Below are the most common scenarios we see for accident victims to get their rental car:

Your insurance company. The best way to go. Contact your own insurance company to see if you have rental car coverage. If so, they would cover your rental car until liability is worked out.

At-Fault insurance company.

The easy way – The at-fault driver’s insurance company agrees to accept liability for the wreck. In this situation, the insurance company would pay for the rental car – until they have paid you the fair market value for your totaled car.

The harder way – The at-fault driver’s insurance company either denies responsibility, delays their decision, or offers no decision at this time. You will have to pay for the car upfront. Keep good records of everything you pay.

If they agree later that they are responsible for the accident, they must reimburse you for what you spend on the rental car.

Call from your insurance company:

The contract requires you to cooperate with your company when you file a claim. What this means is you will need to discuss the nature of the accident with your insurance company with a claims adjuster. Your insurance adjuster will want to know your side of the story – what exactly happened during the accident and the injuries suffered. They need to know who’s fault it is and how much. Stick to the facts and do not speculate.

Note – If you have retained a personal injury attorney by the time your insurance company contacts you, tell the adjuster that they should contact your attorney to discuss the specifics of the accident.

Be aware! Speaking to the claims adjuster for the other party in your accident is full of pitfalls.

If you the insurance adjuster for the other party call, you are under no legal obligation to discuss the accident with them. However, the adjuster for the other party will likely try to contact you to get a statement from you about how the accident happened and if there were any injuries.

Warning – Beware when the claims adjuster for the other party contacts you and wants to discuss any medical records to settle your claim. The other adjuster wants to get a statement from you so that they can construct a defense to fight your claim or to pay out as little as possible.

Some unscrupulous adjusters for the other party may contact an accident victim and pretend to want to help to settle the claim. What they are really doing is using the information they obtain from you to deny or minimize your claim.

Another reason to not discuss your medical condition with the other adjuster is that your injuries may not be fully known to you yet. You could provide an inaccurate portrayal of your injuries and damages. Adjusters will try to contact the other party in the accident so that they can get a good idea of what the case is worth and attempt to minimize what they payout.

If you have any doubts at all about whether or not to speak to the other adjuster, we recommend that you consult an experienced attorney. Once you tell the other adjuster that you have an attorney, they may not contact you again and must work through your lawyer.

The majority of car accident victims do not want to negotiate their own deal with a claims adjuster for the other party. Experienced car accident attorneys in Portland will usually negotiate a better settlement or judgment on your behalf.

Determining how much your car accident injuries are worth is a vital aspect of your personal injury case. The actual amount will vary on very specific circumstances unique to your car accident. However, this is how an insurance company will determine how much your claim is worth. Most insurance claim payouts will compensate an injured person in a car accident for:

Medical care and assorted expenses
Income lost due to the car accident
Permanent physical disability and/or disfigurement
Loss of family, social and educational events, which can include school, vacation and recreation, or a special family event
Emotional damages that can include depression, stress, embarrassment, or broken family relationships.
Property damages

When figuring what your case is worth, it is easy to add up all of the money that has been spent and lost, but how do you put a precise dollar figure on pain and suffering and loss of experiences? That is where the insurance company relies on its damages formula.

If you have any questions about this formula, you can ask your Portland personal injury attorney.

These are two different types of injuries.

A strain is usually thought of as a stretching-related injury to a ligament or muscle. Objective findings include muscle spasms, tenderness, and a limited range of motion.

A sprain is noted to be a wrenching or twisting of a joint that could feature ligament tears or rupture. It is often considered a serious injury that requires more treatment time.

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