What to do in the first week after a car accident

The week after a car accident is the week that decides how easy or how hard the claim will be, and it is also the week when you are least able to think about any of that. You are sore, your car is somewhere else, and someone from an insurance company has already called.

Here is what actually matters in those first days, in the order it matters. None of it is complicated, and you will not get all of it right. Do what you can.

This article sets out the general position in New York and New Jersey. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not make you a client of the firm.

Get examined, even if you walked away

Adrenaline hides a great deal. Whiplash, concussion, disc injuries and internal injuries frequently do not announce themselves at the roadside, and some take days to become obvious.

See a doctor within the first day or two if you possibly can. Two reasons. The first is your health. The second is that a gap between the accident and the first medical visit is the first thing an insurance company points to when it wants to argue the injury was not serious or was not caused by the crash.

The same goes for the treatment plan you are given. If you are told to go to physical therapy twice a week, missed sessions become an argument later.

Report the accident to your own insurer

This is separate from dealing with the other driver’s insurer, and it usually has a deadline in your policy, often measured in days.

In New Jersey and New York, personal injury protection (PIP or no-fault) coverage pays medical bills regardless of who caused the accident, but only if it is claimed properly and on time. New York’s no-fault application generally has to be submitted within 30 days of the accident. Missing it can cost you the coverage you have already paid for.

Be careful with the other driver’s insurer

They will call quickly, and they will be perfectly pleasant. It is worth being clear about what is happening: that adjuster works for the person who hit you, and part of their job is to settle the claim for as little as possible, as early as possible.

You are not required to give a recorded statement. You are allowed to say you will call back. You are allowed to have a lawyer speak to them instead.

Be especially careful about three things: a recorded statement given while you are still on painkillers, a medical authorization that opens your entire history rather than the treatment for this accident, and an early settlement offer made before anyone knows how your injuries will turn out. Once you sign a release, the claim is over, even if you need surgery six months later.

Keep what the crash left behind

Photograph everything while it still exists. Both vehicles, from several angles and far enough back to show where they ended up. The road, the lane markings, the traffic signals, the weather, anything blocking the view. Your own injuries, and then again as they heal.

Write down the police report number and the officer’s name. Save the other driver’s insurance details. Take a phone number for anyone who saw it, including people in nearby shops, because witnesses become impossible to find within a week.

If your car is going to be repaired or scrapped, photograph it properly first. The damage pattern is evidence and it disappears the moment the bodyshop starts.

Write down what happened, today

Not for anyone else. For you.

Write down what you saw, where the other vehicle came from, what it did, what the lights were showing, and what was said afterwards. Do it the same day, while you still know which lane you were in.

Memory fades faster than people expect, and the other driver’s version is usually recorded within hours. A page of notes written on the day is worth more than anything you can reconstruct in six months.

Keep a note of what you cannot do

This is the part almost everyone skips, and it is the part that is hardest to reconstruct later.

Keep a short record of what the injury is actually costing you. Days you could not work. Appointments you had to travel to. Things you used to do at home and cannot now — carrying shopping, driving the children, sleeping through the night, going back to the gym.

Medical bills are easy to prove because there is paperwork. The rest of it is real loss and it is exactly what an early offer leaves out, but only if you can describe it.

What not to do

Do not post about the accident on social media. Insurers look, and a photograph of you at a family party gets used to argue you are fine.

Do not throw away the damaged items — the car seat, the bike, the helmet, the shoes you fell in.

Do not sign anything you have not read, and do not accept a figure because it arrived quickly.

When to call a lawyer

Sooner is better than later, mainly because the things that help a claim — the photographs, the witness, the footage on a shop’s security system — stop existing quite quickly.

There is no cost to ask, and asking does not commit you to anything. Call us on 866-456-HUNT or send a short description of what happened. You do not need records, a police report or any paperwork ready to start.