No matter who owns the vehicle you are driving, you have the same duty to act lawfully and responsibly behind the wheel as you would if you were driving your own personal vehicle. Unfortunately, not everyone who rents cars from companies like Avis, Hertz, or Enterprise operates them with the care that they should, and that combined with unfamiliar roads in a new city can very easily lead to crashes with significant consequences for everyone involved.
Rental car accidents in Mesa can serve as the basis for personal injury litigation just like crashes between privately owned vehicles, but they can also make for deceptively complex civil cases on numerous levels. If you have been hurt in a wreck caused by someone driving a rental car or by another negligent driver while you were in a rental car yourself, you should make contacting the car accident attorneys at Phillips Law Group one of your top priorities.
What to Do After a Wreck Involving a Rental Car
Many of the same actions that can help strengthen a standard car accident claim can also be very helpful after a rental car crash in Mesa, most notably staying at the scene until police arrive and exchanging contact and insurance information with everyone else involved in order to avoid a possible criminal charge for “hit and run.”
Likewise, unless the wreck has resulted in injuries serious enough to require emergency medical care, it can be beneficial to get contact information from witnesses and make note of nearby surveillance or dashboard cameras which may have captured the crash as it happened, as well as to take photos or videos of the accident scene and all vehicle damage.
Another important thing to do specifically after a rental car wreck is to make note of the company that rented the car(s) involved in that accident. Even something as simple as basic details about the car’s make or model or a partial license plate can be key to identifying who owns the car and who may have insurance coverage to file a claim against.
Maximizing Recovery From Every Possible Source
Of course, it should be emphasized that rental car companies are very rarely directly liable for accidents and injuries caused by people they rented vehicles to, except for extreme circumstances where a company employee did something negligent like give the key to a renter who did not have a valid driver’s license or was visibly impaired by alcohol. The availability of insurance coverage provided by the rental company may also vary from case to case depending on the company itself and whether the person driving the rental car chose to purchase extra insurance add-ons when booking their rental.
In virtually every situation, though, it will be possible to make a claim against the personal auto insurance of a negligent rental car driver in Mesa, as well as personal collision and comprehensive coverage policies if applicable. A qualified legal professional can help make effective use of all available insurance options for a particular situation and/or assist with filing a civil suit directly against the driver(s) responsible for the wreck.
Contact a Mesa Attorney for Help After a Rental Car Accident
While there may be various private enterprises and insurance providers involved in the aftermath of a rental car accident in Mesa, the basic legal underpinnings of a rental car accident claim are the same as any other. You are owed a “duty of care” by everyone else with whom you share the road, and anyone who “breaches” that duty through a traffic violation or any other “negligent” action may hold civil liability for the effects of any traffic accident they cause through their misconduct.
Help is available through every step of the financial recovery process from the capable auto accident attorneys at Phillips Law Group. Contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation with one of our experienced lawyers to get the process of obtaining justice for you or a loved one started without delay.
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