Rental Vehicle Arrests
Florida Rental Car Arrest Lawyers
Most people have rented a car or moving truck at some point in their lives. Whether you’re on vacation, getting your car repaired, or simply need a truck to move from one place to another, rental cars and trucks are big business. What many people don’t know is that sometimes renting a vehicle, whether in Florida or elsewhere, can come with a risk. Sometimes rental cars or trucks can be mistakenly reported stolen by the rental company through no fault of your own. Sometimes criminal target rental vehicles to steal their license plates and you can be none the wiser. Regardless of the reason or cause, you might have found yourself in a situation where you are being arrested or falsely accused of having stolen or driven a stolen car or truck. If you have been arrested while driving a rental car or truck, you may be entitled to compensation. This five-minute read will give you an overview of what can caused these types of situations and what you can do about them.
Causes of Rental Car or Rental Truck Arrests
So, you have your vehicle in the shop and decide to rent a car while the repairs are being made. You are relocating from one home to another and decide to rent a big box truck to help with the move. You simply need the help of a rental pick-up truck to pick up that new TV that won’t fit in your standard car. Everyone has different reasons for renting a vehicle, but no one expects to be arrested while driving one.
Swapped or Stolen License Plates
How often do you walk behind your car to check whether the license plate attached to it is actually yours? Car thieves will often swap the license plate of a stolen vehicle with that of a similar make and model. For example, a criminal steals a black pick up truck, then they find another black pickup truck with the same brand and swap out the license plates. Their stolen pickup truck now has a “clean” license plate. Unfortunately for you, you don’t realize your license plate has been swapped until you either double check your plate (which rarely happens) or you are pulled over when a police offer runs your plate, and it comes back stolen. This same situation happens with rental car and rental trucks. It’s possible that a swapped plate may go unnoticed before they rent the vehicle to you and send you on your way.
- Some car thieves swap the license plate on rental vehicles with those from a stolen vehicle
- Sometimes rental company employees fail to properly verify license plates
- Police run swapped plates and the vehicle comes back stolen
- The plate may be stolen, but that doesn’t mean the vehicle is stolen
- These interactions can result in you being pulled over, or even arrested
Vehicle Mistakenly Reported Stolen
Mistakes happen, we all know that. However, sometimes rental car company employees make mistakes on return dates or fail to account for extended rentals. Let’s say you rent a car to be return on March 1st. Something comes up and you contact the rental company to let them know you actually need the vehicle for another week. What if that employee fails to properly update your information and they now flag your car or truck because it’s not returned by the original return date. This like this have happened in the past and resulted in renters being pulled over in what is thought to be a stolen vehicle, all because of a simple mistake.
How an Attorney Who Handles Rental Vehicle Arrests Can Help You
The attorneys at our office have experience representing people who have been pulled over and even arrested when all they did was rent a car or truck. We have experience dealing with the rental truck companies and know how to navigate their systems. A qualified Orlando, FL personal injury and personal injury defense attorney will:
- Consult with you to see what happened and what can be done.
- Determine whether your case qualifies to make a claim for a rental vehicle arrest
- Request all contracts with the rental car company
- Request all police reports involving the incident or arrests
- Request any available body camera footage from officers involved.
- Request any medical records from resulting injury or counselling
- File a claim with the appropriate rental car or truck company.
The Florida Rental Vehicle Arrest attorneys at Florida Civil Counsel, P.A. pride themselves on aggressive representation to make sure we achieve the best possible result. If you have been pulled over or even arrests while lawfully driving a rental car or truck call and speak with us today. We can be reached via online submission, live chat, or by calling our office at (407) 426-7222.