digger242j
Administrator
The other day, it occured to me to wonder about how much liability equipment rental companies have for damages done with equipment they own.
Whether we're talking about big outfits, like Hertz, or NationsRent, or your local rental yard, once the equipment is out their door, they really have no control over how safely it's used. On those occasions when I've rented equipment, I don't recall ever having been questioned about whether I was sane, or sober, or even smart enough to operate it safely, let alone whether I was going to let someone else operate it.
As we see all too often here, such and such a contractor knocks out a powerline with a crane, or rips out a gas main and blows up a building. If that's done with a rented piece, is the rental company in line to get sued? It seems obvious to me that if an operator is careless enough, or simply unlucky enough to do such damage, it won't make a whole lot of difference if he's on a company owned machine, as opposed to a rented one. It seems equally obvious that the lawyers are going to go looking for the deepest pockets, which could possibly be those of the machine's owner--the rental company.
How often does that legal liability get passed on to the rental companies, and in what proportion? How much insurance do they carry, to guard themselves against their customer's mistakes?
Most of us here, that are self employed, are small to medium sized operations, and are not specifically in the rental business. What happens if I rent my machine to Steve for a day and he does some major damage? Am I going to get sued? Will my insurance cover me? Is there an easy way to protect oneself from these things?
I'm just curious.
Whether we're talking about big outfits, like Hertz, or NationsRent, or your local rental yard, once the equipment is out their door, they really have no control over how safely it's used. On those occasions when I've rented equipment, I don't recall ever having been questioned about whether I was sane, or sober, or even smart enough to operate it safely, let alone whether I was going to let someone else operate it.
As we see all too often here, such and such a contractor knocks out a powerline with a crane, or rips out a gas main and blows up a building. If that's done with a rented piece, is the rental company in line to get sued? It seems obvious to me that if an operator is careless enough, or simply unlucky enough to do such damage, it won't make a whole lot of difference if he's on a company owned machine, as opposed to a rented one. It seems equally obvious that the lawyers are going to go looking for the deepest pockets, which could possibly be those of the machine's owner--the rental company.
How often does that legal liability get passed on to the rental companies, and in what proportion? How much insurance do they carry, to guard themselves against their customer's mistakes?
Most of us here, that are self employed, are small to medium sized operations, and are not specifically in the rental business. What happens if I rent my machine to Steve for a day and he does some major damage? Am I going to get sued? Will my insurance cover me? Is there an easy way to protect oneself from these things?
I'm just curious.