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Why You Should Rent A Car When Waiting For Collision Repair On Your Vehicle

by Jacob Scott

If your vehicle is in need of collision repair, you might be concerned about how long you will have to be without it. To make things easier, it's a good idea to rent a car, even if you weren't originally planning to. These are a few reasons why.

You May Not Have to Pay for It One reason why you might be thinking about avoiding the rental car is because you might be afraid that you will have to pay for it. Since car rentals can really add up in cost, this is certainly a legitimate concern. However, there is a good chance that you can enjoy a rental car for free while you are waiting for your car to be fixed.

First of all, if you were involved in an accident that was not your fault, the other driver's insurance company should cover the rental. If it was your fault, you will need to check with your insurance company to find out if your policy includes rental car insurance, since not all policies do.

Even if your insurance company is not going to pay for it, however, you shouldn't worry -- you might still have options. If you are a member of a roadside assistance club, for example, it might include a car rental. Some collision repair centers also have their own loaner cars that they allow people to use while their vehicles are being worked on.

It Could Take Longer Than You Think It can be tough for your collision repair center to give you an exact estimate of how long it will take for your car to be repaired. This is true for a few reasons; first of all, the collision repair center might have to order parts for your vehicle, which could take a while. The weather conditions also have to be right to do things like painting -- since humidity can affect the paint job -- so that has to be taken into consideration. Plus, if there is a problem, the collision repair center may need to take longer on the job.

Since you probably want your car to look its best when you get it back from the shop, it pays to not have to pressure the shop to hurry up with your car repair. If you have a rental car to use in the meantime, you probably won't be as worried about how long it will take for your car to be repaired.

As you can see, renting a car while you are waiting for a collision repair job to be done can be smart. Luckily, you should have multiple options for renting and paying (or possibly not paying for) the rental, so you should be able to find one that suits your situation. Contact a collision repair center, like Accurate Auto Body or another location, to find out what else you need to know about repairs.

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