What Information to Exchange After a Car Accident (and Not Say)

Start with the things that disappear first. Witnesses leave within minutes, so before anything else, ask anyone who stopped for a name and phone number. Then, if the cars are drivable and in a dangerous spot, move them after a quick photo of their positions. Then exchange details with the other driver.

From the other driver, get their full name as it appears on their license, their phone number, their address, and their driver's license number and state. Photograph the front of the license. Get the license plate number and state, and the make, model, color and year of the vehicle. Get the insurance company name, the policy number, and the phone number on the insurance card, and photograph the card. Ask whether they own the car, and if not, get the owner's name and contact.

Give the same information about yourself. You are required to in every state, and refusing creates problems. You are not required to give anything beyond that, and in particular you do not need to show the other driver your phone, discuss your insurance limits, or explain where you were going.

Photographs taken in the first ten minutes are the most valuable evidence a claim will ever have, because they cannot be argued with and cannot be recreated. Take more than seems necessary. Phone storage is cheap and the claim may last two years.

Photograph both vehicles from all four sides and close up on every point of damage, the position of the cars relative to lane markings and each other, skid marks, debris on the road, the traffic signal or sign that governed the intersection, and the general scene including weather and lighting. Photograph the other driver's license plate from close enough to read it. If there are visible injuries, photograph them that day and again as bruising develops.

If the other driver was on a phone, had been drinking, or has an open container or a child unrestrained in the car, photograph what you can see from where you stand without confrontation. Note the time. Your phone timestamps everything, which is part of the value.

Three kinds of statements at the scene cause trouble later. The first is anything about fault: I did not see you, I was going a bit fast, I should have waited. These are repeated to the adjuster by the other driver and treated as admissions. The facts of fault are for the evidence to decide, and a statement made in shock is not evidence of anything except shock.

The second is an apology. In ordinary life an apology is politeness. In a claim file it is read as an admission of fault, and while some states have laws limiting the use of apologies as evidence, most of those laws cover medical providers, not drivers. You can ask whether the other person is hurt, which is humane, without saying you are sorry it happened.

The third is saying you are fine. Adrenaline masks injury, and whiplash, concussion and back injuries commonly surface hours later. If you told the other driver, the officer, or an adjuster at the scene that you were uninjured, that statement appears in the file when you report neck pain the next day. Say that you will be getting checked, which is true and commits you to nothing.

Suppose another driver changes lanes into the side of your car on a highway. Both of you pull over. The other driver is apologetic, gives you a phone number and the name of an insurer, and says there is no need for police over a scrape. You agree, photograph the damage, and leave. The next day your shoulder hurts, and the body shop estimate is $5,200.

You call the insurer the driver named. There is no policy under that name. The phone number goes to voicemail and is never returned. You have no plate number, no license number, no address, and no police report. Your claim is now against an unidentified driver, which your own uninsured motorist coverage may or may not accept without a police report filed promptly, and your collision coverage pays minus your deductible.

Now suppose instead that you photographed the license, the insurance card and the plate, and called the police, who wrote a report noting the other driver's lane change. The claim against the driver's actual insurer is accepted on liability within a week. The difference between the two outcomes was five minutes at the roadside. All details here are hypothetical.

Printed or saved on your phone, this list covers what most people forget when shaken.

• Witness names and phone numbers, first.
• Other driver: full name, phone, address, license number and state, photographed.
• Other vehicle: plate and state, make, model, color, year; owner's name if different from the driver.
• Other driver's insurer, policy number and claims phone number, photographed from the card.
• Photos: all vehicles, all damage, positions, road, signals, skid marks, weather, injuries.
• Police: officer's name and badge number, agency, and the report or incident number.
• Your own notes, written that day: time, location, direction of travel, what happened, what the other driver said.
• Passengers in each car, by name, and whether anyone complained of injury.

Every state requires drivers in a crash to stop and exchange identifying and insurance information, and leaving without doing so is a hit-and-run offense. The threshold for reporting a crash to police or the state varies. Many states require a report when there is any injury or when property damage exceeds a set amount, often between $500 and $2,500, and some require the driver to file a written report with the motor vehicle department within days.

In no-fault states, including Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey, the first call for medical bills is to your own insurer under personal injury protection, so your own policy details and prompt reporting matter as much as the other driver's. Florida's requirement that treatment begin within 14 days to keep PIP benefits makes the medical visit part of the scene checklist.

Comparative negligence rules make statements at the scene more or less costly. In the contributory negligence states, Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, a remark suggesting you were even slightly at fault can be used to defeat the whole claim. Elsewhere it reduces recovery by the percentage the insurer can attach to it. The deadline to sue runs from the crash, one year in Tennessee and Kentucky and two or three years in most other states.

Report the crash to your own insurer the same day, giving the facts without characterizing fault. Policies require prompt notice, and reporting is not the same as claiming on your own coverage. If the other driver's insurer calls you, confirm the claim number and adjuster's name, decline a recorded statement for now, and send a short written account later if asked.

See a doctor within a day or two if you have any symptom at all, and tell the provider it was a car accident so the record connects the two. Write down your account of the crash while it is fresh, including what the other driver said. Save dash camera footage before it is overwritten.

If the injury turns out to be more than a stiff neck, or the other driver's insurer disputes what happened, most personal injury attorneys work on contingency and will review the file at no cost. Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you want the crash looked at before you talk to the insurer, you can request a free claim review.

• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
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• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Can I Sue for a Slip and Fall? Premises Liability Explained
• Can I Sue My Employer for a Work Injury? Workers' Comp vs Lawsuit

Need local rules? Choose your state from the injury law guides hub or read the statute of limitations by state.