What to do after a car accident, step by step

Nobody thinks clearly in the minutes after a collision, which is why the steps have to be known in advance. What gets recorded at the roadside, who is told what, and what is left unsaid all become the evidence the adjusters work from, and gaps in that evidence are filled by the other driver's version. The steps are the same for a low-speed bump in a Provo parking lot and a highway crash on the interstate outside Kingman; only the urgency differs.

This guide covers the scene and the two days that follow. It stops where the claim itself begins, which a separate guide covers in detail. It applies in Arizona, Nevada and Idaho, where the at-fault driver's carrier pays for injuries, and in Utah, where your own personal injury protection pays first regardless of fault; the differences are marked where they change what you do.

What to have in the car before anything happens

The kit is small and lives in the glovebox.

• The current insurance ID card, paper or on the phone, and the registration. All four states accept electronic proof of insurance at a roadside stop.
• A pen and a printed card listing what to collect from the other driver, because the phone may be damaged or the battery flat.
• A phone with a camera and a torch, and a charging cable.
• Emergency contact numbers, including your agent's, written down rather than only stored in the phone.
• A reflective triangle or flares, a small first-aid kit, and water; on a rural stretch of any of the four states help can be a long time coming.

Step one: stop, check for injuries, make the scene safe

Stop the car. Leaving the scene of a collision that caused damage or injury is an offence in every state, whatever the circumstances. Check yourself and your passengers, then the occupants of the other vehicle. If anyone is hurt, or might be, call emergency services first and do nothing else until that is done. Do not move an injured person unless they are in immediate danger from fire or traffic.

If the vehicles can be driven and nobody is hurt, move them out of the traffic lane to the shoulder or a nearby lot; a second collision into a stopped car on a live lane is a common and avoidable outcome. If a car cannot be moved, turn on the hazard lights, set out the triangle behind it, and get everyone away from the roadway. Take a photograph of the vehicles' positions before moving them if it is safe to do so.

Step two: call the police, and know when you must

Call the police to the scene if anyone is injured, if a vehicle cannot be driven, if the other driver appears impaired, is uncooperative or has no insurance, or if there is any dispute about what happened. An officer's report is the most useful single document in a contested claim, because it records the parties, the positions, the statements and the officer's observations at the time. In a minor collision with no injuries, officers in some jurisdictions will not attend and will direct the drivers to exchange information and file a report themselves.

Each of the four states requires a report to the police or the motor vehicle agency when a crash causes injury or death, or property damage above a threshold amount set by the state. The threshold and the reporting route are set by each state, and the dispatcher or the state motor vehicle agency can tell you both. If officers do not attend, ask the dispatcher how to file the report and do it within the period allowed. Failing to report where a report is required can affect your licence and can be raised by the other carrier later.

Step three: exchange information and document everything

Collect these before anyone leaves, in this order of priority.

• A photograph of the other driver's licence, insurance card and registration. Photographs are faster and more accurate than writing.
• The other driver's phone number, and the name of the registered owner if it is not the driver.
• The other vehicle's plate, make, model and colour, and the plates of any other vehicles involved.
• Photographs of all sides of every vehicle, close-ups of each area of damage, the interior if airbags deployed, and the scene: lane markings, signals, signs, skid marks, debris, weather and lighting conditions.
• Names and numbers of witnesses, including passengers in the other car. Witnesses leave quickly and are hard to find later.
• The attending officers' names, badge numbers and the report or incident number.
• Your own short written account of what happened, with the time, made at the scene or as soon as you are home.

Step four: what to say and what not to say

Be civil and factual. Ask whether the other driver is hurt, exchange information, and say nothing about who caused the crash. An apology, a guess about your speed, or an offer to pay for the damage rather than involve insurance is quoted back in the claim, and the other driver's carrier will use it. Fault is decided from the evidence by the adjusters and, if it comes to it, by a court; it is not something either driver settles at the roadside.

Do not agree to keep insurance out of it. The other driver's offer of cash can seem tidy in a small collision, but the damage under a bumper is not visible at the roadside, an injury may not show for a day, and an unreported accident is a breach of your own policy's notice condition. Give your insurance information, take theirs, and let the carriers do what they are paid to do. If the other driver has no insurance, note that fact, photograph the plate, and be sure the police report records it; your uninsured motorist coverage will need it.

Step five: the first two days

See a doctor the same day or the next, even if you feel fine. Soft-tissue injuries commonly appear a day or two after a collision, and a medical record that begins at the crash is far stronger evidence than one that begins a week later. In Utah your personal injury protection pays those first bills whoever was at fault; in Arizona, Nevada and Idaho your medical payments coverage does the same if you carry it, and otherwise the bills wait for the fault determination or go through your health insurance in the meantime.

Report the accident to your own carrier promptly, whether or not you intend to claim under your policy and whether or not you were at fault. The policy requires it, and the report costs nothing. Give the same factual account you wrote at the scene. If the other driver's carrier calls, you may give them your contact details and the basic facts, but you are not required to give a recorded statement or sign anything, and it is reasonable to let your own carrier handle contact with them. Do not accept an early settlement offer for injuries; a release signed before treatment ends closes the claim for symptoms that appear afterwards.

Keep a file: the photographs, the officer's report once it is available, medical records and bills, receipts for a rental car or a tow, and a note of every conversation with either carrier, with the date and the name of the person.

Common mistakes

The claims that go badly usually involve one of these.

• Not calling the police because the other driver asked you not to.
• Taking the other driver's word for their insurance details instead of photographing the card. A wrong policy number costs weeks.
• Apologising, or saying you did not see them, at the scene.
• Moving the vehicles before a photograph of their positions, when it was safe to take one.
• Skipping the doctor because nothing hurt yet.
• Delaying the report to your own carrier because the other driver was clearly at fault.
• Signing a release from the other carrier in the first week.
• Posting about the crash on social media, which the other carrier will read.

A worked example

Suppose a driver in Boise is struck at an intersection by a car that ran a red light. Both cars are driveable; her passenger has a sore neck. She moves both cars to the shoulder after photographing their positions, calls the police because there is an injury and a dispute about the light, and photographs the other driver's licence and insurance card while waiting. A witness at the bus stop gives her a phone number and confirms the light was red. The officer's report records the witness and the other driver's admission that he was looking at his phone. That evening she reports to her own carrier. The next morning her passenger sees a doctor; say the visit and follow-up total $1,200. Her car needs $4,500 of repairs. Because the report, the witness and the photographs make fault clear, the other carrier accepts liability within two weeks and pays the repair without her deductible, the passenger's bills, and a rental for the eight-day repair. Without the witness and the report, the other driver's later claim that the light was amber would have made it a shared-fault dispute lasting months. The figures are hypothetical.

How to use this

Print the checklist in the information section and keep it with the ID card. If you are a client and you are in a collision, call us from the scene or as soon as you are home; we will help you make the report, tell you which coverage on your declarations page responds, and deal with the other carrier's adjuster on your behalf. If the loss is small enough that filing would cost more at renewal than it pays, we will say so, and the report to the carrier still gets made.