In a single vehicle traffic accident you and you alone are responsible for the accident. 

1) The first thing that happens is an appraiser looks over your vehicle to make sure it is worth repairing. 
2) Assuming your auto is worth repairing and you have rental coverage, you will be issued a rental vehicle for the length of time it takes to repair your auto. If your vehicle is not worth repairing, then an insurance adjuster will try to settle with you on what they think your vehicle is worth. In this case you will not be issued a rental vehicle.

Some traffic accidents are simple. Some are not. Fault isn't usually established at the scene of the accident. The only way fault is established at the scene of a traffic accident is if a police officer witnesses the accident. For the sake of discussion we are going to assume that all the drivers involved were insured.

You have a couple of options here. Call your insurance agent and tell them you were involved in a traffic accident, give them all the details plus the name of the person that hit you and their insurance agent. Call the other persons insurance agent and tell them that their insured driver hit you in a traffic accident. You must work both sides of the fence here to get your rental vehicle quickly.
In all cases, it takes a couple of days to finally get a rental vehicle issued. If both sides drag their collective feet and will not issue a rental vehicle and you need an auto to do you job, rent a vehicle with your money. One of the two insurance companies will settle up with you later in this process.

Before a rental vehicle can be issued by either side, an insurance adjuster will be called out to look at the damage to your vehicle. If it is worth repairing, they will authorize a rental vehicle for you. If your vehicle is not worth repairing, then you will not be authorize for a rental vehicle. Instead, the insurance company will settle up with you on what they think your vehicle was worth.

The industry uses a rule of thumb when it comes to rental vehicles. The general rule is to issue a vehicle comparable to the one you were driving before the accident. It's best to check with your insurance agent and review your policy covering rental vehicles. If you choose, many body shops offer rentals while they are doing repairs to your wrecked vehicle. If you are not satisfied with the level of rental vehicle, you can upgrade it, but be prepared to pay the difference between the two rental fee's.

This question has many answers. Some body shops offer free loan vehicles for as long as it takes to repair your vehicle. If you were hit and fault was established and it wasn't yours, the driver that hit you, their insurance will pay for the rental. If you were at fault, your insurance will pay for both theirs and your rental vehicles. If you had a single vehicle accident, your insurance picks up the cost of a rental. If you don't have rental vehicle coverage in your auto insurance policy, then you pay for the rental.

The answer here is not a simple one. The insurance industry uses a chart to gauge how long it should take to repair a vehicle. If your vehicle has xyz damage done to it, the adjuster looks at the chart under your auto type and then looks down for the xyz damage. The chart has a number on it and it may read 10 days to repair the damage. So, in their wisdom they say you can have a rental for 10 days and no more. Obviously, you can see problems that can arise with this chart.
Lets say that the body shop that you choose can't get to your vehicle for 10 days, what do you do then? If you need a vehicle to do your job and can't borrow one from a friend, then you need to rent one for the entire time your vehicle is being repaired. When your vehicle is repaired, you will then need to settle up with the insurance company for the difference in days. They won't like it, but you should prevail here. The easiest way to do the rental vehicle is by using the body shop loan vehicle program. This way the body shop has incentive to do the job quickly and get you out of their loan vehicle.  

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