In fault-based insurance states like Texas, navigating a car accident claim requires careful handling due to the requirement to prove another driver’s liability to recover damages. Whether you’re a visitor to Texas or rented a car while your personal vehicle is under repair, if an accident occurs while you are driving a rental car, the financial recovery process escalates in complexity. The rental car company becomes a third party involved in the claim.
After a rental car accident in Austin or the surrounding area, you need a car accident attorney who protects your best interests throughout the process of filing a claim for damages like medical expenses, lost wages, and compensation for pain and suffering.
What If I Didn’t Choose the Optional Rental Car Insurance and Had an Accident?
When driving a rental car, the car rental company anticipates that you’ll return the car in the same condition it was in when you signed the rental agreement. After an accident, the renter is responsible for restoring or replacing the damaged vehicle. How you replace a wrecked rental car in Austin depends on whether or not you were at fault for the accident and your choices when you sign the rental agreement. If you added the optional rental car insurance policy and were at fault for the accident, your coverage typically includes any or all of the following:
- A collision damage waiver releasing you from responsibility for damages to the rental car from an accident
- Liability coverage for property damage and personal injury expenses to injured motorists in another vehicle if you are responsible for a collision
- Personal injury and personal effects coverages to cover injury costs and the cost of replacing damaged personal property after an accident
If you didn’t add the optional rental car insurance, there may be additional options for compensation for a damaged rental car, such as the rental car insurance often included as a benefit on your credit card. If you used a credit card with this benefit to rent the car you can file a claim against that policy.
Importantly, if another party caused the accident, in Texas, their liability insurance covers damages to the rental car.
Proving Liability In a Rental Car Accident Caused by Another Driver
Texas is a fault-based insurance state with modified comparative negligence insurance laws allowing car accident victims to file claims for their property damage and medical expenses against the at-fault driver’s insurance. If someone else caused your accident, filing a compelling claim against their insurance covers damage to the rental car and reimbursement for your medical expenses, lost wages, and compensation for pain and suffering. An Austin, Texas car accident attorney investigates the accident to find evidence to prove liability. Proving liability against a negligent driver requires documenting evidence of the following:
- The at-fault party owed a duty of care to others on the road. This duty of care requires taking all reasonable measures to avoid causing accidents and injury to others
- They breached their duty of care through negligence or recklessness
- Their breach of duty directly caused an accident with property damage and injuries, and
- The injury victim suffered economic and non-economic damages from the injury
Under the comparative negligence insurance laws, as long as an accident victim is less than 51% at fault for an accident they can still recover a portion of their damages even if they contributed to the cause of the accident.
How Can an Austin Car Accident Lawyer Help?
An accident with a rental car can feel bewildering. The array of options for recovering damages after a rental car crash is different than what you’d encounter in an accident with your own vehicle. Instead of navigating this complex accident claim in Austin yourself, call the Austin accident lawyers at Shaw Cowart, LLP to meticulously explore all avenues available to you for your compensation.