Negligence means failure to take proper care over something. Negligence when it comes to the law means breach of a duty of care, which results in damage. When there is negligence, there is more often than not major damage to a rental car, which means hundreds of thousands of rands you are now responsible for and have to pay.
In 'law-speak', negligence is a failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances.
It normally goes like this - the average negligence story - you've got your car hire sorted, signed the rental document and the terms and conditions, not really listening to the rental agent explaining certain clauses to you because you can't wait to jump into that expensive rental car you booked, you have signed for the best car hire responsibility waivers, so you can be certain you won't have to pay a cent more, whatever happens, right?
Well, not quite. There's always one area that won't be covered - negligence. No insurance company will cover you for gross acts of recklessness or negligent driving either. If they did, insurance companies and car rental firms would not be able to be in business. So, what counts as negligence when driving a hire car?
These include, but are not limited to, texting while driving, driving too fast, driving under the influence, talking on the cellphone while driving, to name a few.
These should be basic common sense behaviours one should have if behind the wheel of a vehicle that doesn't belong to you, unless you were one of the 25 cases that were handed over to legal by First Car Rental between January and August this year. These 25 equate to a tiny but very expensive 0.019% of all First Car Rental customers serviced in this period who managed to have serious, single-vehicle accidents where there was nothing and no one but themselves involved in the accident.
Car hire companies do not offer insurance; they offer responsibility waivers. They are not allowed to offer insurance because they are not authorised financial service providers, but essentially waivers function the same. Just like insurance, a person will never be covered for everything, so therefore, wrong-doings are not covered by insurance companies or car rental companies.
Responsibility waivers are legal, compulsory agreements between the rental company and renters, and generally limit the claim against a renter in the event of loss or damage to the vehicle, provided they did not have the accident through negligence.
Most rental daily rates include all the waivers such as theft protection, collision damage waivers or similar. Some corporate companies have their own insurance and would then opt for an own cover rate option upon opening an account through a sales representative within a car rental company.
Waivers are not honoured by car rental companies in the case of gross negligence such as driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances or not adhering to traffic, road and driving regulations, etc. This means that the customer will be held liable for the full amount of damage, and in the case of a write-off, the full vehicle value.
When renting a car, ensure that your rental agreement includes a basic level of waivers so you are sufficiently covered in the event of an accident or theft. Always read the fine print on the car hire rental agreement terms and conditions to fully understand liability - but more importantly, drive with the same level of respect and safety that you would drive your own vehicle.
