We have probably all rented a car at some point in time. Many of us don’t fully understand how the insurance coverage for a rental car works. In Virginia, the rental car company is required to provide liability coverage of whatever the statutory minimum limits are. Over and above that, your own auto policy may apply.
If the person driving the car is not an authorized driver under the rental contract, that may be a problem. There may not be any coverage from the rental car company. There may not be any coverage under your policy. There may not even be any coverage under the driver’s auto policy. To learn more about filing a claim after a rental car accident, contact our auto accident attorney.
How Does Underinsured Coverage Apply in Rental Car Accidents?
Your underinsured motorist coverage follows you everywhere. You might think of it as being stuck to your body. Whether you’re in a rental car, a bus, a truck, or elsewhere, that UIM coverage applies.
Take an example of where you are the driver of a rental car. You are hit by a motorist who has minimum insurance coverage. Your coverage under the UIM policy stacks on top of that coverage.
If you are a passenger in a rental car, then the rental car company policy covers the driver. You may then also have access to the other motorist’s liability insurance coverage. In addition, your UIM coverage may apply. If some resident relatives live with you, then their UIM coverage may also apply to cover you.
Those complicated issues of insurance coverage all need to be fully explored.
The Rental Policy May Be a Subterfuge
Many companies have contracts with the large rental car companies. What they do is that the car is actually rented in the name of the driver, i.e., the employee. The car may be owned by Hertz, but it is driven by the employee on behalf of Company X, for example. Finding out who that employer is can be difficult. They have purposely made it that way. They don’t want you to find out within the two-year statute of limitations that, in fact, this guy that plowed into you was an Company X employee. To find that out, you have to subpoena the records from the rental car company. They typically will stall you.
If the actual renter of the vehicle is someone like Company X, then Company X may not be the direct employer of the driver. There may be some intermediary company that may be the direct employer.
The point to be made is that you need to discover all of that within the two-year statute of limitations; otherwise, your claim against the responsible party may be time-barred.