Is there a law in Oregon saying that the insurance company at fault needs to pay for the rental car in full?

Question

I was recently in a car accident which wasn't my fault. The insurance company of the guy that hit me says they will only pay for 3 days because "it is how long the autobody shop should repair my vehicle." Not only did they take more than 3 days to state that it was their insurer's fault in the accident, but my car was undriveable and 3 days is too little to fix something like that. Is there a law saying that the guy's insurance company should pay for the entire rental car bill?

Answer 1

I presume you have been dealing with your own agent as well. He would be in a really good position to advise you on this. I do know in Manitoba there is a maximum time, 30 days (which may be 45 depending on the extra coverages you purchase on the policy), but we have no minimum they have to pay for. They authorize what is deemed necessary for the repair, be it 2 days, or 10.

Answer 2

I'm not sure about Oregon, I can only speak for general insurance practices, so this might help- it might not. Normally if your car can't be driven and an investigation is ongoing that downtime is included along with the actual time to repair. There are other issues that may come up. If you had the option of using your own coverage with your own policy instead of waiting, they may not agree to pay all of your rental, just the time it took to repair it. If you rented a car and your vehicle was driveable, then they won't pay for that time either.

Specific laws for Oregon I can't say, but there is probably none. Usually it comes down to what's reasonable. You have an obligation to keep your damages from becoming worse or costing more throughout the duration of the investigation, so you can't think that it doesn't matter when you get in the rental, etc. because all of it will be paid for.

Answer 3

To make a long story short- no. you got what you are owed.

First off, they did not owe you a rental during their investigation of liability. At that time as they did not know whos fault it was (or possibly they had a coverage issue) then they owed you nothing. So go ahead and deduct that.

Next- they give you the amount of rental that is needed for the labor hours your repairs require. So basically- just b/c your shop might take too long for repairs (maybe you will pick a shop that is too busy and cant handle their workload for example) doesnt mean they should be responsible for this.

Now- they will likely be reasonable with you if you are reasonable with them.. so you may be able to get an extra day or two. But they are doing everything legally correct.