Cowen Edwards Trial Lawyers represents victims hurt in Fort Lauderdale car accidents involving rental cars. Our Fort Lauderdale lawyers offer free consultations to all injured victims. Contact our offices to find out what your case may be worth. You’ll learn how to keep a rental car company from unfairly blaming you and how to hold a car insurance company fully responsible for recovery costs.
How Do I Know If I Need a Lawyer After a Fort Lauderdale Car Accident?
If your car accident involves only very minor injuries or only property damage, you may not need the help of a lawyer for your case. But if you are seriously hurt in a car crash caused by another driver, you may be able to get more out of your injury claim with the help of our skilled Fort Lauderdale Rental Car Accident Lawyers.
When things like a broken bone or brain trauma cause medical bills to build up, car insurance companies look for ways to blame you for your accident or downplay your injuries. Having an attorney handling your case protects you from their tactics. Your lawyer may also have to submit powerful evidence to keep a rental car business from trying to pin all fault on you. Your lawyer fights back to make sure you receive every benefit available and the maximum in compensation.
Rental Car Accident Dangers
Plenty of people visiting our beautiful area rent cars when they arrive at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Some local residents may drive around in a rental car as they get their vehicles repaired from a previous accident.
It’s a lot of drivers in unfamiliar cars along with some drivers who are unfamiliar with local boulevards and highways. You can be in your own SUV when you are struck from behind by a driver staring at a map on a cellphone. You might be in a luxury rental vehicle when someone slams into you head-on.
You’ll want to make sure injuries get attention first, but then you’ll have time to wonder how you can hold a careless driver responsible. You’ll likely also wonder if a rental car company will try to hold you responsible no matter who was at fault.
Another driver may accept blame, but a rental car company might still demand that you pay for damages immediately so they can get their rental car back on the road. It may only be later that you receive reimbursement from the other driver’s insurer.
Rental car companies like Enterprise and Hertz can also afford corporate lawyers to fight you on your case and find ways to help their companies escape responsibility. If your case will involve more than a thousand dollars in damages, it’s a good idea to speak to a skilled Fort Lauderdale Rental Car Accident Lawyer about protecting your rights.
Who Can I Hold Liable After a Fort Lauderdale Car Accident Involving a Rental Car?
The insurance company that can be held liable in your accident will depend on who was at fault and the insurance coverage you carry or you purchased from the rental business.
Your Cowen Edwards car accident lawyer will help you sort out who can be held responsible for what happened to you. In some cases that may be multiple parties all contributing to your recovery funds.
These are a few of the ways your rental car collision might be resolved:
- The at-fault driver’s insurance pays. In many accidents, both drivers are covered by their own car insurance policies. There may be one driver in a personal car and one motorist in a rental car involved. The accident would be resolved like any other Florida traffic accident. An injury claim would be sent to the at-fault driver’s auto insurance provider. However, not all regular car insurance policies cover their policyholders when they purchase a rental car.
- Covered by credit card. Paying for your rental car with a credit card may help you avoid having to pay for damage to your rental. Some credit cards give you protection against damage to your rented vehicle. But be aware that coverage usually doesn’t cover you if you’re injured. It probably won’t cover injury costs for any victims you injure or for the cost of repairs to someone else’s vehicle. Make sure you have additional coverage from another source!
- Insurance Bought With the Rental Car Contract. Rental car businesses like Economy and Sixt also offer you car accident insurance when you pay for your rental. Some of these policies only help you if you damage the rental vehicle. Others cover medical costs for you and your passengers and/or injury costs for anyone in other vehicles you might hit.
- The Rental Car Business. A rental car company may also have to accept liability in a car accident. Your lawyer would investigate the condition of the car that was provided. The maintenance of a vehicle is the company’s responsibility. If bad brake pads or bald tires contributed to a collision, the rental business could be liable. You may be struck by a reckless driver in a rental car and find out the driver had a terrible driving record or didn’t have any insurance. Your lawyer could demand help from an insurance company if it didn’t do proper checks on a renter. fu
We Seek Full Compensation for You After a Fort Lauderdale Collision
Once your case is ready, our Fort Lauderdale attorneys file your rental car injury claim with every insurance company that should be involved.
Each hospital invoice, prescription cost, and physical therapy bill is submitted to the insurer, backed up with receipts and medical charts.
But those doctor bills won’t be the only things that will earn you money in an insurance check. Your attorney will be demanding compensation for several things you may not have known the rental company or an insurance company is liable for:
- Totals on current medical bills and estimates on the cost of care in the future
- Long-term costs associated with a permanent physical disability
- Support for the pain victim’s experience
- Support for the emotional trauma victims must cope with
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Travel costs to get to medical appointments
- Money for motorcycle repairs or replacement
- Income and benefits lost while victims miss work
- Wrongful death benefits
Families who lose a loved one in a tragic rental car crash can ask for help with burial costs and paying leftover emergency response fees. They should also demand support for the years to come when a loved one’s guidance and financial support will no longer be available.
CONTACT A FORT LAUDERDALE RENTAL CAR ACCIDENT LAWYER
A car accident on a Fort Lauderdale street or interstate can leave you feeling vulnerable and powerless. You may need major financial assistance to pay your medical bills and also your normal monthly bills before you go bankrupt. A car insurance adjuster may be telling you your injury is worth little or nothing at all in a settlement.
Allow Cowen Edwards Trial Lawyers to handle the stress and frustration of battling the car insurance companies while you use that time to focus on healing. Contact us to schedule a free consultation and tell us what happened. Let us know about your biggest hardships since the accident and then let us go to work holding an auto insurer fully liable. If you decide we can help you earn more, you won’t need to empty your bank account to hire us. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee is paid out of the settlement money an insurance company must provide to you.