As he had purchased all of the insurance offered by Leased Cars, Mark felt comfortable that all of the claims resulting from the injuries would be covered. More than a year after the accident, Mark received a packet of court documents. He was being sued as a result of the auto accident that he'd had with the rental vehicle. Mark contacted Leased Cars and, upon being told to do so, forwarded the lawsuit papers to the leasing company's insurer. Several days later that insurer notified Mark that he was being sued in excess of the insurance limits provided by the rental firm.
Many people presume that the liability insurance provided by a car rental firm has very high limits.
This will vary widely from one state to another. In some states, rental firms have been held to provide very high limits to their customers. Other states allow rental firms to provide liability limits as low as the financial responsibility limits for a given state. Some rental firms even tell their clients that the insurer provides no liability coverage at all for the customer. On another trip, Mark was injured by a driver with liability limits equal to the financial responsibility limits of the state in which he was driving.