If It Happens, Do This

Nobody thinks clearly the first time. Having read this once makes a real difference.

1. Stop. Do not drive away.

Leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage or injury is a criminal matter under Vehicle Code sections 20002 and 20003. Even for a parked car you clipped, the code requires locating the owner or leaving a written note with your details. This is the single most serious mistake available to you, and panic is how it happens.

2. Check for injuries

Yours, your passengers', theirs. If anyone is hurt, call for help before anything else on this list.

Ask the others out loud, and don't answer for yourself too quickly — adrenaline masks a lot for the first twenty minutes.

3. Move to safety if you can

Out of traffic if the vehicles are driveable. Hazard lights on either way.

Driveable means it steers, the wheels turn, and nothing is dragging or leaking. If it isn't — or anyone is hurt — leave the cars where they are and get yourself out of the traffic lanes.

4. Exchange what the law requires

Vehicle Code section 16025 requires drivers to exchange name and current residence address, driver's license number, vehicle registration number, and evidence of financial responsibility. Get theirs, give yours.

If the other driver won't hand theirs over, don't argue about it — call the police, photograph the plate, and let the report carry it.

5. Photograph everything

Both vehicles from multiple angles, the wider scene, positions, signs and signals, plates, and their license and insurance card. More than you think you need.

A shot list: all four corners of both cars, one wide frame showing where they ended up in the lanes, the damage close up, both plates, and the other driver's license and insurance card.

6. Get witnesses

Names and phone numbers. They disappear fast.

Get a name and a cell number before anyone leaves. Witnesses have no obligation to stay, and they almost never do.

7. Don't argue about fault

Be decent, check on people, exchange information. Fault is determined from evidence afterwards.

Skip the apology, too. "Sorry" is a normal human reflex that reads as an admission in a claim file months later. Say you're glad everyone's okay instead.

8. Call your insurer — and tell your parents if you're on their policy

Report promptly. Reporting is not the same as filing a claim, and late reporting causes more problems than early reporting.

The call is shorter than you expect: date, time, location, what happened in plain words, and the other driver's information. You get a claim number and an adjuster. A recorded statement may be requested later, and that's routine.

9. Remember the DMV report

If anyone was injured or property damage exceeded the section 16000 threshold, there's a separate 10-day reporting obligation to the DMV. A police report doesn't cover it.

The form is the SR-1 and it goes to the DMV, not to your insurer. Your carrier opening a claim doesn't satisfy it, and neither does an officer writing a report at the scene.

Questions? Call us — that's what we're for.