CAR ACCIDENT CLAIMS
What To Do In The First 48 Hours After a Car Accident
The choices you make in the two days after a crash shape your entire claim. Attorney Vito walks through the steps that protect your health and your case — and the common mistakes that quietly cost people money.
What's Covered
6 chapters — select one to jump to that moment
Why the first 48 hours matter so much
Insurance adjusters begin building their file the moment a claim is reported. Evidence at the scene disappears within days, vehicles get repaired or scrapped, and memories blur. What you document early becomes the backbone of everything that follows.
Talking to the other driver’s insurer
You are under no obligation to give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company. Those calls are friendly by design, and the questions are written to elicit answers that limit what they owe you. Decline politely and refer them to your attorney.
Getting checked out even if you feel fine
Adrenaline masks injury. Soft-tissue damage and concussions routinely surface days later, and a gap between the crash and your first medical visit is the single most common argument insurers use to discount a claim.
Full Transcript
[00:00] If you have just been in a car accident, the next two days matter more than almost anything else that happens in your case. I am going to walk you through exactly what to do.
[00:24] First: call the police, even for a minor collision. A police report creates a neutral, time-stamped record of who was where. Without one, it becomes your word against theirs.
[01:10] Second: photograph everything before the cars move. Both vehicles, all four corners, the skid marks, the traffic signals, the weather, the damage to any guardrail or property.
[02:05] Third: get medical attention within twenty-four hours. I cannot stress this enough. Adrenaline hides pain, and insurers treat any delay as proof you were not really hurt.
[03:00] Fourth: do not give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company. You are not required to, and nothing good comes of it.
[03:48] Finally: write down what you remember that same night. Six months from now the details will be gone, and your own notes become evidence.
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