DavidH6

USA driver rented car in Canada and hit my car in NY. Police Report puts him at 100% blame and that he made an illegal turn.
The driver has no private car insurance, was legally allowed to rent a car, but not legally allowed to cross into USA, as he is 24 and rental company specifies that renter must be => 25 in order to cross the border to USA.
Driver has US license, not Canadian.

With whom do I make a claim?
Is the rental car company (Enterprise) liable?

guv1976

Welcome to FlyerTalk! I'm sorry about the unfortunate circumstances which brought you here.

I do not know whether Enterprise is liable in these circumstances, where a renter improperly drove one of their cars across the border. The answer to that question might depend on Canadian (provincial?) law.

If I found myself in your situation, and if I had collision insurance on my personal auto, I would probably discuss the situation with my insurance agent/carrier and see what they suggest. It's possible that they might be willing to contact Enterprise on your behalf, even if you do not file a claim with your own insurer.

What is the estimated amount of damage to your vehicle? And what is the deductible on your collision coverage, if you have such coverage? Any idea what the other driver's occupation is, and whether he has any assets in New York State?

DavidH6

Thanks for the reply.
I should have pointed out that I do not have collision coverage on my personal car.
My own insurer is therefore of limited help.
I realize that ultimately I might have to pursue this directly with the driver, but was wondering whether the car owner (Enterprise Canada) is liable and to what extent the driver's having violated their contract and being negligent makes a difference.
So far, I've had a run-around from Enterprise and their insurer (Chubb), with no one having started a claim.

guv1976

I would still reach out to my personal auto insurer, even without collision coverage. They might be able to provide useful guidance on how to proceed.

VegasGambler

My understanding is that "collision insurance" covers damage to your vehicle when you are at fault. I don't think that that's relevant here.

My understanding is that there is also something separate called "uninsured driver" coverage which covers damage that should be covered by the other driver's liability insurance in cases where the other driver isn't properly insured. Do you have that? (it's usually very cheap)

Basically you should be covered by either the other driver's liability coverage or, if that doesn't exist, your uninsured driver coverage.

It's also possible that I'm completely wrong. Read your policy carefully.

guv1976

In NYS, uninsured-motorist coverage only covers bodily injury; it does not cover damage to the insured's vehicle:

https://www.dfs.ny.gov/consumers/aut...e_requirements

("Minimum Auto Insurance Requirements Coverage")

And collision insurance covers damage to the insured's vehicle resulting from collision -- regardless of who is at fault. If the other driver is at fault, one's insurer can go after the at-fault driver or his insurer -- if he has one.

VegasGambler

I see, thanks for that. I figured that it would vary state-to-state.

DavidH6

Thanks everyone.
Yes, without collision coverage, my policy is limited to liability for others' property, not my own.
And GEICO, my insurer (or at least the agents I've spoken to) is not sure what the rules are when it comes to a Canadian-owned rental in a case like this.

Was just checking here, in case someone would maybe know something about such a situation.

guv1976

Is the extent of the damage to your vehicle within the jurisdictional limits of New York small-claims courts? Does the other driver live close enough to you so that suing him in small-claims court is an option?

I think that it's a pretty good bet that if the other driver were sued, he'd be reaching out to Enterprise pretty quickly.

Chemystery

I would absolutely reach out to Enterprise about this. Everything I see on their site says their vehicles can be brought into the US, and it does not show a minimum age for doing so, just a minimum age for the rental itself. It does show a young driver fee, which I am assuming is due to increased likelihood of accidents. Good luck with this, and please share how it turns out.

DavidH6

Thanks to everyone for the replies.
Today was a legal holiday in Canada.
I will see tmw whether there's any change in ENterprise's, their insurer's, or their claims service having started a claim.
So far, since last week, none have responded to me or GEICO.

to Chemystery:
Enterprise Montreal shows in the "Cross Border Policy" tab:Travel to the United States is limited to renters 25 years of age or older.

zephyr17

Ultimately, the liability lies with the driver. Liability coverage is usually provided by the car rental company as part of providing the rental. They are indemnifying the driver in that case. However, in this case they may deny coverage because the driver was in violation of the rental agreement. That is a matter between the driver and the rental car company.

Enterprise itself is not liable. Their liability coverage is indemnifying the driver against financial liability to a third party (you) in case of an accident.

The unfortunate answer is you may need to go after the driver directly. It is up to him to get Enterprise involved and try to get them to indemnify him. If you had collision coverage, your insurance company would subrogate against the driver and collect for their expenses as well as your deductible. Insurance companies are experts in subrogation, it happens all the time, and they can easily cut through any confusion as to financial responsibility. They would be coordinating directly with the driver and the department handling claims for Enterprise (they'd know how to contact them directly).

It is unfortunate that the driver is young and is likely low on financial resources. He may be able to involve his own car insurance company if Enterprise denies coverage. Coverage follows the car, but the driver's own insurance is usually secondary to the vehicle's owner. So if coverage is denied, ideally they should step in as secondary, although the contract violation may give them an out as well, because he was not really in legal possession of the car.

Bottom line is you need to start with the driver here. Contact him as soon as possible, at least partly because if you can get his own insurance involved, they can deny coverage on the basis of "timely filing" if not notified of the accident. On many policies that limit is 60 days.

Hopefully, the damages are within small claims court limits, so you can proceed against him legally without having to retain an attorney, should it come to that.

Unfortunately, there is a very good chance you will not be able to collect here and will have to eat the repair bills. The only silver lining is the driver is a US resident. If they were Canadian, you'd likely be completely SOL.

guv1976

From the OP:

"The driver has no private car insurance."

zephyr17

okay, then he has no hope of collecting from anyone except Enterprise or the driver himself. It does not change the recommendation to contact the driver as the responsible party. And there remains a decent chance that Enterprise can and will step away due to rental contract violation.

It is a bad situation and the OP is likely stuck. I just wanted to cover all his possible options to get out of it and "timely filing" coverage denials are a real things so I wanted to be sure the OP was aware of them. It is insurance esoterica that many people are not aware of until it bites them.

DavidH6

Thanks.
Will see what happens in the next couple of days, as I assume that once he turns in his damaged rental, the process (whatever it will be) will get moving in one direction or another.
Despite his having a NY license, the fellow lives in Montreal.

I would think that some entity other than the driver would also have liability, as I assume that one cannot drive in NY without minimal liability coverage.