Serving What if My Rental Car Is Defective and It Causes Me a Serious Injury?
Car rental companies are responsible for taking the reasonable precautions necessary to help ensure that the vehicles they rent out are in safe working order. If you were injured as a result of a defective rental car, the rental company, the manufacturer, or even the maintenance and repair company can potentially be held responsible. If this is the challenging situation you find yourself in, our experienced Myrtle Beach rental car accident attorneys at The Law Office of Brad C. Richardson, LLC, are here to help.
The Rental Car Company
Myrtle Beach welcomes an immense number of tourists each year, and this means there are a lot of rental cars on our roadways. Rental car companies in Myrtle Beach and throughout South Carolina are held to a strict standard of reasonable care. As a result, they must perform all required inspections and repairs for every vehicle in their fleet.
When a rental company knows or reasonably should know that a vehicle is unsafe to rent out but does so anyway, it can be held legally responsible for any damages that ensue. The kinds of defects that are frequently cited in these cases include all the following:
- Faulty brakes
- Bald tires
- Electrical problems that affect the vehicle’s headlights, taillights, or turn signals
- Defective steering systems
- Failure to adequately inform drivers in relation to operating the vehicle safely
Further, the federal Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act of 2015 imposes harsh restrictions regarding rental vehicles that are subject to manufacturer safety recalls. Following recalls, rental vehicles must be fully repaired according to the manufacturer’s instructions before rental companies can rent them out.
The Car Manufacturer
If your rental car was defective when it left the factory, the manufacturer can be held legally responsible for the losses you experience in an accident. In cases like this, strict liability applies. This means that you won’t need to prove the manufacturer’s negligence but will need to demonstrate that one of the following applies:
- The vehicle was defective as a matter of its design.
- The vehicle was rendered defective during the manufacturing process.
- The manufacturer failed to provide the instructions and warnings necessary to operate the vehicle safely.
The Car Maintenance and Repair Company
The rental car company is responsible for keeping its vehicles reasonably well-maintained and in good repair. If, however, the maintenance and repair company that handles these duties is negligent in performing them, it can be held directly or partially responsible for your legal damages. For this to apply, the maintenance and repair company’s negligence must have been the direct cause of, or must have contributed to, the accident that caused you to be injured.
Consult with Our Experienced Myrtle Beach Rental Car Accident Lawyers Today
Our trusted Myrtle Beach rental car accident attorneys at The Law Office of Brad C. Richardson, LLC, appreciate how serious your losses can be following a rental car accident that was caused by corporate negligence. In response, we will leave no stone unturned on your behalf. Learn more by contacting us online or giving our firm a call at 843-488-4321 today.