Car hit by a rental car

I'm not sure if you were injured in this accident, but if you were, you should contact an experienced personal injury attorney immediately. Most personal injury attorneys in Florida will take your case on a contingency basis, which means you don't have to pay anything up front and you will only pay a percentage of any money recovered on your behalf. Furthermore, once a personal injury attorney accepts your case, he/he will most likely handle the property damage portion of the claim as well. However if you are not going to be hiring an attorney to represent you, the first thing you should do is contact your auto insurance company if you have not done so already. Once you contact them, they will open a claim and assign at least one adjuster to your claim. It is important that you explain to the assigned adjuster exactly how the accident occurred, whether the police cited the driver of the other vehicle and where the points of impact were on both vehicles. You should also get a copy of the full police report as soon as you can and forward it to the adjuster. Often times you will only receive a short form police report at the scene of the accident and will have to pick up the full report directly from the police department. The full report will show whether the other driver was cited and what he was charged with. Often it will also include a diagram of the location where the accident occurred along with the direction each vehicle was traveling, what lanes they were in and the points of impact. Your insurance company has no interest in paying for any damages resulting from this accident so they will address all liability issues with Alamo. If Alamo still refuses to accept liability and you have collision coverage on your auto insurance policy, then your insurance company will pay to have your car fixed. The problem with this is that most collision policies have a deductible, which means that you may be responsible for paying a part of your repairs. Most collision deductibles range between $250 and $1,000.00. You can find your deductible amount in the declarations page of your auto insurance policy. After your insurance has paid to repair your vehicle, they will begin a process called subrogation, whereby they will try to collect from Alamo any amounts they paid to fix your vehicle plus your deductible. If they are successful, they will recover your deductible and send you a check for that amount. Often times, car rental companies are self-insured, which means that they do not have insurance that pays for damages caused by their vehicles and they must pay claims out of their own pockets. Unfortunately, this means that they can sometimes become a bit difficult to deal with because they try to delay or not pay on claims that they are clearly liable for.

Charge you for what? Were you injured or was this just a property damage accident? If Alamo is contending the accident was your fault then let your insurance company handle it. If you were injured you need to consult with a personal injury attorney ASAP who can explain the various insurance coverges which would apply in this accident and your rights. Good Luck.

First off, please get yourself checked out by a doctor as soon as possible. Although you state you were not injured, it is always better to be safe than sorry. Second, if the accident was not your fault, you should explain this to Alamo, and back it up using the police report for the accident, which should say that the driver in the rental car was at fault. If you have insurance, let them handle it.

In having an Orlando accident law practice, I have seen this situation before - We obviously have a lot of rental cars in the area. I would need to know more of the details of what specifically happened, and how I could prove that the other driver was completely negligent in causing the accident - I can not tell from what you have posted. The consultation should be free. I suggest you meet with a local, experienced Florida accident attorney to discuss your options. I hope this is helpful for you.

Call one of us today so we know the full facts and can fully advise you. As a former insurance adjuster, I can tell you that rental car cases involving Alamo are difficult, and throwing the fact that this was a tourist into the mix makes it an even twistier issue in light of the Graves Amendment, 49 U.S.C § 30106. The Graves Amendment isn't an insurmountable barrier, but it does complicate issues that requires careful investigation. Many self-styled attorneys aren't aware if the Graves Amendment or the FL Supreme Court's decision in Vargas v. Enterprise Leasing Co., 36 Fla. L. Weekly S187a (Fla. 2011). The issue will come hinge on the driver's liability coverage versus Hertz was negligent or guilty of criminal wrongdoing. There are many factors that one must weigh and argue when an attorney handles such a case. Additionally, it seems as if Hertz is arguing comparative negligence on your part in order to deny liability. Florida is a pure comparative negligence state. This means that it is rare to find a case in which one party is 100% at fault except in rear end collisions. That usually because drivers can avoid most crashes. What pure comparative negligence means is you can recover the portion of your loss for which you were not at fault. Here is a simple explanation of how comparative negligence works: You are in a crash in the other party is 80% at fault. Your damages are one dollar. You can collect $.80. The other driver, if he has a dollar worth of damages, can collect $.20. Now, about cops, tickets, and liability: Cops do not decide liability and tickets are not admissible evidence. Adjustors decide liability in a case that does not go to trial. As a former claims adjuster, I know how to discuss liability and injuries with my former colleagues. I’m constantly amazed at how many self-styled “personal injury attorneys” do not know how insurance adjusters and insurance companies work. Without that knowledge, I don’t think an attorney can effectively negotiate claims that are not worth the policy limits. I spent years as an adjuster paying attorneys the least amount of money that I could, and there was usually more money in my range when I settled claims. That was my job. Now, I work on the other side of the fence. If the case does go to trial, then a jury decides liability. In most cases, the jury will find that both parties have some fault. Think of the most critical and illogical person you know, multiple those traits by a factor of 100, and you have your typical six jurors whom the insurance industry has convinced that you are not injured and are seeking money for nothing. I’ve literally heard jurors say “all plaintiffs exaggerate to get more money” and worse. My job in a trial is to persuade those jaded jurors to see things your way, from your perspective, and for one brief, shining moment, filled with the light of justice, feel your pain and give you the compensation you deserve. If you like one of our answers, contact that attorney and get a free telephone consultation. Don't listen to attorneys who tell you to "find a local attorney." That is utterly ridiculous old-school thinking. Your insurance adjuster probably is not located in your city or county, and she is possibly even in another state. Why should attorneys limit themselves to their cities? Some smaller cities and townships may not even have attorneys. Orlando is chock-full of them, but frankly, many attorneys "practice" personal injury but no very little about it. Find an attorney you like and trust after learning all you can about the attorney's qualifications and experience.

If you were injured, you should seek medical attention. Regarding the insurance, you should contact your carrier and inform your representative of the situation if you were not injured. If you were injured in the accident, then you need to see an experienced car accident lawyer to review your case and protect your rights to a fair settlement and compensation for your injuries.

They don't seem to get it. Evaluation of a claim is based on fault (not yours), data and story telling- mainly involving a doctor determining your permanent injuries and prognosis and the attorney using that to convince adjusters, judges or jurors that your claim has maximum value both due to your economic losses (bills and lost wages) and those you can't put into a calculator- like pain and suffering, inconvenience loss of ability to do things pain free and overall mental anguish. Give a Florida personal injury lawyer, like us, to help make that decision. Insurance carriers and companies like Alamo try to negotiate every dollar they can, because every $100 means millions in the end to the Board of Directors. Even in soft tissue injuries, those tissues stretch and scar, or cause corresponding pressure on nerves in the spinal cord, leaving behind permanent problems for some. I have had clients need surgeries years later because of a bulging disk and have their entire world collapse for what seemed inconsequential at the time. Insurance companies want you to settle as soon as possible and treat as little as possible. Attorneys matter. They change their gameplan when a lawyer is involved. It seems like your injuries are more serious. Plus, a good lawyer will often "pay for them self" with increased offers, decreased medical bills through negotiation and knowing what insurance carriers need to see to maximize offers. For that reason - and the misinformation by TV lawyers and referral services- is why people should consult lawyers who take the time like on sites like this. Because of the economy, more lawyers are jumping into personal injury and should stick to what they know. Personal injury law REQUIRED knowledge about medical science and biomechanics (the forces on a body in a wreck) far greater and more specific than you'd think. The other side has doctors and millions on their side to say nothing is wrong or fight the claim. If you have any further questions, feel free to email one of us.

There are a lot of factors that will determine who is ultimately going to bear responsibility for this accident. The at-fault driver will hopefully have insurance coverage, because rental car companies are protected from liability in situations like this by federal law. Your insurance may also come into play- because the rental company is seeking to assign some of the fault for this accident to you. Or, if the at-fault driver was uninsured, you may have uninsured motorist coverage through your policy. If you were not hurt in this accident, your insurance company must provide you with a defense against Alamo's claims. If you haven't informed your carrier of this accident, that should be your first move. If you were hurt, you should seek out an attorney who specializes in personal injury- your insurance company won't help, and may potential stand in the way of a fair recovery. A good attorney can help you sort out all the different issues with insurance and liability and lead you to a fair result.

You say that you were not injured. So, this is a property damage claim only. Just send the letter to your insurance company and do not worry about it further. If you want the deductible paid for your own car damage, you will have to sue the tourist or the insurance company for the tourist (not Alamo, due to federal legislation). It may not be worth the expense to do so.