What To Do if You Get in an Accident With a Rental Car
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Every year, 6.42 million car accidents occur, and anyone who drives is at risk of being in one. Car accidents can leave you with damages, injuries, legal consequences, and financial implications. While an accident in your own vehicle can be inconvenient and frustrating, an accident in a rental car can be even worse. It's a good idea to learn how to report rental car accident claims, as you never know when one may occur.
What Insurance Coverage Applies to Rental Car Accidents?
Your personal auto insurance plan may extend to a rental car but may not include enough coverage, even though most personal auto insurance policies provide the same coverage for rental car accidents as they do for your own vehicles. Many major auto insurance carriers extend coverage to rental cars. Review your policy to see if it has the coverage types that apply to rental car accidents, as several coverage types do.
Liability Coverage
Every auto insurance policy has liability protection, as it's the most basic form of coverage you can buy. Liability coverage protects others who suffer damages or injuries from an accident you cause. Your policy will include liability coverage, and if it extends to rental cars, you'll have this protection for a rental car accident.
Comprehensive and Collision Coverages
Comprehensive and collision coverages should also extend to your rental car to cover physical damages to your vehicle. Collision covers damages caused to the vehicle you're driving if you cause the accident or live in a no-fault state, while comprehensive coverage protects you from other types of damages caused to your vehicle (or rental vehicle). For example, it covers damages from animal collisions, theft, or vandalism.
Medical Payments and Personal Injury Protection
If your plan includes medical payments and personal injury protection (PIP), you'll have coverage for the costs of injuries you or your passengers experience. Medical payment coverage directly covers medical bills related to accident injuries. PIP takes it a step further by also covering other damages, such as lost wages.
Another aspect to consider is your credit card perks. Some cards come with rental car insurance coverage when paying a rental car bill with the card.
Additionally, a rental car company will ask you if you'd like to purchase additional rental car accident insurance coverage. This coverage provides extra protection, but you might not need it. In other words, it might not offer any additional protection you don't already have access to with your personal policy.
The best way to ensure proper coverage is to contact your insurance carrier to learn what your plan covers. Call EverQuote to get a quote if you don't have a policy, because many rental car companies won't rent you a car if you don't have one.
What Immediate Steps Should You Take After an Accident With a Rental Car?
What should you do after a rental car crash? Learn the steps before an accident so you'll be ready if you encounter one.
Make Sure Everyone Is Safe
Immediately after the accident, get out of your car and make sure you're okay. Next, check the other parties to ensure they're also okay and safe, and then call 911 for medical help if needed. Getting medical help immediately afterward is helpful if you suspect any injuries. In addition, a hospital or doctor visit will give you documentation for any injuries, providing a correlation to the accident. You'll need this documentation for your insurance claim.
Call the Police
Call the police right after ensuring everyone's safety. The police will assist with removing vehicles and debris from the road and calling for an ambulance or tow truck if needed. They will document the accident and gather all the necessary information. Finally, they will ask the parties and eyewitnesses about what happened and create a police report with these details. This report will come in handy later on when settling the claim.
Obtain the Necessary Information
While the police will write a report with the accident details, you should gather some important details if you're able to, including:
The other driver's name and license plate number
Details, pictures, and videos of the accident scene
Additionally, you'll need to report the accident to the rental car company.
How Do You Report the Accident to the Rental Company?
You must report a rental car accident to the rental company as quickly as you can. Call them and tell them the situation. They'll explain their policy for reporting the accident, and you'll need to follow their steps. You can expect the primary step to be filling out an incident report.
An incident report contains the same information the police use to create a police report, but it's typically necessary for a car rental company. The rental car company will also suggest contacting your auto insurance carrier to file a report if you have auto insurance. Your personal insurance plan will likely be the entity covering the car accident claim.
What Are the Legal Considerations When in an Accident With a Rental Car?
As with any car accident, you may face legal implications after an accident with a rental car, but these generally boil down to several factors. First, who caused the accident? If another driver was negligent and did something that caused the accident, you generally won't face any legal consequences. In this case, the other person's insurance plan may be responsible for covering the damages.
On the other hand, you may face some legal consequences if you caused the accident. If you are responsible for the accident, the police, insurance carrier, and rental car company may investigate the situation further to determine what happened. For example, was it an innocent accident? These happen every day for numerous reasons, but accidents are also caused by criminal acts, such as driving under the influence.
Additionally, if you caused the accident and didn't have enough insurance coverage, you might be financially responsible for the damages. This is why having the right coverage types and amounts is critical when driving your vehicle or a rental car.
One additional thing to consider is the state you live in and their fault or no-fault laws. There are currently 18 no-fault states, while the rest are primarily fault states. This one factor greatly affects how car accident claims are settled. In fault states, insurance companies settle claims by holding the at-fault party responsible for the accident. No-fault states have rules requiring every driver to settle their damages with their own insurance carrier.
How Can You Handle Repairs and Costs After a Rental Car Accident?
The accident details, including fault and insurance coverages, affect the accident's settlement results. The best-case scenario is that you have full-coverage auto insurance and did not cause the accident. In this situation, you likely won't incur any costs related to the accident or necessary repairs. Unfortunately, you might be responsible for the repair costs for the rental car or the other driver and their vehicle if you caused the accident and did not have sufficient car insurance coverage. You won't know the outcome of the claim until the insurance carrier processes it.
Be Proactive by Purchasing Auto Insurance With the Right Protection
Car accidents occur without warning and are always inconvenient, but you can be proactive by protecting yourself with a thorough auto insurance policy. EverQuote helps you find the best auto insurance rates and coverage. We connect you to agents who are eager to help you find a policy you can feel confident with and trust. Before you rent a car, make sure you have the right policy in place.
Frequently Asked Questions