Louisiana Rental Car Accidents

Car insurance policies contain pages and pages of text about all the possible scenarios in which the insured drivers and vehicles might be involved in car accidents, but hardly anyone reads an entire insurance policy before signing it. If you ask most people what their car insurance covers, they will only be able to tell you about what the insurance company will pay for if the policyholder gets into an accident while driving their own vehicle. People choose insurance policies based on what those policies will cover if the policyholder is at fault and if the policyholder is not at fault, but not based on the less obvious scenarios about you driving someone else’s car or someone driving your car. The laws of physics apply to rental cars just as much as they do to owner-occupied vehicles, but the rules about insurance coverage are somewhat more complicated. If you have been injured in a car accident where one of the cars involved was a rental car, contact a Houma car accident lawyer.

Possible Scenarios Involving Rental Car Collisions

One of the many reasons to be glad that you live in Louisiana is that auto insurance policies issued for vehicles registered in Louisiana automatically extend to cover rental cars rented and driven by the policyholder in the Pelican State. This should come as a relief if you cause an accident while driving a rental car in Louisiana. If you get into a collision in a rented car, but you are not at fault for the accident, then the at-fault driver’s insurance should pay for your vehicle repairs and accident-related medical expenses, just as it would if you had been driving your own car at the time of the collision.

Of course, these are only two possible scenarios. These are some other sources of payment for your accident-related expenses and those of other people who sustain injuries in an accident where one of the vehicles is a rental car:

• Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage
• Supplemental insurance purchased at the time of rental
• Travel insurance
• The refundable deposit charged to your credit car when you rent a car

In other words, you should consider the decision carefully before deciding which insurance claims to file after a rental car accident. Meanwhile, once you start talking to an insurance company, they will mobilize their resources to get you to say anything to justify paying you a smaller settlement. Therefore, if the injuries resulting from the accident are serious and costly, it is best to talk to a car accident lawyer before you file any insurance claims. Even better, you should have your lawyer talk to insurance claims adjusters on your behalf instead of giving a recorded statement.

Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey About Rental Car Accidents

A car accident lawyer can help you if you have been injured in a car accident where you or the at-fault driver was in a rented vehicle. Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey in Houma, Louisiana to see if you have grounds for a lawsuit.