in the days that follow, even if you’ve already been to the emergency room. Get checked out and follow your doctor’s orders.
- Contact a Maison Law attorney. Take advantage of a free consultation to see if you might need some legal support to make sure you secure what’s fair from Dollar and insurance companies. Act quickly, because evidence can disappear, surveillance video can be erased, and witnesses can become hard to find if you wait too long.
How Much Is My Rental Car Accident Worth?
A skilled Maison Law Lawyer needs to investigate every aspect of your case before estimating what your family could receive. There are a few factors that play a major role in what you can expect. First is how long it takes you to heal from your injury. This will affect the total on your medical bills and how much the at-fault party would be responsible for. Everyone heals at a different pace.
The paychecks you lose while having to be away from your job are considered. A skilled car accident attorney also helps you show the physical pain and the emotional trauma your injury has caused. These non-economic factors help increase the size of the settlement you could receive from Dollar Rental Car or an insurer.
The insurance adjuster will tell you your injury is worth very little or nothing at all. But your lawyer would demand full support for these and many other hardships in a rental car accident settlement check:
- Totals on hospital and rehabilitation expenses for as long as necessary.
- Estimated costs associated with a long-term injury or permanent physical disability.
- Support for the emotional anguish suffered. The loss of enjoyment of life due to an injury. The loss of consortium (loss of intimacy with a spouse).
- Support for the hardship of dealing with chronic, physical pain.
- Totals on past and future lost wages due to an injury.
- Property damage.
- Wrongful death benefits. A family who has lost a loved one to a driver’s mistake is encouraged to file a wrongful death claim. This claim asks an insurance company for help with funeral costs. It also seeks to replace the income the deceased would have provided the family in the future.
Contact a California Dollar Rental Car Accident Attorney
Anyone injured in a car accident is given up to two years to file an injury claim. Waiting beyond this deadline would usually result in the case being thrown out and victims left to pay all medical bills out of their own pockets.
Contact Maison Law to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with an actual California 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 you feel we can help you earn more for your injury, you don’t have to worry about how you’ll pay us. Maison Law works 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.
