Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

Car accident repairs

The situation is as follows:

A friend rented a car and neglected to obtain the insurance from the agency. She had an accident in the car and had it towed that day back to the rental car company. My friend's personal insurance paid for the damage to the car but she had to pay some other costs out of her pocket.

Here's the problem:

The rental car company took 1 MONTH to get an estimate of the car to my friend's insurance company. Thereby racking up 30 days of ''loss of use'' according to the rental car company.

The rental car company also claims $600 of ''storage costs'' from the garage which did the repairs. The garage ofcourse was located next door to the rental company.

So the question is:

Is my friend responsible for paying any ''storage costs'' or ''loss of use'' costs for the 1 MONTH, from the time of the accident to the time of the 1st estimate for repair of the car?

This is an issue of the car rental company not taking resonable action to have the repairs done correct?


Asked on 11/07/04, 9:42 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Stone Law Offices of Michael B. Stone Toll Free 1-855-USE-MIKE

Re: Car accident repairs

There are specific sections of the Cal. Civil Code that deal with what a car rental company is and is not allowed to charge. I don't know the section numbers offhand, look it up at www.leginfo.ca.gov under "California Law." Hope YF didn't pay yet as it sounds like an overcharge situation suitable for small claims court.

Read more
Answered on 11/08/04, 8:57 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Consumer Law questions and answers in California