What to do after a car accident

Stop. Leaving the scene of a collision is a criminal offence in every state, including for minor damage and including when you hit a parked car — in which case leave a note with your name and contact details if the owner cannot be found.

Switch on hazard lights and assess safety. If the vehicles are driveable and the location is dangerous, move them out of the traffic lane, taking photographs of their positions first if it is safe to do so. If they cannot be moved, get yourself and your passengers away from the carriageway rather than standing beside the cars.

Check everyone for injuries and call 911 if anyone is hurt, if the road is blocked, if a driver appears impaired, or if the other driver is uncooperative or has no insurance. A police response also produces the report that later resolves disagreements about what happened.

Exchange information properly: full name, address, telephone number, insurance company and policy number, driving licence number, plate number, and the vehicle's make, model and colour. Photograph the other driver's licence and insurance card rather than writing details down, which removes transcription errors.

Photograph comprehensively and take more than feels necessary — every vehicle from several angles, all plates, the damage to both cars, the wider scene showing lane positions and any skid marks or debris, traffic signals and signs, the road surface, and the weather and light conditions.

Collect witnesses before they leave, which they will do within minutes. A name and a mobile number is enough, and an independent witness is the single most valuable thing available when liability is disputed.

Do not discuss fault, apologise or speculate about what happened, and do not accept a cash offer to keep it off insurance. Apologies are reflexive and are later characterised as admissions, and damage that appears cosmetic frequently is not.

Before leaving, note the time and location precisely, the responding officers' names and badge numbers, and the report or incident number, and ask how and when a copy of the report can be obtained.

Police attendance is not automatic for minor crashes, and in some jurisdictions officers will not attend a non-injury collision on private property or where the vehicles have been moved. If they do not attend, ask whether you can file a report at a station or online.

Most states also require a separate report to the motor vehicle agency when injury, death or property damage above a threshold is involved, sometimes within days. That threshold is a dollar amount set by the state and is low enough that many apparently minor crashes exceed it once repair costs are known.

Obtain a copy of the police report once it is filed, which usually takes several days. Check it for errors — wrong plate numbers, misdescribed directions of travel, an incorrect insurer — because those errors propagate through every claim that follows and are much easier to correct early.

Notify your own insurer promptly regardless of fault and regardless of whether you intend to claim. Policies contain a duty to report, and an insurer told about a crash months later can decline coverage for prejudice to its position — which is a bad outcome for a crash that was not your fault.

Report facts, not conclusions. Describe what happened, the damage, injuries reported and who else was involved. Do not offer legal opinions about fault; adjusters determine liability from evidence, and your speculative assessment against yourself becomes part of the file.

Expect a call from the other driver's insurer. You are not obliged to give them a recorded statement, and it is reasonable to decline politely and direct them to your own insurer, particularly if anyone was injured or liability is contested.

Keep a single file with everything: photographs, the report number, claim numbers, names and direct numbers of every adjuster, dated notes of every conversation, receipts for towing, rental and medical costs, and copies of correspondence. Claims are resolved on the strength of records, not recollection.

Liability coverage held by the at-fault driver pays for the other party's injuries and property damage. Every state requires drivers to carry it or otherwise demonstrate financial responsibility, and the minimum limits are set by each state — frequently at levels well below the cost of a serious injury.

In no-fault states, personal injury protection on your own policy pays your medical expenses and some lost income regardless of who caused the crash, with the right to sue the other driver limited unless the injuries meet a defined threshold. Medical payments coverage plays a similar, smaller role in other states.

Collision coverage on your own policy pays to repair your vehicle whoever was at fault, subject to your deductible. Comprehensive covers non-collision losses — theft, fire, flood, hail, falling objects and animal strikes — and is why a deer collision is usually a comprehensive claim rather than a collision one.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage steps in when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough of it, and in most states also covers hit-and-run. Given how many drivers are uninsured, this is among the most valuable coverages on a policy and among the least understood.

Fault itself is decided under state rules that differ significantly. Comparative negligence systems reduce recovery by your percentage of fault; a minority of states bar recovery entirely if you bear any responsibility at all. This is why casual admissions at the scene matter more than they appear to.

Rental reimbursement pays for a hire car while yours is repaired, and it is optional cover many drivers discover they do not have at the worst moment. If the other driver is at fault, their insurer should cover loss of use, but only once liability is accepted.

If the vehicle is financed or leased, the settlement goes to the lienholder first, and gap insurance covers any shortfall between the payout and the outstanding balance — a real risk on a newer car, which depreciates faster than the loan amortises.

Health insurance interacts with all of this. It may pay medical bills initially and then assert a right to be reimbursed from any settlement, which is a reason to understand the whole picture before agreeing to anything.

You generally choose the repair shop. Insurers maintain networks of preferred repairers and can recommend them, often with a workmanship guarantee, but in most states they cannot require you to use one. Steering a claimant to a particular shop as though it were compulsory is a complaint worth making.

Expect an initial estimate followed by supplements. Hidden damage found once panels come off is normal, and the shop submits additional charges to the insurer during the repair. A first estimate is a starting figure rather than the cost of the repair.

Parts are a common source of dispute. Policies frequently permit aftermarket or recycled parts rather than manufacturer originals, and whether you can insist on original parts depends on the policy wording and state rules. Ask which parts are specified before work starts.

Betterment charges appear when a repair leaves the vehicle better than it was — new tyres replacing worn ones, for example — and the insurer may ask you to contribute the difference. It is legitimate in principle and worth checking in practice.

A vehicle is declared a total loss when repair costs approach or exceed a proportion of its value, defined by state rules or insurer practice. The settlement is the actual cash value: what the car was worth immediately before the crash, not what you paid or what a replacement costs today.

Valuations are negotiable. Ask for the comparable vehicles the figure is based on, check that they match your car's trim, mileage and condition, and supply your own local listings and records of recent work if the offer is low. Add taxes and registration fees where the state requires them to be included.

Diminished value — the loss in resale value of a repaired car with an accident history — is recoverable from the at-fault party in some states and not others, and rarely from your own insurer. It has to be claimed explicitly and supported with evidence.

If you want to keep a totalled vehicle, most insurers will settle less the salvage value and the title will be branded, which permanently affects value, insurability and in some states requires inspection before it can be driven again.

Get checked even if you feel fine. Soft tissue injuries, concussion and back injuries commonly present hours or days later, and a same-day medical record is both clinically sensible and the evidence that links a later diagnosis to the crash.

Choose the right setting: emergency care for head injury, loss of consciousness, chest or abdominal pain, severe pain or any suspected fracture; urgent care for lesser injuries. Federal surprise billing protections cover emergency care and air ambulances, but ground ambulance charges are largely outside them and can be substantial.

Understand who pays first. In no-fault states, personal injury protection generally pays initial medical costs; elsewhere, medical payments coverage or your health insurance does, with the at-fault driver's insurer reimbursing later. Keep every bill, referral and receipt, including mileage to appointments where that is claimable.

Do not sign a release in exchange for a quick payment. An early offer arriving before the extent of injury is known is a settlement of everything, and it cannot be reopened when symptoms persist or treatment turns out to be longer than expected.

Every state sets a limitation period for claims arising from a crash, and it differs for property damage and personal injury, and again for claims against a government body — which often carry a much shorter notice requirement measured in months.

Consider a lawyer where injuries are more than minor, where liability is disputed, where a commercial vehicle or government vehicle is involved, or where the insurer's conduct is unreasonable. Personal injury lawyers usually work on a contingency fee, and the first consultation is normally free.

Be aware that health insurers and public programmes frequently assert a right to be reimbursed from a settlement for medical costs they paid. That subrogation claim can consume a large share of an apparently generous offer, which is why the gross figure means little on its own.

Keep your account of the crash off social media entirely. Posts, photographs and check-ins are routinely used by insurers and defence lawyers, and an innocuous holiday photograph taken while a claim is pending is more damaging than it looks.

For a hit and run, report to the police immediately and photograph everything, including any partial plate or vehicle description and the location of any nearby cameras. Your uninsured motorist coverage is generally the route to recovery, and prompt reporting is usually a condition of it.

If the other driver is uninsured, has no valid licence, or gives details that do not check out, treat police involvement as essential rather than optional. Insurance details that fail verification are common enough that confirming them at the scene, by photographing the card, is worth the awkwardness.

Driving for a ride-hailing or delivery platform introduces coverage phases: cover differs depending on whether the app is off, on and waiting, or carrying a passenger or order, and personal auto policies commonly exclude commercial use altogether unless a specific endorsement has been added.

Rental cars, borrowed cars and company cars each raise their own questions about whose policy responds first. In general insurance follows the vehicle before the driver, but the details vary, and rental damage waivers and credit card benefits sit on top of that.

Crashes involving a government vehicle follow a separate claims procedure with its own notice requirements and much shorter deadlines. Do not treat it as an ordinary claim, and get advice early.

Be suspicious of anyone who appears unbidden after a crash — a tow truck that was not called, someone recommending a specific clinic or lawyer at the scene, or an unusually helpful stranger offering to handle everything. Staged collisions and referral rackets are a recognised category of insurance fraud.

If your insurer delays unreasonably, refuses to explain a decision, or makes an offer it will not justify, complain to your state insurance department. It regulates the insurer, takes consumer complaints directly and resolves a meaningful share of disputes without litigation.

For small sums — a deductible the other driver's insurer will not reimburse, or minor damage where nobody was hurt — small claims court is a realistic route, cheap to file and designed to be used without a lawyer.