Your first week, handled well.
This is the advice we give on the phone before anyone has decided to hire a lawyer. It helps whether you end up calling us or not.
Describe the accident
Six things to do
- 01
Take photos of everything now
Scenes change fast. Debris is swept, a railing is repaired, a spill is mopped. Time-stamped photos outlast any description given months later.
- 02
Note the report number
You do not need the full report yet. The number is enough to request it later, and it is the quickest way for anyone to locate your case.
- 03
Get checked, even if fine
Soft tissue and head injuries can take days to surface. When the first medical visit comes late, adjusters point to that delay before anything else.
- 04
Write your account down tonight
Recall of the sequence fades fastest. Notes made the first day, as you remember it, count as evidence. Memories from month eight are just recollection.
- 05
Save receipts, log missed shifts
Parking, prescriptions, the overtime you could not work. All of it is recoverable, and very few people keep it.
- 06
Report it to your own insurer
Your policy usually requires notice. Report the basic facts briefly. You do not have to walk them through every detail.
Three things to avoid
You owe none of these to the other side.
Skip the recorded statement
You owe the other driver's insurer no interview. A short, polite no is enough.
Pass on the first offer
It comes early, before your treatment is complete, and it is priced for exactly that reason.
Refuse a blanket records release
A broad medical authorization opens your whole history. Records can be shared selectively instead.
Still wondering about
Rarely. Photos of healing injuries, a late police report request and a first medical visit still help, even weeks after the crash.
No. Anyone can report a claim to an insurer. A lawyer mainly helps with what comes after that first report.
Any work you lost because of the injury or its treatment, including partial days and overtime you would normally have picked up.
It is safest not to. Insurers do search social media, and a single photo can be read out of context.
Photograph it thoroughly before any repair. Keep the estimate and the invoice. Both matter later.
Use the report number with the agency that responded. Many local departments take requests online for a small fee.
Read further
A recorded statement helps their file, not yours
It freezes your account before you know how hurt you are, and the person asking does this for a living. Here is how to decline politely.
How a settlement figure is built, piece by piece
No honest lawyer can name your number in week one. Here are the pieces the figure is assembled from, and what pushes it up or down.
Sharing some blame still leaves you with a claim
In California your share of fault lowers what you recover rather than erasing it, and the share itself can be argued.
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Already made one of these mistakes? It rarely sinks a claim. Tell us about it all the same.
If there is no recovery, you owe no fee and you do not repay the costs we advanced.