ST. LOUIS — GMAC Insurance announced SmartValet, a service designed to take care of all the transportation details when a customer is involved in an automobile accident — from rental car delivery and pick up of the damaged car to returning the repaired vehicle back to their doorstep. The benefit is immediately available free of charge to all policyholders nationwide with rental coverage.

Millions of people experience auto accidents each year (approximately 5,930,182 in 2006 alone, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration projections), and many are faced with the added stress of picking up the pieces during the aftermath. With GMAC Insurance's SmartValet, drivers don't need to face the daunting tasks of finding alternate transportation and managing their repairs alone.

SmartValet offers pick-up of the customer's or claimant's damaged car — even if it's still drivable — and drop off of a rental car. From there, drivers can choose to have GMAC Insurance deliver their damaged car to a repair shop within the company's premier direct repair network (if available in their area) to ensure the highest-quality repairs with a lifetime guarantee. As always, customers can specify the body shop of their choice.

Other insurers offer limited roadside assistance and concierge-style benefits, but most restrict their help to only certain aspects of the recovery process — for example, delivering a rental car to the accident scene, but requiring the driver to drop it back off and pick up their repaired vehicle. GMAC Insurance goes one step further with SmartValet, delivering the repaired car back to the customer.

"As an insurance company, it's our job to make the entire experience after an accident as comfortable as possible," said Sheena Poe, chief claims officer at GMAC Insurance Personal Lines. "Drivers shouldn't have to worry about finding alternate transportation, getting their damaged car to a repair shop and then picking up the fixed vehicle. GMAC Insurance's SmartValet takes that unnecessary burden off their shoulders, so they can focus on getting back to their lives."

Susan DeBerry of Concord, N.C., personally experienced the benefits of SmartValet. DeBerry, who has insurance with another company, was involved recently in a minor auto accident with a driver who was covered with GMAC Insurance. Within one afternoon, GMAC Insurance delivered a rental car to DeBerry's office and picked up her damaged car. After it was repaired, they brought it back to her office and returned the rental car.

"It was the most convenient accident I ever had," DeBerry said. "I never had to do anything — I never had to waste my gas or my time. And the customer service representative called a couple of times just to check to see if we were okay. If it had to happen, this is the way to do it."

SmartValet is just one of GMAC Insurance's SmartServices, a collection of benefits intended to help ease the entire recovery process after an accident. The company plans to roll out more of these value-added policy perks throughout 2008. Most recently, GMAC Insurance announced the SmartParts Promise, a program guaranteeing the use of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts in all collision repairs to ensure the best quality repairs possible after an accident.