What to Do After a Car Accident in California: A Step-by-Step Guide

California law imposes specific obligations on all drivers involved in an accident, and the practical steps for protecting a personal injury claim are equally structured. What you do in the first minutes after a collision — and in the hours and days that follow — has a direct, measurable impact on the strength of any subsequent claim.

At the Scene: Immediate Steps

Stay at the scene. California Vehicle Code section 20001 makes it a felony to leave the scene of an accident involving injury or death. Vehicle Code section 20002 makes leaving the scene of a property-damage accident a misdemeanor. Remain at the scene until all legally required actions are complete and law enforcement has authorized departure.

Call 911. Request police and emergency medical services. Even for accidents that appear minor, a police report provides the official account of the crash and is the first document every insurance adjuster and attorney reviews. In some California jurisdictions, officers do not respond to property-damage-only accidents — if that is the case, both parties should exchange information and the accident can be self-reported through LAPD's online system or the local police department's equivalent.

Move vehicles if safe to do so. California Vehicle Code section 20001.5 permits moving vehicles out of the travel lane after an accident if it can be done safely without aggravating injuries. In high-speed traffic environments like freeways, remaining in the travel lane creates secondary collision risk. Move to the shoulder if physically able. Do not move vehicles if anyone may have a spinal injury.

Exchange information with all drivers. Obtain from every driver involved: full name, home address, driver's license number, vehicle registration, license plate, and insurance company name and policy number. Also note the make, model, color, and year of each vehicle. In California, drivers are legally required to provide this information to other parties and to law enforcement upon request.

Documenting the Accident

Scene documentation is one of the highest-value actions an injured person can take in the immediate aftermath of a collision. Evidence conditions change rapidly: weather changes, debris is swept away, tire marks fade, and vehicles are moved and repaired. Photographs and video taken at the scene preserve conditions that can never be reproduced.

Photograph comprehensively:

• All vehicles from multiple angles, showing all damage points and final resting positions
• Skid marks, gouge marks, and debris fields showing point of impact
• Traffic signals, stop signs, speed limit signs, and other traffic controls
• Road surface conditions (wet, dry, construction zones, potholes)
• Visible injuries to all persons involved
• Any obstructions, parked vehicles, or sight-line issues relevant to how the crash occurred
• The names and addresses of any businesses near the accident scene (potential camera sources)

Collect witness information before witnesses leave. Get names, phone numbers, and email addresses. Note what each witness says they saw immediately after the accident while their account is fresh. Independent witnesses — people with no relationship to any party — are among the most persuasive evidence available in disputed liability cases.

Medical Evaluation: Why Timing Matters

Seeking medical evaluation the same day as the accident is the most important single action for protecting the injury claim. The reason is causation: insurance companies and defense attorneys require a documented medical record establishing that specific injuries were diagnosed in close temporal proximity to the accident.

Adrenaline is the primary reason people leave accident scenes feeling uninjured but develop significant symptoms hours or days later. The stress response suppresses pain perception reliably and dramatically. Whiplash injuries, herniated discs, concussions, and internal injuries frequently become symptomatic only after the adrenaline response subsides — often overnight or the following morning.

A gap between the accident date and the first medical record — even a gap of one or two days — is routinely exploited by insurance adjusters to argue that the injuries were not caused by the accident. "If the injuries were caused by the crash, why didn't you seek treatment immediately?" This argument, while not legally conclusive under California's causation standards, is used to reduce settlement offers significantly and to challenge damages at trial.

If your injuries seem minor, an urgent care visit or emergency room evaluation still creates the critical contemporaneous medical record. If imaging is warranted based on the mechanism of injury, obtaining X-rays or MRI studies at the outset documents injuries that might otherwise be disputed later.

Evidence Preservation: The 24-Hour Window

Surveillance footage is among the most valuable evidence in a car accident case and among the most perishable. Most commercial and residential security systems record on a rolling loop, overwriting the oldest footage with new recordings after a set retention period — typically 30 to 72 hours, and sometimes as short as 24 hours for high-volume systems.

Identifying and preserving this footage requires acting within hours of the accident, not days:

1. Identify all businesses, gas stations, banks, ATMs, traffic cameras, and residences within sight of the accident location
2. Visit each location in person and request preservation of any footage covering the time of the accident
3. Follow up with written requests (email, text, or letter) to create a record of the preservation request
4. If you have retained an attorney, they can send formal litigation hold letters requiring preservation under penalty of sanctions

California courts may impose evidence spoliation sanctions — adverse inference instructions or other remedies — against a party who fails to preserve evidence after receiving formal notice that it is relevant to anticipated litigation. But these sanctions are most effectively obtained when the preservation request was made before the footage was deleted.

EDR (event data recorder) data from the at-fault vehicle is another time-sensitive evidence category. EDRs in modern vehicles capture speed, braking, and steering inputs in the seconds before impact. Retrieving this data requires a court order or the vehicle owner's consent. If litigation is anticipated, the at-fault vehicle should be identified to the opposing party in writing as a potential evidence source before it is repaired or sold.

Reporting to Your Insurance Company

Your own insurance policy's cooperation clause requires prompt notification of any accident. Report the accident to your own insurer accurately and completely. Provide the information you know: the date, time, location, other parties involved, and the nature of the injuries you have identified so far.

Reporting to your own insurer does not constitute an admission of fault and does not waive your rights against the at-fault driver or their insurer. Your own insurer needs the notification to manage your coverage: collision coverage (for vehicle repair), MedPay (for immediate medical expenses), and uninsured motorist coverage (if the at-fault driver lacks adequate insurance).

The adverse insurer — the at-fault driver's insurance company — operates differently. When the adverse insurer's adjuster contacts you (typically within days of the accident being reported), you are not obligated to provide a recorded statement before consulting an attorney. A polite response indicating that you will be retaining counsel is legally appropriate and commonly used.

When to Consult an Attorney

Most California personal injury attorneys offer free initial consultations and work on contingency — collecting no fee unless they recover compensation. There is no cost to consulting with an attorney early in the process, and the information they provide about your specific situation has significant practical value.

Consulting an attorney is particularly important when any of the following are present: serious injuries requiring hospitalization, surgery, or likely to cause lasting impairment; disputed liability where the other party or their insurer denies fault; a government entity involved in the accident (triggering the six-month tort claim deadline); an uninsured or hit-and-run driver; a commercial vehicle such as a truck, bus, or rideshare vehicle; or an insurer that is delaying, denying, or low-balling the claim.

Verify any attorney's bar standing before retaining them. The California State Bar's online attorney search at calbar.ca.gov confirms current license status, any discipline history, and contact information.

What Not to Do After a California Car Accident

• Do not leave the scene before completing all legally required steps and before law enforcement has arrived and authorized departure.
• Do not admit fault at the scene. Fault is a legal determination made after investigation, not a social statement. "I'm sorry" at a crash scene can be used against you in subsequent proceedings.
• Do not minimize your injuries. Telling the responding officer, the other driver, or the adjuster that you are "fine" or "just a little sore" creates a record that may contradict the injury documentation that follows.
• Do not accept an early settlement offer before reaching maximum medical improvement. Early settlements routinely undervalue claims because future medical costs and long-term disability are not yet quantified.
• Do not provide a recorded statement to the adverse insurer before consulting an attorney. Recorded statements are used to lock in your account before you have legal counsel or full knowledge of your injuries.
• Do not post about the accident on social media. Defense attorneys and insurance investigators routinely search social media for posts, photographs, and activities that contradict injury claims.
• Do not repair your vehicle before it has been photographed and, if warranted, inspected by an accident reconstruction expert. The vehicle is physical evidence of the crash severity.