I was driving in my 2021 tesla model 3 with my wife in near home and got hit in the rear by a ford escape. The driver was nice and gave me her drivers license. She told us that the car was a rental car and that she only has the details of the rental agreement. I took a pic of her drivers license and her rental agreement (has the AVIS reference number, car model). I also took pics of the minor damage at the rear of my car. There were no damages on her car. I have the sentry mode video of her bumping into my car as well. I filed a police report online 2 hours after the accident. Now, should I contact AVIS? contact my own insurance company (tesla insurance)? I don't technically have the "insurance" info from this lady. When I asked about insurance, she kept on saying the car is a rental car. I'm a 25 y/o driver with no previous accident history, has 5 years of driving experience. Am I wrong if I file a claim through my telsa insurance if its her fault?
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Not at fault accident with a rental car - what should I do
- Thread starter ngnatte
- Start date
Avis does not cover accidents. You'll need to call your own insurer and have them track down the driver's info from Avis, so they can get her insurance info. If she has none, or is under-insured, your carrier will handle it, subject to your deductible.
this sucks, sorry.
edited to add: if you have a copy of her Avis agreement, go ahead and give Avis a call first. They might have her insurance info. by law, she has to have her own insurance, or purchase thru Avis. (But most don't do the latter.)
Good luck.
this sucks, sorry.
edited to add: if you have a copy of her Avis agreement, go ahead and give Avis a call first. They might have her insurance info. by law, she has to have her own insurance, or purchase thru Avis. (But most don't do the latter.)
Good luck.
Last edited:
Could be this: ALI
Although I don't know anyone who has ever bought it. I certainly never have, because my own insurance and my credit card both cover rentals.
Um. A lot depends upon what State you’re in. In New Jersey and Massachusetts, two States of which I’ve lived in, auto insurance is “no-fault”. That means, in general, that your insurance company pays you minus the deductible, and then runs the other insurance company ragged on your behalf. In a couple of cases, they’ve even recovered the deductible for me from the other guys. In no-fault states, the insurance commission for the state has teeth and will scare the gee-whillikers out of a company that doesn’t pay up.
In other states it’s you chasing after the perp’s insurance company. This happened to me in Indiana one year and you would not believe the hoops those people put me through. It’s not unusual to have to hire your own personal lawyer to go after the other guy’s insurance company. And now you know why lawyers often lobby, hard, against laws that makes a state’s insurance no-fault.
Two things. If you have the video of the perp hitting you, preserve that sucker. You’ll need it.
It’s also a very good idea to get the police to show up and officially write up an accident report. Without that or the video, it’ll be your word against the other driver’s, and that’s assuming the rental company can find (or wants to find) the perp.
In any case, contact your insurance company asap. It’s often written into the policy that you have to do that. In fact, right this minute, get out your magnifying glasses and read the mouse print. Nobody else is going to do it for you. Get started, and call the insurance company.
One exception about calling your insurance company: if the damage is fairly light, the deductible is pretty close to how much it’s going to take to get it fixed, and your particular insurance company is infamous for raising rates for having an accident, even if it’s not your fault. In that case it might just be smarter to fix it yourself and swallow the costs. But that’s a pretty narrow window, given that Teslas are kind of famous for being expensive to repair.
Get moving.
In other states it’s you chasing after the perp’s insurance company. This happened to me in Indiana one year and you would not believe the hoops those people put me through. It’s not unusual to have to hire your own personal lawyer to go after the other guy’s insurance company. And now you know why lawyers often lobby, hard, against laws that makes a state’s insurance no-fault.
Two things. If you have the video of the perp hitting you, preserve that sucker. You’ll need it.
It’s also a very good idea to get the police to show up and officially write up an accident report. Without that or the video, it’ll be your word against the other driver’s, and that’s assuming the rental company can find (or wants to find) the perp.
In any case, contact your insurance company asap. It’s often written into the policy that you have to do that. In fact, right this minute, get out your magnifying glasses and read the mouse print. Nobody else is going to do it for you. Get started, and call the insurance company.
One exception about calling your insurance company: if the damage is fairly light, the deductible is pretty close to how much it’s going to take to get it fixed, and your particular insurance company is infamous for raising rates for having an accident, even if it’s not your fault. In that case it might just be smarter to fix it yourself and swallow the costs. But that’s a pretty narrow window, given that Teslas are kind of famous for being expensive to repair.
Get moving.
You are correct, and I edited my previous post. I've purchased full coverage from the rental car agency on extremely rare occasion. (like you, my regular auto insurance covers rentals.)
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