Can I get a rental car by myself now and ask for reimbursement later?

[jonkaro]

A left-turn car caused an accident last Friday, 6 days ago. The left-turn car hit a fast-lane car and push it to the slow lane which I was driving. My car was damaged and towed in this accident. The left-turn car was insured by 2 insurance companies. LibertyMutual (L) is one of the two insurance companies. It looks like L will take the liability. Somehow L still not give me the rental car request. We have three working people here. We only have one car since then. We cannot stand this anymore. Can I get a rental car by myself now and ask L to reimburse me later if L takes the liability for this accident?

 

[thewordiswisdom]

@jonkaro Carriers get a negotiated rate that you won't get, yet you'll be expecting dull reimbursement. You don't know how much coverage they have as adding a rental may take you near or over their policy limits.

 

[jonkaro]

@thewordiswisdom Thank you for your important points. There are three cars involved. If the limit is reached, what will happen to the excess parts? For example, if the left-turn car's limit is $50000, the fast-lane car needs a total of $45000 compensation, and my car needs a total of $20000 compensation. There is a $15000 excessive. The driver will pay the $15000? if the driver doesn't want to pay, go to court? It looks like insurance is not a simple thing.

 

[thewordiswisdom]

@jonkaro It appears the left turn lane guy is responsible for all damages. The other party was pushed into you but they don't seem to have been negligent at all. If there's not enough coverage they will split the coverage between the vehicles. Or you could file under your own policy and you can use your own rental coverage if you have it.

 

[jonkaro]

@thewordiswisdom We only bought third-party insurance. We don't have rental coverage.

 

[thewordiswisdom]

@jonkaro All you can do is wait or be prepared not to be reimbursed.

 

[jonkaro]

@thewordiswisdom I heard that the car is operated as a Uber car at that moment. Google tells me the Uber's insurance policy is this:

You're insured for liability to a third party if you're in a covered accident where you're at fault and you're online but haven't received a trip request yet. Coverage is at least $50,000 in injury liability per person, $100,000 in total liability per accident, and $25,000 in property damage liability per accident.

So the auto damage policy limit is $100,000? This should be enough for this accident I think. My car is a Toyota Camry. Another car is a Toyota SUV.

 

[thewordiswisdom]

@jonkaro No, the auto damage limti is $25k.

 

[jonkaro]

@thewordiswisdom I cannot believe Uber only cover $25K. It even cannot total ONE good car. I know the faulty driver has two insurance, one for personal use (GEIGO) and one for business (LibertyMutual). If the business insurance limit is excessed. Should he use GEIGO to cover the rest? How do the two insurances work here?

 

[jonkaro]

@thewordiswisdom I am sorry I read Google results wrong. The actual Uber insurance policy is here: https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/insurance/

It says this:

- En route to pick up riders and during trips

Uber maintains the following auto insurance on your behalf in case of a covered accident:

- $1,000,000 third-party liability

- Uninsured/underinsured motorist bodily injury and/or first-party injury insurance²

- Contingent comprehensive and collision³

-- Up to actual cash value of car with a $2,500 deductible

There is no serious personal injury in this accident. So the max limit is about $1M? There should be enough funds to cover our losses, right?

 

[thewordiswisdom]

@jonkaro Yep.

 

[andiluvs]

@jonkaro Make this simple and file with your own carrier. Keep receipts for any out-of-pocket expenses you incur and get those to your carrier to add to their subrogation demand.