Rental Car Day Limits

Hefe

Super Genius
100+ Post Club
167
I was talking with a prospect today about why he was looking to change his auto insurance. He wasn't happy with Allstate because his policy had a $50/day limit for rental car. He had recently been in an accident and wanted to drive a car equivalent to his Mercedes but couldn't do so on $50/day.

If the accident was the other party's fault, isn't it their responsibility to make this prospect whole, which would include driving a car as safe as his own vehicle? The $50 limit on his own policy shouldn't apply. I told him to rent the car he wanted and include the additional cost in his lawsuit.

Another issue I've seen in the past is the company covering the at fault party authorized a rental car for the claimant but only gave 5-7 days of coverage for the rental car. The car was in the shop 10+ days. Again, isn't it the at-fault party's responsibility to make the claimant whole, including a rental car the full time the car is in the shop?

And RBA, I tried to search but it requires a captcha verification that I couldn't get to show up...
 
Re: Rental Car

You're insured rental policy of $50/day is w/ his insurance company. If he were to get into an accident and wanted to use his insurance co to fix his car,whether or not it was his fault, he would be limited to $50/day for a rental car. If he needed more than that, he would have to pay the difference or increase his rental coverage on his policy.

Now if your insured were to go through the at fault party's insurance co, they would pay for a similar or like model of your insured up to the PD limits. Meaning if your insured drove a full size 4 door Mercedes, they would pay for the least expensive full size 4 door possible. Make of the vehicle doesn't matter, unless your there is a good reason he must have a Mercedes. ie Business use as oppose to lifestyle reasons.

As far as number of rental days the at fault party will issue, the insurance company will 1st try to determine how long it will take to have your insured vehicle fixed and go off that. Lets say they determine it'll take 7 days, then that's how many days they will initially authorize. If he needs more than that, they will determine why he does. If its because of delays at the body shop or there were more damages than the initially appraised, then they will grant more days. If it were reasons such as your insured delaying bringing or picking up his vehicle, then they will not approve the additional days. Remember, insured has to mitigate his damages, whether or not it is his fault for the accident.
 
Re: Rental Car

Thanks for the input. I guess I see both sides on this one and wondered what happened in the real claims world.

If he reports it to his insurance company, they are going to subrogate against the at-fault party's carrier anyway. Why not ask for $70/day in rental car from that carrier? I realize that they don't do that but if the party with damages is to be made whole, he should be able to drive a Mercedes while his car is in the shop whether it's for safety, business or whatever reason.

As for the second part, I've seen carriers that don't even wait for the estimate to authorize a number of rental car days, and not budge. I had an insured with an out of pocket rental bill of several hundred dollars because the carrier gave him less days than it took to repair the car. I've actually used this as a selling point to add rental car to the policies I write.
 
Re: Rental Car

tell your client not to be so friggin high maintance,

actually, your post is pretty un-believable, who cares if someone was hurt in the crash, as long as I get my upgrade!
 
Re: Rental Car

Rental car is the must if you only own one car. It's no brainer to sell. And it usually the biggest issue if the client did not buy it and had a claim. $50 a day is plenty. Allstate offers $100 a day as well. That's is a waste of money. I sell $30 a day.
 
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