What to Do After a Car Accident: Complete Guide and FAQs

A motor vehicle collision can quickly overwhelm you, especially when it results in severe injury and financial burden. You need to know what to do after a car accident to ensure a proper recovery and protect your legal rights. Your first step after seeking medical attention should be to call a car accident lawyer.

Fortunately, most car accident lawyers work on contingency—meaning they charge no upfront fees or out-of-pocket costs. You’ll pay for their legal services as an agreed-upon percentage of the total compensation they recover for you.

Consult a car accident attorney if you or a loved one suffered injuries resulting in damages, such as medical bills, lost wages or income, and pain and suffering. You’ll need experienced legal counsel to protect your rights and fight for maximum compensation for your claim.

What to Do After a Car Accident

Long after the dust settles and the debris has been cleared from the accident scene, your pain and suffering linger. Along with it comes anxiety and confusion about what to do next, how you will pay your bills, and whether a lawyer can help you regain control over your life.

While nothing can undo the harm you’ve suffered, an experienced lawyer can help you pursue fair compensation that gives you the resources and time you need to heal and move forward.

Your lawyer will shoulder most of your legal burdens, but being aware of what you should and should not do after a car accident can significantly impact your future.

Undergo a Medical Evaluation

Seeking medical treatment is vital following a car accident, regardless of the severity of the collision or injury. Delaying treatment can result in a worsening of injuries, including hidden or undetected ones.

A healthcare professional may evaluate you for:

• Whiplash
• Broken bones
• Spinal cord injuries (SCIs)
• Internal injuries such as bleeding
• Soft tissue damage like strains and sprains
• Concussion and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)

Many injuries like whiplash, brain injuries, and internal bleeding have delayed symptoms or symptoms that progressively worsen. A doctor will assess you immediately following a collision to document your car accident and schedule a follow-up to adequately diagnose and treat these common injuries.

Follow Your Medical Treatment Plan

Once the hospital discharges you, follow your medical treatment plan. You may not recover properly, and it doesn’t look good to insurance companies if you miss or cancel appointments.

If you cannot make and maintain your prescribed medical treatment and rehabilitation appointments, the insurer will assume you aren’t injured or don’t require further treatment.

Follow your medical treatment plan for optimal recovery and validate the need for liable insurers to pay your claim.

Notify Your Insurance Company

Another important thing you must do after a car accident is notify your car insurance company of the collision. You don’t need to provide much detail, and you should avoid making a recorded statement about the accident.

You or your lawyer can provide a more detailed accounting later. Ideally, you should report a car accident within 24 hours.

However, state jurisdiction, insurance company, and policy guidelines can determine how much time you legally have to report an auto collision.

Keep Detailed Records of Damages

You’ll want to maintain adequate documentation of all financial losses caused by the car accident. These are known as economic damages and are a significant portion of your final settlement check.

Examples of things to keep in your detailed records include:

• Medical billing statements
• Vehicle-repair invoices or estimates for damages
• Property-repair invoices or estimates for damages
• Employer income loss statement confirming income losses
• Receipts for out-of-pocket expenses like copays and deductibles

Other financial documents that help demonstrate loss may include credit card statements, pay stubs, tax returns, and bank statements. A paper trail may document economic damages. Their sum is often used to help determine the value of non-economic damages or pain and suffering.

Document Pain and Suffering

In addition to keeping detailed records of financial losses, consistently document your pain and suffering.

Keep a detailed pain journal with dated and frequent entries outlining your pain, medical treatment, and other injury symptoms, including:

• The intensity, location, duration, and frequency of physical pain
• Mental suffering and anguish
• Sleep and appetite disturbances
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Limited or restricted mobility or activities
• How medical treatments affect your injuries
• How a new disability affects your daily life
• Travel time to and from healthcare appointments

You may also note medical appointments and document your physical therapy. It helps paint a picture of how hard you worked and how long it took to recover from your injuries or reach your maximum medical improvement (MMI).

Your doctor determines your MMI, which entails reaching a state where treatment cannot further improve your condition. In addition to your pain journal, your car accident attorney will use detailed medical records and expert witness testimony to establish non-economic damages and pain and suffering.

Consult a Car Accident Lawyer

Your number one focus should be your medical treatment plan for recovery. Hiring an experienced car accident attorney to handle the legal aspects of your claim makes that process much more manageable. Successfully navigating the complex insurance claims process and court system requires considerable knowledge and experience.

Contingency fee arrangements make legal counsel accessible to everyone regardless of their financial situation. You will not pay any money upfront or pay anything out-of-pocket. Contingency fee arrangements also align your interests with your lawyer’s, incentivizing them even more to secure the best possible recovery for you.

What Not to Do After a Car Accident

Knowing what steps to take after an accident is important, but also knowing what not to do can help you protect your rights and the value of your claim.

Don’t Admit Fault

Never admit fault, apologize, or deny injury after a car accident. Car accidents can be complex and involve multiple liable parties that take time to investigate. Also, the shock and adrenaline after a collision can mask the pain you may have from your injuries. What you say at the accident scene or at any time during the legal process can potentially hurt your case.

Never Accept Quick Settlement Offers

The at-fault driver’s insurance company will likely contact you after a car accident. Their goal is to settle your car accident case as cheaply as possible and as quickly as they can.

Insurance adjusters may seem friendly and helpful, but their mission isn’t to provide you with the help and resources you need. Their job is to get you to settle your case for much less than you need or deserve.

When you are facing costly medical bills, lost wages or income, and financial hardship in general, it may be tempting to accept the insurance company’s quick lowball offer and move on.

However, this is a massive mistake. Healthcare costs are astronomical, and you should never settle before reaching your MMI and the full extent of the damages you’re entitled to. You and your lawyer know what your claim is worth; insurance companies only know how much they hope to get away with. A skilled car accident lawyer will advocate for you, protect your rights, and fight for your maximum compensation.

Never Provide a Recorded Statement

The at-fault driver’s insurance company may contact you after the accident to pressure you into making a recorded statement soon after your car accident. Don’t give it to them. You are not obligated to provide one; they will only use it against you.

The purpose of the recorded statement is to obtain evidence of you saying anything they may use to downplay the severity of your injuries or deny your claim entirely.

Schedule a free consultation with a car accident attorney immediately if you’ve already provided a recorded statement. A lawyer can evaluate your situation and explain your best course of action for recovering damages.

Avoid Posting to Social Media

Posting to social media after a car accident is risky and strongly discouraged. Insurance companies often hire private investigators to stalk claimants’ social media accounts, searching for anything they can use to downplay injuries, reduce their liability, or deny your injury claim. Accident victims should avoid posting pictures, videos, check-ins, and location updates.

All settings should be private, and you should avoid accepting new friend requests from people you do not know during the claim-settling process. Something like someone tagging you at an event where you look comfortable on a dance floor may be enough to deny your claim.

Never Neglect Your Medical Treatment Plan

Neglecting your medical treatment plan may harm your recovery and car accident insurance claim. Every state has a statute of limitations that limits how much time you have to recover car accident damages and losses.

Delayed treatment can cost you big time. Not making or keeping appointments looks like you no longer need medical treatment, which may result in significantly undervalued claims and future out-of-pocket healthcare costs at your expense.

Why You Need an Experienced Car Accident Attorney

You should hire a car accident attorney with experience and a proven track record of successfully handling similar cases and litigation. While most car accident claims don’t go to court, you don’t want a lawyer who lacks trial experience representing your case if you are an exception.

Here’s how your car accident attorney will work for you:

Protection From Insurance Companies

Insurance claim adjusters are in the business of maximizing company profits despite the friendly voice that sounds concerned for your well-being on the other end of the phone. The insurance adjuster may even tell you that you don’t need a lawyer to represent your legal needs. Don’t fall for it.

An attorney will protect you and your claim from insurance practices such as:

• Unreasonably delaying car accident claims
• Denying valid insurance injury claims
• Pressuring you to release your medical records
• Insisting you have their recommended doctors evaluate your injuries
• Pressuring you for a recorded statement
• Downplaying your injuries
• Attempting to get you to admit partial or total liability
• Making threatening statements

Thorough Case Investigation

Solid evidence is the foundation of your case. Your lawyer will collect, preserve, and analyze all evidence in your car accident claim.

Their investigation involves locating and viewing video footage of your car accident, studying photos of the accident scene, examining images of your injuries, interviewing eyewitnesses, and consulting expert witnesses while securing invaluable testimony. These expert witnesses may include healthcare professionals, economists, engineers, and life planners.

Accident Reconstruction

Another valuable resource that your car accident lawyer will work with is an accident reconstruction specialist. Accident reconstructionists analyze the evidence and accident scene before using computer simulations and 3D models to demonstrate negligence.

Their testimony helps cement liability, ensuring the at-fault driver is responsible for your medical bills and damages.

Comprehensive Claim Valuation

Valuing a car accident claim involves calculating economic damages and determining a dollar value for subjective damages, such as pain and suffering.

Your lawyer may secure financial compensation for damages, including:

Healthcare Costs

Your medical expenses are recoverable economic damages and may include emergency services, hospital stays, primary care, surgical care, medical assistive devices, physical therapy, vocational therapy, occupational therapy, and ongoing and future medical care.

Property Damages

Another critical component of car accident claims is your property damages. They generally include vehicle-related repairs or replacement after a collision. These damages cover rideshare and rental car costs while you are without your vehicle. Finally, any personal property damaged in the crash is recoverable economic damage.

Lost Income

If your injuries caused you to miss work, you can file for lost earnings. Income losses include salary and lost benefits. For injured parties with a disability, your attorney may factor in diminished or lost earning capacity.

Pain and Suffering

Pain and suffering compensate for non-economic damages incurred in a car accident. Depending on the severity of your injuries, it may include ascribing value to chronic pain conditions, disability, scarring, disfigurement, loss of limb, and permanent symptoms of spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries.

Wrongful Death

Families filing for wrongful death may seek compensation for their deceased loved one’s final medical expenses, lost earnings, property damages, and pain and suffering.

They may also recover compensation for their own pain and suffering, loss of companionship, loss of financial support and guidance, and final arrangement costs.

Negotiations With Liable Insurers

Negotiating with insurance companies is key to securing maximum compensation for your car accident claim. It typically involves several exchanges before all parties agree on settlement terms. Insurers may start ridiculously low to gauge the competence and confidence of your attorney.

Finding a reputable and experienced car accident lawyer ensures a skilled negotiator who will demand reasonable compensation for your claim.

Representation in Court

If your car accident claim requires filing a civil lawsuit, your attorney will litigate your case before a judge and jury. The process involves a discovery phase, during which attorneys exchange depositions and interrogatories, prepare witnesses, and solidify evidence. After both sides present their case, the jury will determine whether to award you damages.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if the other driver is uninsured?

If the driver who caused the accident is uninsured, you may still be able to recover compensation through your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage if you have it. This coverage can help pay for your medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages.

If you don’t have UM/UIM coverage, other options may include using your health insurance to pay for your accident-related medical care and filing a personal injury lawsuit directly against the uninsured driver, though recovery can be difficult if they lack sufficient assets.

Should I accept the insurance company’s first settlement offer?

No. Insurance companies make low initial settlement offers to minimize payouts. These offers will not fully account for long-term medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, future care needs, and other damages. Once you accept a settlement, you typically forfeit your right to pursue further compensation.

Before accepting any settlement, consult with a personal injury attorney who can negotiate a settlement that provides you full, fair, and complete compensation.

What if I was partially at fault for the accident?

All states have laws governing shared fault for an accident, but those laws vary. It’s best to check with a qualified car accident lawyer if you feel you might have been partially to blame for an accident. Colorado, for instance, follows a modified comparative negligence system, meaning you can still recover damages if you’re less than 50% at fault. However, your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault.

An experienced attorney can be your best protection against an insurance company that tries to place undue blame on you for an accident. Your lawyer will gather evidence to support your claim and fight attempts to pin liability on you.

Can I still file a claim if I didn’t feel injured at the scene?

Yes. Many car accident injuries, like whiplash, concussions, or soft tissue injuries, may not show symptoms until hours or even days later. It’s crucial to seek medical attention as soon as symptoms appear—not only for your health but to strengthen your legal claim. Insurance companies may argue that delayed treatment suggests the injury wasn’t serious or related to the accident, so prompt medical documentation is key.

Do I need to report minor accidents to the police?

Not all states require you to report minor car accidents; most states only mandate reporting accidents if there is a certain level of personal injury or property damage. In Colorado, for instance, the law requires you to report accidents that involve injury, death, or property damage exceeding $1,000. Even in minor fender-benders, having an official police report can be invaluable when filing insurance claims or if the other driver later disputes the details. Failure to report could result in penalties or complications when seeking compensation.

What happens if the at-fault driver flees the scene?

Hit-and-run accidents add complexity to your car accident case, but you still have options. Immediately report the incident to the police. Doing so creates an official record and increases the chances of identifying the at-fault driver. If the driver remains unidentified, your uninsured motorist coverage can help cover medical bills, property damage, and other losses. Without UM coverage, you may need to explore other avenues of potential compensation.

Do I have to go to court over my car accident case?

Not always. Most car accident cases are settled with insurance companies out of court. However, if the insurance company refuses to offer fair compensation, filing a lawsuit may become necessary. Even then, however, cases are more likely to settle during pre-trial negotiations or mediation. Having an experienced personal injury attorney can strengthen your position during settlement talks and prepare you for court if it becomes unavoidable.

Contact Fuicelli & Lee Injury Lawyers

The steps you take immediately after a car accident can significantly impact your health, your legal rights, and your ability to recover fair compensation. From seeking medical attention to understanding Colorado’s comparative negligence laws, being informed is your best protection.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, the experienced team at Fuicelli & Lee Injury Lawyers is here to help. We understand how stressful this process can be and are committed to helping you secure the compensation you deserve. Don’t wait— call us at (303) 444-4444 or use our contact form to schedule a free consultation. Call today. Acting quickly can make all the difference in protecting your rights and building a strong case.

 

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