Injuries Resulting From Rental Car Accidents

Renting a car is essential for many to get around a new area that they have traveled into. For many, driving a rental car is a nerve wracking experience because you’re now responsible for someone else’s property, rather than your own. In the instances where you may have an accident, or somebody else crashes into you, while driving a rental car, you may not know what steps to take. Worse, if you or someone else are injured, you may not know who is liable. The personal injury attorneys at Altman & Altman LLP can help ease your worries.

When you agree to a deal involving a rental car with a rental car company, you are agreeing to certain terms and conditions which may vary slightly depending on the company but, for the most part, reflect similar ground rules.

Most importantly, the rental companies take great care to ensure that they aren’t easily held liable for an accident which occurs – whether it is your fault or the fault of somebody else. You will usually agree to certain insurance terms with the company, which may or may not usurp coverage with your own insurance company. In all of these legal gray areas, our attorneys will help guide you and make sure you are acting based on the correct information.

As with any car accident, your first priority following an accident is to ensure that you and everyone else involved in the collision is not in danger. Make sure nobody is severely hurt, trapped or otherwise in peril of coming into more harm. Once everyone is accounted for, exchange insurance information with the other driver and take pictures of the damage to both vehicles. You may wish to call the police if you are in an unsafe spot along the road.

If the accident was caused by somebody else driving recklessly, this person may be liable for the injuries caused by the accident. They may have liability insurance which adequately covers the ensuing treatment of injuries, or they may be driving without insurance illegally. In either case, a personal injury claim against that driver may be possible – especially in the event that they were excessively speeding, driving while distracted or driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

In very rare cases, the rental car company may be liable as well. If it can be proven that the rental car was rented out with serious mechanical malfunctions that weren’t disclosed and contributed to the accident, they would be guilty of gross negligence and potentially on the hook for damages if someone was injured as a result.

When dealing with the blurred lines between insurance companies and who may be held accountable for the accident, you will probably have a lot of good questions and it may be difficult to find out the correct answers. Our personal injury attorneys have over 50 years of experience handling claims from every different type of accident imaginable – including rental car incidents.

If somebody is injured in a rental car collision, we will be able to contact insurance companies on your behalf and the rental car company as well to ensure that the proper steps are taken to protect you and your loved ones. We will aggressively pursue any legal avenue available to secure financial compensation in the instance that a third party, car rental company or reckless driver is liable.

Being from Massachusetts and specifically from Boston, we understand how to handle car accidents and we are no strangers to those which involve rental cars either. Call us for a free consultation today to discuss the details of your case at 617.492.3000 or toll-free at 800.481.6199. We are available 24/7.