Maison Law represents people who are hurt in rental car accidents due to another driver’s mistake. Our Tulare personal injury 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.
When Should I Contact 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 Tulare 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 try to limit the support you receive. Your lawyer fully investigates your case and uses the evidence to force insurers to accept responsibility. Then your Maison Law representative demands the maximum in support available for you and your family.
Who Can I Sue If I’m Hurt in an Accident in a Rental Car?
There are plenty of reckless drivers on busy routes like Highway 99 or Hillman Street. If you are struck by a careless driver while in your own car, you may let your car insurance companies battle it out to see who covers it. But if you are in a rental car or struck by someone driving a rental car, the best path to getting support may not be obvious.
There may be several different insurance providers involved, as well as the car rental company’s interests. A credit card that offers rental car protection could also make finding a resolution more complex.
The options will depend on the type of damage your accident results in:
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 Tulare 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.
What Should I Do After an Accident in a Rental Car?
Rental car companies are nationwide businesses and sometimes international companies. If you seek compensation from a rental car company or their insurers, you may face corporate lawyers. These lawyers will be picking apart your case and looking for any way possible to point the finger of blame at anyone else but their bosses.
It’s critical to secure as much evidence as possible to fight back against any attempt by insurance companies to change the facts. An accident can leave you in shock, but if you are physically able, you should act to gather as much evidence as possible on the scene.
Call 911. If you or someone else is hurt, request an ambulance. Then, if it’s safe and you are strong enough try to collect as many details on the scene as possible:
- Allow EMTs to check out every pain you experience. If you must leave for the emergency room, ask someone with you or a witness to gather evidence for you.
- Tell Tulare Police or the California Highway Patrol everything you saw leading up to the accident.
- Take cell phone pictures and video. Show the damage to cars, traffic signs, and debris left behind. Show your injuries if they are visible.
- Get contact information from witnesses.
- Get driver’s license and insurance information from other drivers.
- Alert the Rental Car Company as Soon as Possible. You might find a sticker inside your rental car that contains a phone number to call in an emergency. The rental car company will probably want to fill out an accident report of its own. Do everything the rental car company asks you to do.
- Alert Your Own Car Insurance Provider. Just like if you were in your own car, you’d want to inform your insurer about your accident.
- See your doctor. The shock of being in a car accident can hide the pain from injuries. You may not really know how badly you are hurt until a day later. Have your physician examine all the discomfort you feel. Save your medical invoices.
How Much Is My Rental Car Accident Worth?
It’s difficult to determine what your injury will be worth before a skilled lawyer can investigate the circumstances of your accident and talk to medical experts about your injury. Everyone heals at a different pace and all accidents have different factors involved.
What you can count on is an insurance company failing to tell you about every benefit available to you. They will work to limit the support you and your family receive.
Fortunately, Maison Law lawyers have taken on plenty of large companies and corporations and aren’t afraid to demand what’s fair.
Your lawyer determines what you’ll need to pay off your immediate medical bills and what you’ll need to be able to afford the best care available in the future. Your lawyer then works to get the most for your injury possible so your family is never left in a financial hole.
These and other factors would determine the total you’d see on a 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 that are common with serious truck accidents.
- 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 Tulare 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 Tulare 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. 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.
