Someone has to cover the expenses created by the damages and injuries. Who should get saddled with that responsibility?
In most situations the driver’s own policy can cover the expenses.
Typically, a complete policy includes collision, comprehensive coverage, liability coverage, personal effects coverage and money to cover medical expenses. However, if the driver had tried to save money by taking out a policy that included only liability coverage, then that particular document would not offer a sufficient level of protection. In other words, it could not cover all of the expenses that might be created as the consequences of a collision, one that had involved a rented vehicle.
Other ways that the driver’s own insurance could prove insufficient:
If the accident had taken place in a country that was different from the driver’s native land, then the policy held by that same motorist would not cover the collision-related expenses.
Personal injury lawyer in Fort Erie knows that any policy’s terms state what deductibles the policyholder must pay, and what limits exist, regarding the size of payments made, following an accident. The policies sold by companies that rent cars and trucks do not come with a deductible. That fact underscores one of the primary reasons that it pays to buy the added insurance, when renting a vehicle.
By the same token, the limits on the policy sold by the agency with the rental cars could be much greater than the limits on the hit driver’s own insurance. If that were the case, then any drivers that visited the same agency would probably be wise to purchase the extra level of insurance coverage.
How was the rented vehicle paid for?
Did the vehicle’s driver pay with cash or with a credit card? Credit card companies like to provide card users with a special service, one that does not get used every day. Frequently, a sentence on the card’s reverse side indicates that the card company has agreed to pay the expenses that might be created by an accident, after the same card had been used to rent some type of motor vehicle.
Not every credit card offers such a service, although most major credit card companies do promise such coverage, should it prove necessary. If you plan to be renting a car or truck in the near future, then you ought to read what is on the reverse side of any plastic document that you expect to present at the rental agency.
Of course, it you were using cash, then you could not rely on that service. In that case, you would be taking a risk, if you chose to refuse the offer of what amounted to a bit of extra protection. Indeed, you might regret having made that refusal.