First Steps After a California Car Crash

Most people are involved in a serious car collision once or twice in a lifetime. The choices you make in the first 72 hours often shape the strength of any later claim more than anything that happens months later. This is a plain-English checklist of what tends to help and what tends to hurt.

At the scene

Move to safety, then call 911. California law generally requires drivers to stop and exchange information; if anyone is injured or there is significant damage, a police response is appropriate. A police report — or a CHP report on the freeway — gives the insurance carriers a neutral starting point.

Do not argue fault and do not apologize. It is natural to say "I'm so sorry" after a frightening event, even when nothing was your fault. Those words can be replayed by an adjuster as an admission. Be polite and factual. The cause of the collision is not yours to decide at the curb.

Photograph everything. Wide shots of the intersection or roadway, mid-range shots of the vehicles, close-ups of damage on each car, photos of the license plates, and photos of any debris field, skid marks, or traffic-control devices. If there is visible injury, photograph that too. Phone cameras are perfectly adequate.

Get the other driver's information — name, address, phone, license number, plate, and insurance carrier and policy number. If there are passengers in their car, get their information too. Witnesses are gold; even a first name and phone number is valuable.

In the first 24 hours

Get medical attention even if you feel "okay." Adrenaline masks pain for hours. Whiplash, concussion, and soft-tissue injuries often peak two or three days later. Going to urgent care or the ER on the day of the collision creates a contemporaneous medical record that ties the injury to the event. Waiting two weeks gives the insurance company an argument that the injury came from something else.

Tell the treating provider how the injury happened. "Was in a rear-end collision yesterday afternoon, hit head on the headrest" goes in the chart and becomes part of the case. Vague statements lose value over time.

Notify your own insurance carrier. Most policies require prompt notice. Stick to facts and the basic narrative. Decline to give a recorded statement on the first call. There is no rush.

What to avoid saying to the other driver's insurance company

If the other driver was at fault, expect a call from their carrier within a few business days. The adjuster will be courteous and may offer to "just close this out" with a quick payment. Two practical points:

• Do not give a recorded statement without speaking to a lawyer first. Recorded statements are not required in pre-litigation evaluations and they often produce ambiguous answers about pain levels and prior medical history that get used to discount the claim later.
• Do not sign a medical authorization that gives the carrier access to your full medical history. A narrow authorization for records related to the collision is standard; an open-ended one is not.

A polite "I'm still being seen by my doctor; I'll be back in touch when I have more information" is a complete answer to almost any question in the first two weeks.

Documentation to start collecting

• Photos and any dashcam or surveillance video
• The police or CHP report (you can usually request a copy after a few days)
• Names and contacts for witnesses
• Medical records and bills as they come in
• Pay stubs or HR letters if you missed work
• A short daily log of pain, sleep, and what you could not do that day

A daily log is the single most under-used piece of evidence. Memory of a difficult Tuesday in March fades by August. A two-line note in your phone — "couldn't lift my daughter, neck spasm woke me up at 2am" — does not.

When to call a lawyer

Many minor matters are handled directly by the involved drivers and their insurance carriers without legal help. A short phone call costs nothing and helps you tell the difference. The firm offers a no-cost initial consultation; if a claim is strong enough to warrant representation, the firm typically handles personal-injury matters on a contingency fee under a written engagement letter. If it isn't, you'll hear that.

If you've been in a collision in California, contact the firm and we'll talk through next steps.

This article is general information and not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading it.