{"id":4958,"date":"2024-09-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uat.locautorent.com\/blog\/accident-with-a-rental-car-how-it-works-who-pays\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T14:50:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:50:58","slug":"accident-with-a-rental-car-how-it-works-who-pays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/blog\/accident-with-a-rental-car-how-it-works-who-pays\/","title":{"rendered":"Accident with a rental car: how it works, who pays"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Most common accidents with rental cars and how to avoid them<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The majority of accidents involving rental cars are caused by a lack of familiarity with the type of car rented<\/strong>: different sizes from your usual car, significant discrepancies in engine responsiveness (either too powerful or, conversely, much \u201cslower\u201d), and unfamiliarity with the vehicle\u2019s controls are often the cause of accidents, especially in low-visibility situations<\/strong>. Before setting off with your vehicle, make sure to locate all the important controls and drive at a low speed until you\u2019re comfortable with the rental car.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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To avoid dangerous detours or sudden U-turns, plan your route in advance<\/strong> using an updated and reliable navigation system. Set the route before starting: using GPS or your phone while driving is one of the main causes of accidents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Adjust your speed and following distance in case of rain, snow, or fog. Don\u2019t overestimate your abilities: it\u2019s better not to risk your safety and that of the vehicle. If driving conditions become particularly adverse<\/strong>, stop at a rest area or gas station.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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This also applies to your own condition: long trips, as often happens when renting a car, along with the stress they bring, can reduce concentration and reaction time<\/strong>, increasing the risk of accidents. If you\u2019re traveling with someone, you can include an additional driver in your rental contract to share the driving stress more evenly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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What to do if you have an accident during the rental<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Even if you follow all precautions, it\u2019s still possible to have an accident while driving a rental car. In the unfortunate event this happens, stay calm and follow these steps:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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In the case of accidents without another party involved<\/strong> \n(for example, if you find that the car\u2019s body was damaged while parked or if the person who caused the accident didn\u2019t stop for a report), inform the rental office staff when returning the vehicle. This is very important because failing to report it<\/strong> would place full responsibility for the accident on you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Lastly, or rather first, when booking your vehicle, always remember to check the insurance coverage deductible<\/strong> and choose an extension from those offered by the rental company to travel with more peace of mind, especially if you\u2019ll be driving a car that\u2019s very different from the one you usually use.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Save this page to your favorites so you\u2019ll always have it available during your trip!<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most common accidents with rental cars and how to avoid them The majority of accidents involving rental cars are caused by a lack of familiarity with the type of car rented: different sizes from your usual car, significant discrepancies in engine responsiveness (either too powerful or, conversely, much \u201cslower\u201d), and unfamiliarity with the vehicle\u2019s controls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"Rental car accident: what happens and what to do | Locauto","_seopress_titles_desc":"What happens if you have an accident with a rental car? If you\u2019re about to head out with your rented vehicle and feeling a bit anxious...","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[211,212,197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cars","category-rental-info","category-vans"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4958"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6973,"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4958\/revisions\/6973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locautorent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}