Originally Posted by
duxfan
My recommendation is that if you have a local.agent, you call them to advise of the situation. That way, if a claim is filed against you, you will have someone who is aware of the situation. Ultimately you and your insurance would be responsible if the other driver for some reason fails to do so. The police report in your favor is going to make it hard for the other company to refuse the claim. However, if for some reason it happens, your insurance will likely pay, and then go after the other company to recover the cost. It's a pain, yes. But it sounds like you have every thing lined up. Good luck!
This. It's called "subrogation" and it happens every day. They are used to it. Just give them your insurance info and let the insurance companies battle it out.
As far as responsibility for damages is concerned, it might be helpful to think of this in terms of a chain of liability:
* You borrowed (rented) a car from National, and agreed to bring it back undamaged.
* You didn't (because you were hit by a 3rd party)
* You are responsible for making National whole
* The other guy is responsible for making *you* whole.
Say I borrow your fishing pole. I'm down at the dock fishing away, and some dude brushes by, bumps my elbow, and knocks your pole in the water. Would you be ok with me coming back and saying "hey, your pole is gone, but some dude (who you don't know, and have no prior relationship with) says he will buy you a new one"? Or would you expect me to replace it - and work it out with Mr Clumsy myself?
Another, more extreme example, that actually happened to my wife:
Wife is on her way home from work, & is sitting still in rush-hour traffic. A construction worker is cruising along at freeway speed in a pickup truck, with its bed completely filled with stacks of roofing shingles. The driver, who later freely admitted that he wasn't paying attention, rear-ended a stopped car. We will call that Car
#6 . Car 6 was shoved into Car 5, which was shoved into Car 4, which was shoved into Car 3 (wife), which was shoved into Car 2, which was shoved into Car 1. All 7 vehicles were totaled. Amazingly, no one was seriously hurt.
The damage to our car was paid by the insurance of the car behind my wife, and the damage to the car in front of us was paid by our insurance, etc, etc. Once all of impacted (ha!) drivers were taken care of, their insurance providers went after the insurer of the guy who caused the accident. Our insurance told us later that he didn't have sufficient liability to cover the entire loss, so his company just paid up to his policy limits and walked away (and probably non-renewed him at the end of his current policy)