USAFAN

What? Hertz does not pay....?!? I always believed, that a THIRD-PARTY-DAMAGE was covered by the rental-car-insurance.... Is this true or not?If they don't pay, just because you did not report the accident in a timely manner, you may contest this.

notam2

The last time I rented a car in VA (Avis), I specifically asked about liability insurance before I got the keys, and the agent said:

By Virginia law, we must provide you with the legal minimum amount of third party liability insurance. If you would like $1 million coverage, you need to pay the extra $12 per day. If you do not pay $12 per day extra, you will still be covered by the legal minimum.

A quick check of Hertz�s policy on third party liability for VA rentals indicates:

I�m 100% positive that you had sufficient liability coverage on your rental, provided free of charge by Hertz. The problem seems to be that you didn�t report the accident to Hertz within 24 hours. Apparently, that violated their T&C and, according to them, invalidated your otherwise valid liability coverage. If so, and you truly are liable for the damage, explaining your liability to State Farm might get them to pony up the $$ required. My guess is that State Farm is not being very helpful since they believe you had another policy that provided you protection (and they�re right, you had one � the question is whether or not you can still file a claim against it). My suggestion would be to call Hertz back and give them hell. They include liability coverage with their rental, tell them you damn well want to use it, and it isn�t your fault if you didn�t read every little line of their T&C�s.

Edited to add:

Worst case scenario, nicely ask the driver of the other vehicle to sue Hertz. The owner of a vehicle is ALWAYS responsible for the actions of an authorized driver. Maybe Hertz would come after you if you violated their T&C's, but I doubt it since the loss is within the limits of the liability coverage that you had.

fastflyer

I think that the Hertz state-mandated liability insurance is responsible for the first $10,000 of liability. Has anyone (you or owner of damaged car) filed a claim with Hertz' insurance carrier?

Schurr

I think Hertz is liable. I assume that the purpose of the 24-hour reporting rule is more evidentiary than contractual. They want you to report the damage promptly so they can investigative if necessary. Otherwise, you could claim you hit any pre-dented car and get Hertz to pay for repairs. But in this case, you've got the police photographs, the police report, and the testimony of the police officers to prove that you caused the damage while driving their car. Can you get your State Farm claims adjuster to get on Hertz's case?

I've had legal cases where parking lots have tryied to avoid paying for damages that they've caused by asserting that the parker did not promptly report the accident. (In one case, it was cold and dark and the victim did not see the damage until after they left the lot, went home, parked in their garage, and got up the next day.) The only remedy was to go to small claims court and hope the judge believed my client more than the parking lot owner.

Steve

Brattflyer

Just to wind this up, I finally ( with the help of you FTers, thanks) got the manger of the Hertz Dulles station to admit that hertz is responsible for the damage. He said it was the first he'd heard of it (sure it was). Now it's up to the person I hit to figure out how to get Hertz to pay. He says they have been stonewalling and rude. State Farm says it's none of their business.

Any suggestions?

notam2

I'd probably call Hertz and start by asking the name of their insurance carrier and policy #. Not sure if they're self-insured or not. Make sure they have a report on file as to the accident, if you haven't filed one with Hertz already. Give them the incident # and police force so that they can obtain a police report....the name of the other driver, etc. etc. All the standard accident stuff. I'd guess the driver of the damaged car should contact Hertz's insurance adjuster. Good luck if he wants to avoid having his insurance company find out about this though....I'm sure Hertz's insurer will ask about the other driver's insurance policy and report the accident to them (at least that's how it works where I live). Good news is, even if they do report the accident to his insurer, his insurance rates will not go up for having someone hit his parked car.

CrazyOne

Ah, Hertz at IAD! Now it all makes sense. The frequent Hertz renters often single out IAD with a few others as the worst stations in the system. I'm guessing this incident is just one more way they continue to demonstrate their inattention to customer service at that location.

You might want to contact Hertz corporate and complain about your treatment. Maybe they can get you to a person who can be helpful.

Schurr

Fill out the necessary paperwork with Hertz and consider sending the owner of the damaged car a fax or e-mail informing them that Hertz has admitted liability under Virginia law, give them your rental contract number, your accident report number, the contact info of the Hertz Manager at Dulles and recommend that they send estimates for repairs to Hertz. Tell them to contact Hertz from now on as it's no longer your problem. I agree with USA_Flyer that a new car door seems excessive unless you really plowed into the parked car.

As for State Farm not "being there," it makes me want to switch to Geico.

Steve