Accident help

The first hour, the first day, the first week

Accident aftermath runs on three clocks. The first hour is about safety and evidence: people checked, vehicles out of traffic, photos taken, information exchanged — the full sequence is in what to do after an accident. The first day is about reporting: your insurer wants prompt notice, and California's SR-1 rule requires a DMV report within ten days when anyone is injured or damage crosses the state threshold. The first week is about the repair: an estimate, a shop choice that is legally yours to make, and a plan.

The most expensive mistakes in that timeline are quiet ones. Leaving a car at a tow yard while the claim gets sorted burns daily storage fees — move it to the shop early. Driving a vehicle that took suspension or airbag damage turns one repair into two — here's how to tell. And accepting the first estimate as final ignores how collision damage actually works: supplements after disassembly are normal, and a shop that documents them properly is protecting you, not padding the bill.

One more clock worth knowing about: evidence decays. Skid marks get driven over, damaged vehicles get moved, memories soften, and witnesses become harder to reach — which is why the scene photos and contact details from hour one do more work than anything gathered in week two. If you missed something at the scene, don't invent it later; write down what you actually remember, note what's uncertain, and let the documentation from the estimate and repair fill in the physical story honestly.

Keep the checklist where you'll need it

Nobody reads calmly at a crash scene, which is why the accident checklist is written to be skimmed on a phone with adrenaline going: what to capture, what to exchange, what not to say, and what can wait. Save it now, need it never — that's the ideal outcome. And if the moment has already happened and you're reading this in the aftermath, skip straight to the estimate or call us; the sorting is our job from there.