Is the at fault drivers insurance responsible for securing a rental car?

Answer 1

Insurance Claims and Rental Cars"No", The insurer is not responsible for securing you a rental car, although they may owe you compensation for the costs. Some may assist you in making arrangements or locating a a rental car agency for you as a courtesy.

The Rental car company makes its own policies as to whom they will rent a vehicle and whom they will not. The insured can not compel a rental car company to provide you a rental vehicle. You will have to qualify for the rental car yourself.

The At Fault party insurer can be required to "Reimburse" you for certain expenses incurred due to a loss of use of your vehicle, but "NO", they don't have to rent a car for you. It may, however, do so as a matter of good business and to engender good will.

The question also calls into play the elements of damages to which you may be entitled as a victim of someone else's negligence. If your car was rendered damaged so as to have lost the use of it (either permanently or while undergoing repair), "loss of use" damages are part of your recoverable damages. That is, you ordinarily have a claim against the adverse party not just for the repair cost of your car, but also for the loss of use of it. In many states, that element of damages is recoverable whether or not you actually rent a temporary substitute vehicle.

If your car was rendered a "total loss" as a result of a collision that was not your fault, you are likewise entitled to "loss of use" damages, and they can be measured by the reasonable cost to rent a like kind and quality aitomobile. However, in the case of a total loss, your right to loss of use damages (for example, a rental vehicle) may terminate when the adverse party, or his/her insurer pays you the actual cash value of your car (because you are thereby deemed to have been made whole).