Rental Car Coverage and Loss of Use Damages in Georgia Car Accidents

Georgia has two separate sources of money for a lost vehicle: optional rental coverage on your own policy, and a loss of use claim against the at-fault driver’s insurer. The second is the harder one when a car is totaled. O.C.G.A. § 33-7-11.1(b) speaks of “losses, including total losses”, while the Supreme Court of Georgia said in 2012 that loss of use is recoverable only if property was “impaired but not destroyed”. A reader with a totaled vehicle should plan with that conflict in view.

The two sources compared

Feature	Rental coverage on your own policy	Loss of use from the at-fault insurer
Basis	Contract endorsement	Tort damages and § 33-7-11.1
Source of the duty	The policy you bought	The insurer's duty arises "upon acceptance of liability"
Fault	Follows the policy terms	Depends on the other driver's liability
Amount	Daily and total limits on your declarations page	Reasonable, and no more than actual losses
When it ends	Policy language	Reasonable repair period, and disputed for a total loss
Mitigation	Policy terms and the facts	Expressly preserved by § 33-7-11.1(b)

Daily caps and day limits vary by policy, so the only reliable number is on your own declarations page. Read the end-of-coverage clause too, because a clause may stop payment a short time after a total loss offer.

What § 33-7-11.1 requires of the liability insurer

Under subsection (b), an insurer “upon acceptance of liability” “shall pay reasonable benefits for losses, including total losses, to a third party on behalf of an insured for loss of use and towing and storage costs”. Liability for those benefits “shall commence as of the time of the incident”. Three limits follow in the same sentence and its context:

• The trigger is acceptance of liability. An insurer still investigating fault has not reached it.
• The claimant keeps the “obligation to mitigate his or her losses”.
• Payment is not required “in an amount which is greater than the actual losses suffered”.

Under subsection (d), the section applies to policies issued, delivered, or renewed on or after January 1, 2009. Towing and storage are named, so they should be on any demand.

The conflict for a totaled car

MCI Communications Services v. CMES, 291 Ga. 461 (2012), involved a severed fiber-optic cable and not a car. In explaining Georgia damages law, the Court said “loss of use damages are only recoverable if the personal property was impaired but not destroyed”, and that where property is destroyed the damages are its full market value, with further recovery barred as exceeding the maximum.

Section 33-7-11.1(b) uses the phrase “including total losses” and governs what a liability insurer pays. MCI does not discuss that section. The statute gives a claimant a text to cite against an insurer that accepted liability for a total loss, and MCI gives an insurer a Supreme Court sentence to cite in response. Whether a later appellate decision has resolved this should be checked by counsel before a person relies on either. Rental coverage on your own policy avoids the question.

What MCI means for a repairable car

The same opinion sets limits that apply beyond its facts:

• The ceiling. It quotes an older rule that “the maximum recovery for a repairable [property] including loss of use may not exceed value before the injury”.
• Actual loss. MCI could not recover “absent some showing of monetary loss apart from the cost of repair”. It had spent nothing on a substitute and lost no profit.
• Proof of the amount. The amount must be shown so a jury can calculate it “with a reasonable degree of certainty”, and the Court rejected a theoretical rental figure where no rental market existed.

Passenger cars do have a rental market, so the third point is easier to meet than it was for MCI. The second point matters for a person who never rented anything, borrowed a family car, or kept using a second vehicle. Together with the statute’s “actual losses” language, it weakens the claim that a person automatically recovers a daily rental value without spending money. A person in that position should expect the insurer to raise it, and can look for older automobile decisions on the point with counsel.

Calculating a claim

For example, imagine a repairable sedan in the shop for 18 days and a comparable rental at $45 a day.

Item	Calculation	Amount
Rental	18 × $45	$810
Towing and storage, from receipts	Actual	Add as paid

The disputes are about the two inputs.

Comparable vehicle. Ask what a reasonable substitute cost for the vehicle lost, and keep quotes. A much larger or more expensive rental invites a mitigation argument.

Reasonable period. The cause of each delay matters. The record should show when the car was dropped off, when the insurer inspected and approved, when parts were ordered and arrived, and when the owner was told it was ready. Time spent on elective work the owner added is hard to charge to the insurer.

How a person chooses which to use

If the other insurer has not accepted liability, nothing in § 33-7-11.1 makes it start paying now. A person with rental coverage and collision coverage can use their own policy, pay any deductible, and let that insurer pursue recovery. Check the policy’s subrogation language and ask how any deductible is handled. The other insurer’s later payment should not produce a double recovery.

If the other insurer has accepted liability, it may set up a rental through a preferred agency. Authorization for a set number of days is not a legal limit on the reasonable period. Keep the record if the shop needs longer.

When a dispute becomes a bad faith question

Two different statutes may apply. A claim against your own insurer falls under § 33-4-6, with a 60-day demand. A third party’s claim for property damage covered by a motor vehicle liability policy falls under § 33-4-7, which has its own demand letter and procedure. Both are on insurance bad faith. Whether a particular rental dispute reaches bad faith depends on what the insurer knew and offered.

The deadline

Vehicle damage claims have a different time limit from injury claims. Section 9-3-31 gives four years for injuries to personalty, and § 9-3-32 gives four years for damages for its destruction. The injury claim from the same crash has two years under § 9-3-33. Property damage claims covers the vehicle itself, and a GAP policy covers a loan balance above the vehicle’s value.

What to keep

Keep the rental agreement and receipts, the tow and storage bills, the repair estimate and supplements, and a dated log of calls with the shop and each insurer. Also note any days you had no vehicle and how you got to work, since actual loss is what these rules test.

Sources

• Official Code of Georgia Annotated, November 2022 public release: §§ 9-3-31, 9-3-32, 9-3-33, 33-4-6, 33-4-7, 33-7-11.1
• MCI Communications Services v. CMES, 291 Ga. 461

This page was last reviewed in November 2026 for general information. Laws and court decisions can change after that date. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.