What to Do After a Car Accident: A Step-by-Step Timeline

Stop, turn on your hazard lights and check everyone for injuries before anything else. If the crash is minor and the cars can move, most states want them out of traffic; if anyone is hurt or a vehicle is disabled, leave it and get people away from the roadway. Call 911 whenever anyone may be hurt, even slightly. Leaving the scene of a crash that involves injury or property damage is a crime in every state, so stay until you have been cleared to go.

The officer's crash report becomes the first independent record of what happened: the location, the vehicles, each driver's account, any citations and a diagram. Most states also require drivers to report a crash involving injury, death or property damage above a dollar threshold, and the police report usually satisfies that duty. Ask the officer for the report number and how to get a copy. If the police will not come to a minor crash, file a counter report or an online crash report yourself the same day.

Exchange names, phone numbers, license plates and insurance details with every driver, and photograph the other driver's insurance card and license rather than copying them. Then photograph the scene before the vehicles move, if it is safe: all sides of each car, the damage up close and from a distance, skid marks, debris, signs and signals. Ask anyone who saw the crash for a name and number; witnesses leave quickly, and a neutral witness often matters more than anything the drivers say. Note any business whose cameras face the scene; footage is commonly overwritten within days.

Be polite, but do not apologize, say the crash was your fault or guess at speeds and distances. Fault is decided from evidence, and an apology repeated to an adjuster later becomes an admission. Do not say you are uninjured either; say you are not sure and will be checked. Keep the conversation to exchanging information and answering the officer's questions truthfully.

Should you see a doctor after a car accident if you feel fine? Yes. Adrenaline masks pain, and the most common crash injuries, including whiplash, concussion and soft-tissue strains, often produce symptoms hours or days later. A visit to a doctor or urgent care within a day or two catches injuries early and creates a dated record tying any symptoms to the crash; insurers treat a long gap before the first visit as evidence that the injury was minor or unrelated. Describe every symptom, including headaches, dizziness, sleep trouble and anxiety, follow the discharge instructions and go back if new symptoms appear.

Notify your own insurance company within a day or two, even if the other driver was clearly at fault. Nearly every auto policy requires prompt notice and your cooperation, and late notice can put coverage you may need at risk, including collision, medical payments and uninsured motorist benefits. Give the basic facts: when, where, who was involved and the police report number. You do not have to characterize your injuries or guess at fault. Write down the claim number and the adjuster's name and direct line.

The other driver's insurer may call within days and ask for a recorded statement. You are not required to give one, and it is generally wise to decline until your injuries are understood or you have spoken with an attorney. Adjusters ask questions designed to narrow a claim, such as whether you have had back pain before or said you were fine at the scene. Give them your own insurer's claim number and let the companies talk to each other.

Preserve the evidence. Do not repair the car until it has been inspected, and keep damaged items such as a child seat. Start a short daily journal of pain, sleep, medication and missed activities, and keep a folder for every bill, receipt and letter. Stay off social media about the crash, because a photo from a weekend outing will be used to argue that you were not hurt. Attend every appointment; consistent treatment is both the way to recover and the record that proves the injury.

A car accident usually produces two separate claims. The property damage claim covers repair or the car's actual cash value if it is totaled, towing and a rental, and it is often settled within weeks, which is fine as long as any document you sign is limited to the vehicle. The bodily injury claim covers medical bills, lost income and pain and suffering, and it should not be settled until treatment is finished or a doctor can say what the future holds. If early bills are a problem, ask about medical payments coverage or personal injury protection on your own policy.

In most states, the driver who caused the crash is responsible for the other party's losses, and that driver's liability coverage pays, up to the policy limits: bodily injury liability for injuries to others, property damage liability for their vehicles. Your own policy can pay you first and sort out fault later. Collision coverage repairs your car minus the deductible, medical payments coverage pays early medical bills regardless of fault, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage steps in when the at-fault driver has no insurance or too little.

In no-fault states, your own personal injury protection pays your medical bills and part of your lost wages regardless of who caused the crash, and you can pursue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering only when your injury meets the state's serious-injury threshold. Everywhere, when your insurer pays for something another driver caused, it typically seeks reimbursement from that driver's insurer through a process called subrogation, which is also how your deductible may come back.

Three clocks start on the day of the crash. The first is the statute of limitations, the deadline state law sets for filing a lawsuit. Most states allow two or three years for an injury claim, some allow only one, and the deadline for property damage is sometimes different. Miss it and the claim is lost no matter how strong it is. The lawsuit deadline is also the practical deadline for settling, because the ability to sue is the claimant's only real leverage.

The second clock is contractual: your own policy requires notice within a reasonable time, and uninsured and underinsured motorist claims often carry their own notice and filing rules. The third and shortest applies when a government vehicle, employee or road defect is involved. Most states require a written notice of claim to the agency within months, often six and in some places as little as 90 days, before any lawsuit is allowed, and claims against the federal government follow a separate administrative process with a two-year deadline.

Suppose a driver is hit at an intersection, feels shaken but fine, and drives home. She photographs both cars, gets the other driver's insurance card and a witness's phone number, and the police report cites the other driver for running a red light. The next morning her neck is stiff, so she goes to urgent care, which records a neck strain and a possible mild concussion. She notifies her own insurer that afternoon and declines the other insurer's request for a recorded statement.

Over the next six weeks she completes physical therapy and sees a neurologist once. Her medical bills total $9,000, she misses eight days of work worth $2,000, and the other driver's insurer pays the $6,000 repair and a rental within three weeks. Because the treatment is continuous and the police report and the witness support fault, the injury claim rests on clear records: $11,000 in economic losses plus pain and suffering for a documented six-week recovery.

Now suppose she had waited three weeks to see a doctor, posted a hiking photo in week two and told the other adjuster that she was fine, just sore. Same crash, same injury, but the insurer now argues that the pain came from the hike and was minor from the start. These numbers are illustrations, not predictions. Real values depend on the evidence, the insurance available and state law, and only an attorney reviewing the records can estimate a range.

The deadline to sue is the biggest variable. California and Texas allow two years for a car accident injury claim and New York allows three, but Tennessee gives only one year for most injury claims, and Florida shortened its negligence deadline from four years to two in 2023. Exceptions exist for minors and a few other situations, so confirm the deadline for your state early.

Most states use comparative negligence, which reduces your recovery by your share of fault, and many of them bar recovery entirely once that share reaches 50% or 51%. Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia follow contributory negligence, where even a small share of fault can defeat a claim entirely. In no-fault states such as Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey, your own personal injury protection pays first, and a pain and suffering claim against the other driver requires a serious injury as the state defines it.

Reporting duties differ too. The damage threshold that requires a crash report to the state, the time allowed to file it and the notice periods for claims against cities, counties and state agencies all vary from place to place. When a crash involves a government vehicle or a road defect, treat the notice deadline as a matter of weeks and get advice quickly.

Most of what protects a claim is ordinary organization. Keep one folder with the police report, photographs, insurance details, every medical record and bill, pay stubs for missed work, repair estimates and a log of every insurer call with the date and what was said. Keep the journal going until a doctor says you have recovered. Do not sign anything from the other driver's insurer without reading it, and ask whether a document is a release.

If the injuries lasted more than a few days, fault is disputed, or a government vehicle, commercial truck or uninsured driver was involved, the claim will turn on the records and on state law. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, and only an attorney who reviews the facts can say whether you have a claim. Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. If you were hurt in a car accident, you can request a free claim review and your request may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state.

• Day of the crash: call 911, get the report number, photograph everything, collect witness contacts, make no admissions.
• Days 1 to 3: see a doctor, notify your own insurer, start the journal, decline the other insurer's recorded statement.
• Weeks 1 to 4: keep every appointment, settle property damage only with a release limited to the vehicle, keep receipts.
• Before any injury settlement: finish treatment, tally every bill and lien, have the release reviewed.

• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Truck Accident Claims: Liability, Federal Rules and Compensation
• Motorcycle Accident Claims: Overcoming Rider Bias and Recovering Fully
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Can I Sue for a Slip and Fall? Premises Liability Explained
• Can I Sue My Employer for a Work Injury? Workers' Comp vs Lawsuit
• Can You Sue for Emotional Distress? The Three Legal Routes
• What Is a Personal Injury Claim and How Does the Process Work?

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