Can You Sue a Rental Car Company? What Fort Myers Drivers Must Know

By David B. Pittman, Esq. — Founder, Pittman Law Firm, P.L. | Last updated May 12, 2026

Someone gets rear-ended on Daniels Parkway in a car they picked up at RSW two hours earlier, and the first call is not to their own insurer. It is to our office, asking whether they can go after the rental car company. The answer is sometimes yes — but not for the reason most people think, and usually not under the theory they come in with.

In more than thirty years of personal injury practice in Lee and Collier Counties, I have watched the rental-car corner of this work get considerably more complicated. A federal law from 2005 changed the playing field. Florida’s 2023 tort reform changed it again. And the rental companies have written their contracts to push as much of the risk onto you as the law allows. Here is what Fort Myers drivers should actually know before they sign that agreement, and what to do when something goes wrong on the road.

What Florida law actually says about suing a rental car company

Three pieces of law sit on top of every rental car case we open. None of them are obvious from the contract you signed at the counter.

The Graves Amendment (49 U.S.C. § 30106). This is the federal statute that does most of the heavy lifting for the rental industry. In plain English: if you rent a car from Hertz, Enterprise, Avis, or any other commercial rental company, and you cause a crash, the rental company is generally not liable just because they owned the car. Before 2005, Florida treated cars as “dangerous instrumentalities,” and owners, including rental companies, were on the hook for what drivers did with them. Congress preempted that doctrine for rental companies. So the threshold question in every rental case is: did the rental company itself do something wrong, separate from the driver’s conduct? If yes, you have a claim. If no, you are limited to suing the driver.

Modified comparative negligence under § 768.81, Fla. Stat. Since the 2023 reform, Florida uses a 50% bar. If a jury finds you more than 50% at fault for your own injuries, you recover nothing. Below that, your damages get cut by your fault percentage. In rental car cases the carrier will try to load fault on you (speed, distraction, following distance) because every percentage point they shift over is money off the verdict. We plan for this on day one.

Statute of limitations under § 95.11(4)(a), Fla. Stat. The same 2023 reform shortened the deadline to file a negligence lawsuit from four years to two. That is the hardest, most unforgiving rule in Florida personal injury practice right now. People used to have time to heal, evaluate, and then talk to a lawyer. They do not anymore. If you were hurt in a rental car crash on Cleveland Avenue last year, you have less time than you think.

A couple of related statutes show up in almost every rental file as well. § 627.736, Fla. Stat. requires Florida drivers to carry Personal Injury Protection of at least $10,000, and that PIP follows you into the rental car. § 316.066, Fla. Stat. governs the long-form crash report that the responding officer writes. We pull that report on every case because the diagram, the witness list, and the officer’s opinion of contributing causes will drive the first round of settlement talks.

Where the Graves Amendment drops its shield — what actually opens a claim

The Graves Amendment closes a lot of doors, but it does not close all of them. After three decades of handling auto claims in Fort Myers, these are the fact patterns that actually produce a viable case against the rental company itself:

• Negligent entrustment. The counter agent handed keys to someone who was visibly impaired, did not have a valid license, or had been flagged in the system. We have seen rental clerks rush a customer through because the line was long and the supervisor was not watching.
• Failure to maintain the vehicle. A bald tire that should have been pulled. A brake warning light that the prep crew cleared without diagnosing. A recall notice the company received and ignored. These are the cases where the rental company’s own maintenance log becomes the most valuable document in the file.
• Failure to honor a recall. When the manufacturer issues a safety recall and the rental company keeps renting the car anyway, that is independent corporate negligence. The Graves Amendment does not protect that.
• Defective rental-counter add-ons. A child safety seat that was not properly secured. A wheelchair lift on an adapted van that had not been serviced. The rental company supplied the equipment; the rental company is on the hook if it fails.
• Crashes involving an off-the-clock rental employee. Sometimes the driver is the rental company’s own employee moving a vehicle between lots. Graves does not apply at all in that situation, because it is a straight employer liability case.

What does not get you past the Graves Amendment: the rental company “should have done more to screen the renter,” “the contract was confusing,” or “the car was too powerful for the customer.” Those arguments lose at the motion to dismiss stage. Our job in the first thirty days of a case is figuring out which side of that line the facts actually fall on.

What makes rental car claims more complicated than standard auto cases

From the outside, suing a rental car company looks like any other corporate defendant case. From the inside, there are layers that catch people off guard.

First, the insurance stack is a mess. The renter’s personal auto policy may apply. The renter’s credit card coverage may apply. The rental contract’s loss damage waiver may apply. The rental company’s own commercial policy sits behind all of that. When someone is seriously hurt, four carriers may be arguing about who pays first, and none of them are in a hurry.

Second, the evidence ages quickly. Rental cars cycle. The car you crashed in on Summerlin Road yesterday could be repaired and back on the lot in Tampa by next week. The maintenance records are electronic and easy to “update.” The pre-rental inspection sheet (the one where the counter agent walks around the car with you) disappears if you do not get a copy. We send a litigation hold letter inside the first week to lock down the vehicle, the records, and the inspection documentation.

Third, the rental contract is doing work against you the whole time. Forum selection clauses, arbitration clauses, indemnification clauses where you promise to defend the rental company against your own claims. Most of these clauses get knocked out in Florida courts on consumer protection grounds, but you have to fight them, and that fight costs months.

Fourth, and most often missed: many rental car crashes on I-75 near Alico Road or on Six Mile Cypress Parkway involve a commercial driver, whether a delivery contractor, a rideshare driver using a rented vehicle, or a traveling sales rep on a corporate account. The corporate fleet account changes the analysis entirely. There is a real policy of insurance behind the wheel, often with seven-figure limits, and finding it is most of the work.

What to do if you crash in a rental car in Fort Myers

Most of the rental-car advice on the internet is generic. Here is the specific list I give people who call our office from the side of the road on McGregor Boulevard or Pine Island Road:

1. Call 911 and ask for a long-form crash report. Under § 316.066, the responding officer has to file a written report for any crash involving injury or significant property damage. The report drives the early insurance conversation. Get the case number before the officer leaves.
2. Photograph the dashboard before you get out. Mileage, warning lights, fuel level, any messages on the infotainment screen. If a tire pressure warning was on, or a brake light was on, that photograph is the only proof you will ever have. The rental company can clear codes remotely once the car is towed.
3. Photograph the maintenance sticker on the windshield. It tells you the last service date and mileage. If the rental company later claims the car was just inspected, that sticker is your check on their story.
4. Pull out your copy of the pre-rental walk-around sheet. If the agent did not give you one, write down from memory every scratch, ding, and dashboard light you noticed at pickup, with the time you noticed it. Then email it to yourself so the timestamp is locked.
5. Call the rental company’s emergency line, but treat it like a recorded statement. It is. Give them the date, time, location, and the fact that there was a crash. Do not estimate fault, do not estimate injuries, do not agree to any “no problem, we’ll take care of it” language. You are talking to their claims department even if the person on the phone sounds friendly.
6. Get checked out the same day. Soft-tissue injuries in rental car crashes are the same as any other crash. They get worse over the first 72 hours, not better. PIP under § 627.736 requires you to seek treatment within 14 days or you lose the benefit entirely. We have lost good cases because the client toughed it out for two weeks and then went to the doctor.
7. Do not return the car to the rental company without photographs of every panel. The minute it is back on the lot, the damage gets reassigned, repaired, or written off. We have had rental companies tell us the car “was never in a crash” two months after the fact. Photograph it before you hand the keys back.
8. Call a lawyer before you call the rental company a second time. The first call is unavoidable. The second call should go through our office. The two-year deadline under § 95.11(4)(a) is the wall behind every one of these decisions.

Key Takeaways

• The federal Graves Amendment shields rental car companies from automatic liability for what their renters do, but it does not shield them from their own negligence, like renting out a recalled or poorly maintained vehicle.
• Florida’s 2023 reform cut the negligence filing deadline from four years to two under § 95.11(4)(a). Rental car claims now move on a much tighter clock than people realize.
• Modified comparative negligence under § 768.81 means 50% or more fault on you wipes out the recovery entirely. The rental company’s insurer will try to push you over that line.
• Your PIP coverage under § 627.736 follows you into the rental car for the first $10,000 of medical bills, regardless of fault.
• The pre-rental inspection sheet, the maintenance sticker, the dashboard photos, and the emergency-line call log are the four pieces of evidence rental companies hope you never preserve. Get them in the first 24 hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Can I sue the rental car company itself after a Fort Myers crash, or only the driver?
Under the federal Graves Amendment, the rental company is generally not on the hook for a renter’s driving. But that shield drops away when the rental company itself did something wrong: handing keys to someone visibly unfit, skipping a recall, putting out a car with a known brake or tire problem. In those situations we sue the company directly for its own negligence, not for what the renter did.

Q2. What is the deadline to file a Florida negligence lawsuit against a rental car company?
After the 2023 tort reform, Florida shortened the negligence statute of limitations to two years from the date of the crash under § 95.11(4)(a), Florida Statutes. That is a hard wall. Miss it and your claim against the rental company, the driver, and the insurance carriers is gone. Two years moves faster than people think when you are also recovering from a serious injury.

Q3. What if I was partly at fault in the rental car crash?
Florida now uses a modified comparative negligence rule under § 768.81, Florida Statutes. If a jury finds you 50% or more at fault, you recover nothing. At 49% or below, your recovery is reduced by your share of fault. The rental company and its insurer will push hard to assign you a high fault percentage, so the early evidence work matters.

Q4. Does my PIP coverage apply when I’m driving a rental car in Florida?
Usually yes. Section 627.736, Florida Statutes requires Personal Injury Protection of at least $10,000 for medical bills and lost wages, regardless of who caused the crash. Your own PIP follows you into a rental car you are driving. The rental company’s contract coverage is separate, and there is often a fight over which policy pays first.

Q5. What evidence should I save right after a crash in a rental car?
Keep everything: the rental agreement, the pre-rental inspection sheet, photos of the dashboard warning lights, the maintenance sticker on the windshield, the crash report under § 316.066, the emergency-line call log with the rental company, and the names of every employee you spoke with at the counter. The maintenance and inspection records are the documents the rental company would rather you never see.

Talk to a Fort Myers attorney before the rental company closes its file

If you were hurt in a rental car crash anywhere in Lee or Collier County, whether on I-75 near Alico Road, along Daniels Parkway, on Colonial Boulevard, on Six Mile Cypress, or anywhere in between, our office handles these cases on a contingency basis. There is no fee unless we recover for you. Call 239-992-8259 for a free consultation, or reach us through the contact page. Two years moves quickly. The sooner we can send a preservation letter to the rental company, the more of the maintenance and inspection records we can lock down before they get overwritten.

About the Author

Pittman Law Firm, P.L. is led by founder David B. Pittman, Esq., who has practiced personal injury law in Fort Myers and across Lee County for more than thirty years, representing injured clients across Lee and Collier Counties with a particular focus on commercial-vehicle, complex-liability, and serious-injury cases. The firm’s Fort Myers presence handles a steady stream of serious-injury work along the Daniels Parkway, Six Mile Cypress, McGregor Boulevard, Cleveland Avenue, and Summerlin Road corridors, and along I-75 between Estero and Bell Tower.

David earned his undergraduate degree at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and his law degree at the University of South Carolina School of Law. He is rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell and belongs to the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.

David has held a Florida real estate broker license for twenty-five years, a credential that shapes how the firm reads the property side of premises cases. The firm handles personal injury cases across Lee and Collier Counties, serving Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Naples, Cape Coral, Estero, and Lehigh Acres, with offices at Windsor Place in Bonita Springs (main) and Fort Myers (satellite). Call 239-992-8259 for a free consultation.

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