Can anyone help? Please

[Double D]

I worked at ERAC up until May of 2007, in WA State. We could not make anyone take our coverage even if they had none of there own. This was due to state laws. I hated this, it made no since to me. The law requires people to have insurance to drive, but if they rent a car even to protect the company we could not make them take it. It didnt matter if they had a credit card, or were renting on cash. I had several cash customers that didnt have insurance that transfered to a rental or none at all and came in every weekend for their weekend specials, and never took any kind of coverage. I think any renter that rents a car should make sure they have there own insurance that transfers or purcahse it from the company. It is irresponsible for anyone to do otherwise!!! If you dont have money to pay for the coverage, you sure dont have money to pay out if something like this happens

Originally Posted by aussiegrl273

I have been searching everywhere for procedures/policies that employee's must follow in order to rent a car to customers. We recently had a customer of Enterprise hit us in a head on collision where he was killed on impact. It was discovered that he had no insurance or property. What I do know is he declined the insurance offered by Enterprise. I feel strongly that Enterprise is negligent for renting a vehicle to some one and failing to get proof of insurance. I have rented from them before and other companies and have always had to provide proof of insurance and drivers license.

I am not a lawyer so I cannot tell you exaclty what the law is in your state. What I can tell is that I have not seen a written procedure on renting cars to customers, it was always a verbal training thing in my experience when I worked for Enterprise. People are not required to show proof of car insurance when they rent a vehicle. Car rental companies unfortunately cannot force anyone to take their Liability Coverage (SLP), even if they dont have car insurance, I am 99% positive that this is a law. Since that is the case than you should not be filing a negligence lawsuit.

However, you should look at this as the person who hit you was insured by Enterprise Rent a Car and the policy limits were infinite which is good news for you. Lets say for instance that this person who hit you did it with there own car and they were insured with their own insurance. You would only be able to collect up their policy limits for liability, anything beyond that is up to either a secondary insurance coverage (umbrella policy) or their personal assets. In this case Enterprise is the insurance company since they self insure all of their vehicles which is bonded by the state they are registered in. The good thing about this is that there are no policy limits so you should be able to collect all medical expenses as well as any damages you seek. As tragic as this is, you should feel fortunate that it was an Enterprise car that hit you and not a personal vehicle. If the person had the minimum liability coverage ($10K/$15K in California) then you would only get a check from the insurance company for $15K, the rest would have to be collected from the actual person who hit you and since they have no money then you would end up with only $15K. So rest assure that you should be able to get everything taken care of (medical and any damages).

The best thing you can do right now is to write down as many facts as possible about the accident while it is fresh in your mind. Take some time with your family to take care of any family business as well as taking some time to relax after this tragedy. In the upcoming weeks you will want to hire a good attorney that specalizes in these types of cases. It should be a slam dunk and hopefully you will be able to put this unfortunate incident behind you. Good luck and I wish you and your family the best.

Most of the advise on here is right, but some are wrong...
I am a current enterprise employee, and I am very sorry for what has happened to you. I do come on this sight just to see what is going on, and to actually try to make my office a little better from what I see and hear on this sight.
Bsically for the most part, people on here are right, you are not required to have insurance nor take Enterprises coverage to rent a car... yes Because enterprise is a self insured company... what that means is that enterprise ensures each individual car with the state minimums of liability. So depending on the state which this case falls... some states are primary, others are Secondary... the responsibility would fall on the driver, or the owner of the car. From the sound of things you seem like you live in a primary state, which means the owner of the car is responsible for only the minimum requirements of liability set forth by the state. So, with that being said... all enterprise is responsible for is just that... the state minimums.

As far as an enterprise office verifying coverage, it is not required by all groups of erac... most of the time the office does it because it is in there best intrests to do so... for there protection of their assests, and also the security and protection of the customer and there assets.... kind of a customer service point... wouldnt you like to know if your insurance would cover you???

Unfortunatly you cant really think of it as "an enterprise car hit me" they should pay for everything.... You have to look at it as... a car hit me... they are financially repsonsible for there liability portions. In this case it is unfortunate that it does not cover you fully.... i would reccomend seeing is you have uninsured, or underinsured insurance on your policy to help out as well.

Also, I know that you said Enterprise got the car from the salvage yard asap... You made that sound like they were trying to get one over on you... also not the case... they are a business, and trust me when I tell you... they like to get things done!!!! and fast....
I have heard of a car getting in an acceident, picked up by a wrecker, checked, pictures posted to an adjustor, car total lossed, and taken to a scrap yard in less then a few hours.

Now what someone here said about the negligent entrustment is a possibility.... if the car had a BLATENT problem... but it would have to be so blatently obvious to have a case.... and they rented to that person despite the car having BLATENTLY OBIVIOUS problems, that is a possible case.

What I would HIGHLY SUGGEST is this....
Find the number to your local enterprise office... call them and just ask them what it takes to rent a car.... they will be more then glad to tell you. Ask them if they require proof of insurance or not, and in what circumstances...
Then also ask for there ADMINISTARTIVE number.... they may ask why at that point.... but it is mainly to see if they can help you... Just say you actually have a claim with loss control, and needed to ask a question... at that point they will be glad to give you the number...as most branch employees dont like to deal with loss control issues.
So once you get to the main number.... just ask for a loss control supervisor....and explain the situation.... this is what they do, they will be more then happy to explain anything and everything they can for you... and likewise... if you need more information, will be glad to forward you on to anyone they feel can help.

In a situation like this... most people will be more then willing to help...
but natually they may get a little defensive when someone says... "you rented to someone with out insurance... you need to pay"... that comes across very poorly, and almost like you are just trying to get into the companies pockets.... I know that you are just trying to get as much information as you can, to try to help your situation...as it is an unfortunate one.... but please, reach out to your local Enterprise office/Admin office for assistance with information as each area/group/state is different. Believe me, if they even start to think an office rented to someone they should not have... they will be all over that ASAP... because they dont want to have to be liable in an unfortunate situation. They spend millions of dollars to try to prevent renting to the wrong type of person, and making sure Enterprise is renting the correct way, as to keep themselves in the clear.

I really hope this information helps you...I incourage you to seek out help from your local enterprise group... I bet if you ask the right questions, they will be more helpful then you think.