What should I do after a car accident?

After a car accident, you should always call for help. While you wait for help to arrive, check for injuries—both your own and those of others involved in the collision. Be sure to accept necessary medical attention from any paramedics on the scene and follow up with a health care provider as soon as possible in the days following the accident. Last but not least, connect with a lawyer––and do it fast.

What you do at the scene of a car crash matters

If you are reading this, and you are still at the scene of your car accident, do the following:

Check for injuries

If you sense injuries that require emergency medical treatment call 911. This holds true regardless of who is at fault for the accident.

If someone indicates they are seriously hurt, you should do your part to ensure that emergency services will arrive to evaluate and treat accident victims. Our lawyers can use documentation from the medical providers to validate the cause of your injuries.

Call the police

When another person is at fault for a crash, it is in your best interest to have a law enforcement officer come out to the accident scene. The officer will write an accident report that will prove useful in your efforts to recover damages from the collision. Our firm will use this report—along with other evidence from our investigation of the car accident—to build your case.

Gather information

Do everything physically possible to document the scene. Have someone collect contact information from witnesses so our investigators can follow up with them for their account of how the accident happened. If you can, ask one of those not injured to take photos of the other driver’s identification and insurance card, your injuries, how the cars are situated, damage to any vehicles, and so on.

Also, jot down or make a voice recording of anything you remember from the collision, including how you are feeling at the moment. Continue to document how you feel as the day and week progresses, as some symptoms manifest after the adrenaline from the crash has worn off.

Our firm will conduct a thorough investigation of your accident and will use these details to help paint a clear cause and effect of the crash at a point in time while the evidence is fresh.

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What to do in the days and weeks following your car accident

Take note of certain critical tasks in the days and weeks following your car crash. These matters have a definite sense of urgency. Your timing can make all the difference in how well your case proceeds.

Seek medical attention

If you were hurt and not taken to a hospital, you should follow up, preferably the next day but definitely as soon as possible, with a medical professional. Having a thorough examination by a health care provider who knows you have experienced a car crash will help ensure that any underlying injuries are treated before they worsen into something more serious.

Furthermore, your doctor will document your injuries. By virtue of the time and date of your examination, the injuries will be more easily connected with your accident. Our firm will gather all medical reports for your accident-related injuries and use them to establish both causation and damages.

Contact your insurance company

You must call your insurance company and report the collision. Allow your attorney to help you report the accident and give you legal advice on what’s important.

The insurer can reach out to the police for any additional information. Our firm will take over from here and will handle any further communications with your agent.

Watch what you say about the accident

Please read this twice. Avoid talking, emailing, texting, and posting anything about your accident. This includes talking to the other driver’s insurer.

Their agent will likely call you to “make sure you’re okay.” They might sound sympathetic and caring, but everything they say and ask is driven by an underlying motive: to build a defense for their insured.

Remember, you have no legal obligation to talk to the other driver’s insurance company. Our firm will swiftly step into this process to protect your rights. We will also handle filing your claim and negotiating a settlement with the insurer.

If they refuse to agree to a fair settlement, we stand ready to file a lawsuit and take the matter to civil court, where we will fight to get you the compensation you deserve.

Don’t forget that the clock is ticking

New York’s statute of limitations restricts the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit to recover damages from your car accident injuries. You would be wise to start the process by hiring legal counsel early, giving us time to build your case and try to settle with the insurance company, and still have time to file a lawsuit if the insurer refuses to play ball.