Vehicle accidents are often highly traumatic and daunting experiences. They can cause severe injuries that can even be fatal. Some disastrous causes of collisions include distracted driving, intoxicated driving, fatigued driving, and others. Blatant carelessness causes other accidents though, and this can cause legal trouble if the owner was ever aware of any issues. This occurs most frequently when drivers don’t stay on top of their vehicle maintenance to remedy issues.

In personal injury cases, inadequate maintenance is a common issue that can take place in many settings. Usually, this happens when a car had a problem that may or may not have been communicated to the vehicle owner. The issue lies in that for whatever reason, the repairs did not get completed.

For example, a driver can be held liable if they hear their brakes grinding, know they should be fixed, but before they actually complete repairs the brake failure causes a collision. Legal issues are fairly common in regards to the negligence of vehicle maintenance.

Civil Issues with Improper Maintenance

The victim of the injury has the burden of proof as far as the cause of the accident goes. Improper maintenance can be difficult to prove, especially if certain pieces of evidence can’t be recovered after the collision. Fortunately, it is possible to demonstrate whether or not maintenance was a factor in the collision occurring. This must be done in order to pursue compensation for the injuries that were suffered as a result of the crash.

Inspections of the vehicle can be ordered by the courts to find out whether or not the car had been correctly maintained. Inadequate maintenance of windshield wipers can even cause a collision in dangerous weather, which is why it’s imperative to take the necessary steps in getting your vehicle ready for winter. Any defect that has not been fixed by the owner can cause severe injuries.

Parties That Can Be Held Liable

While liability can be hard to prove, it can be done. As with personal injury cases, the vehicle owner had a duty of care to uphold and they were under an obligation to keep up on the recommended maintenance schedule. To prove liability, it must be demonstrated that an accident occurred because of a failure to keep up on maintenance or that the duty of care was breached. Another criteria for proving liability is that it needs to be established that the victim experienced an injury that they would not otherwise have if the accident had not occurred. The victim is entitled to compensation and demonstrating liability can help them obtain reparation.

While the circumstances can determine who is responsible, the vehicle owner and driver are normally the liable parties. However, this also impacts rented vehicles, business owned vehicles, buses, and trucks. If a company rents out a vehicle that causes an accident due to the lack of maintenance, then the company who rented out the vehicle is responsible because of their negligence.