After a preventable accident, most people are focused on one thing: recovering from their injuries. They assume the at-fault party’s insurance company will step in, review the situation, and pay them full and fair compensation. In practice, insurance providers investigate claims with their own financial interests in mind, and what you do in the days and weeks after an accident directly affects what you ultimately recover.

If you’ve never filed this type of insurance claim in Indiana, this guide walks you through each stage of the process, from the initial claim filing to gathering evidence, responding to claims adjuster tactics, negotiating a fair settlement, and knowing when to bring in a personal injury attorney (which is as soon as possible).

An Overview of Indiana’s Fault-Based Insurance System

Indiana is an at-fault state, which means the driver or party responsible for causing an accident is financially responsible for the resulting damages. Unlike no-fault states, where each driver’s own insurance pays their medical bills regardless of who caused the crash, Indiana’s system places the burden of proof on the injured person to establish that someone else’s negligence caused their injuries. 

When you’re injured in Indiana, you have three avenues for recovery: 

• Filing a claim against the at-fault party’s liability insurance; 
• Filing a claim under your own policy if applicable coverages apply; or 
• Filing a personal injury lawsuit directly against the at-fault party. 

Indiana law requires all drivers to carry minimum liability coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage. Those minimums are a floor and not a guarantee of full compensation: in a serious car accident, medical bills alone can exceed those limits quickly. Insurers must also include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in every auto policy they sell, though policyholders can reject it in writing. 

Finally, Indiana follows a modified comparative fault rule, known as the 51% bar rule. If you’re found to be 50% or less at fault for the car accident, you can recover compensation, but your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you’re assigned 51% or more of the fault, you recover nothing. That rule gives insurance companies a direct incentive to argue that you share responsibility for what happened, which is one of the reasons you’ll want to be careful when dealing with insurance providers.

Step 1: Seek Medical Attention Immediately

Before you think about filing an auto claim, go to a doctor. An emergency room visit, an urgent care appointment, or a same-day visit to your primary care physician on the day of the accident creates a medical record tied to the date of the incident. It establishes that you were hurt when the car accident happened and what your injuries are. Every day you wait gives the insurance adjuster grounds to argue that something other than the accident caused your condition.

Adrenaline released during a traumatic event temporarily suppresses pain, which means you can walk away from a serious car accident feeling shaken but unhurt. Whiplash symptoms commonly appear within 6 to 24 hours after a collision, while concussion symptoms can be delayed by days. Internal injuries to organs like the spleen or liver may produce no immediate symptoms at all but can become life-threatening without prompt treatment. A physician can order X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs that detect these conditions before they worsen.

Once you have a diagnosis, follow every instruction your doctor gives you. Attend every follow-up appointment, complete your physical therapy, and fill every prescription. Insurance companies track gaps and inconsistencies in treatment records and use them to argue that your injuries have resolved or were never serious to begin with. 

Step 2: Report the Accident and Notify Insurance Companies

Under Indiana Code § 9-26-1-1.1, drivers must contact police as soon as possible when a car accident results in injury, death, or entrapment. If your accident meets any of those thresholds, call 911 at the scene. The responding officer will prepare an official crash report that documents vehicle positions, driver and witness statements, road conditions, and a preliminary assessment of how the accident occurred.

After reporting to law enforcement, notify your own insurance company promptly. Most Indiana auto policies require policyholders to report accidents within 24 to 48 hours, and some policies use broader language requiring “prompt” or “timely” notice. Failing to report within your policy’s required window can give your insurer grounds to deny coverage, even in accidents where the other driver was entirely at fault. 

Keep the initial report factual and brief. Don’t speculate about what caused the accident, estimate the extent of your injuries, or discuss fault. Your medical picture isn’t fully formed yet, and any characterization of your injuries as “minor” or “not that bad” in that first call can be pulled from your claim file later and used against you during settlement negotiations.

Step 3: Determine Which Insurance Policy Applies

Not every accident involves a claim against a single policy. Depending on how the accident happened and who was involved, multiple insurance policies may apply, and identifying all of them early on can affect how much compensation you’re able to recover.

The most common claim in an Indiana injury case is a third-party liability claim against the at-fault party’s insurance. As we mentioned earlier, Indiana requires drivers to carry minimum bodily injury liability coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. If the at-fault driver carries only the state minimum and your injuries are serious, those limits may be exhausted before your medical bills are fully covered.

Other options for compensation include:

• Your Auto Insurance: Your own auto policy may provide additional recovery through uninsured motorist coverage, which applies when the at-fault driver has no insurance or flees the scene, and underinsured motorist coverage, which steps in when the at-fault driver’s policy limits aren’t sufficient to cover your losses. 
• MedPay: Medical payments coverage, if you carry it, pays for your medical bills regardless of fault and can help cover expenses while the liability claim is still being resolved. 
• Commercial Insurance Policies: In accidents involving delivery drivers, commercial trucking companies, or businesses whose employees caused the crash, additional commercial policies may also apply. 

Step 4: Gather Evidence to Support Your Claim

When collecting evidence, start with the accident scene itself. Obtain a copy of the police report from the responding law enforcement agency as soon as it’s available. You should also take photos of vehicle damage, road conditions, skid marks, and the final resting positions of the vehicles to help establish how the crash happened and who was responsible. If there were witnesses, get their names and contact information.

Other important evidence includes:

• Medical Records: Emergency room reports, physician notes, diagnostic imaging results, physical therapy records, and any specialist consultations can all connect the accident to your injuries. Request copies of all records and keep them organized in a single file.
• Bills and Receipts: Keep every bill and receipt associated with your treatment, including pharmacy costs, medical equipment purchases, and transportation to appointments. 
• Lost Wage Documentation: Maintain a written record of every workday missed because of your injuries, supported by a note from your treating physician confirming the absences were medically necessary and pay stubs showing your normal earnings.
• Personal Injury Journal: A dated journal recording your daily pain levels, physical limitations, and the ways your injuries have affected your routine can support the non-economic damages portion of your claim.

Step 5: File the Insurance Claim

Once you’ve sought medical attention and gathered your initial documentation, you’re ready to file your claim. For a third-party claim against the at-fault driver’s insurance, this usually begins with a phone call to that insurer’s claims department. Provide the date, time, and location of the accident, the names of the parties involved, the police report number, and a brief description of what happened. The insurer will open a claim file and assign an adjuster, who will serve as your primary contact throughout the investigation.

When the adjuster reaches out, they may request supporting documentation to evaluate your claim. This can include medical records, bills, photographs from the scene, the police report, and proof of lost wages. Be careful not to give a recorded statement before you’ve hired an Indiana car accident lawyer: adjusters are trained to ask questions in ways that elicit incriminating answers.

Step 6: The Insurance Company Investigation

After your claim is filed, the insurance company will conduct its own investigation before making any claim settlement offer: 

• On the liability side, the adjuster will review the police report, examine photographs of the vehicles and the scene, interview the drivers and any witnesses, and assess whether accident reconstruction is warranted. 
• On the injury side, they will examine your medical records, evaluate your treatment timeline, and assess the cost of your care. Be warned that they will look for gaps in treatment, inconsistencies between your reported symptoms and your medical records, and evidence of pre-existing conditions that could be used to attribute some or all of your injuries to something other than the accident.

Let your personal injury lawyer deal with the insurance provider during the investigation phase. They can answer adjuster questions while protecting you from accidental self-incrimination.

Step 7: Negotiating a Car Accident Settlement

Once the insurer completes its investigation, it will typically make an initial claim settlement offer. That first number is rarely the insurer’s best offer. Your car accident lawyer will calculate the full scope of your losses: every medical bill to date, projected future treatment costs if your doctor has indicated ongoing care is necessary, lost wages already incurred, and a realistic figure for pain and suffering based on the severity and duration of your injuries.

If the initial offer falls short of your actual losses, your lawyer will likely counter. The negotiation may go through several rounds of offers and counteroffers before both sides reach an acceptable figure. 

Throughout that back-and-forth, avoid the temptation to accept a number just to end the claim process. Once you sign a settlement release in Indiana, that claim is permanently closed, regardless of what medical costs arise afterward. Having a personal injury attorney review the release before you sign takes very little time and protects you from inadvertently waiving rights you didn’t intend to give up.

Step 8: When an Insurance Claim Leads to a Lawsuit

Most personal injury claims in Indiana resolve through negotiation, but some don’t. When an insurer disputes liability outright, refuses to offer a settlement that covers your actual losses, or denies your claim entirely, filing a personal injury lawsuit may be the only way to receive fair compensation.

Litigation begins when your attorney files a complaint in the appropriate Indiana court, formally naming the at-fault party as a defendant. From there, both sides enter a period called discovery, during which each party exchanges evidence, requests documents, and takes depositions. Discovery can take several months, and the information it produces frequently brings both sides back to the negotiating table before a trial date arrives. 

Trials are time-consuming and unpredictable, which is why neither side typically prefers them, but having an attorney who’s prepared to take a case all the way through trial gives you an advantage during negotiation. An insurer that knows your attorney won’t back down from litigation tends to make more serious claim settlement offers.

Get a Free Consultation From an Indiana Car Accident Lawyer Now

If you or someone you love suffered serious injury in a car accident and you have questions about filing an insurance claim, the attorneys at Habig Injury Law are ready to review your case. Our attorneys handle every stage of the claim process, from investigating the accident to negotiating with insurers and filing suit when necessary. Greenwood-based and serving clients across central and southern Indiana, we take injury cases on a contingency fee basis, so you pay no attorney fees unless we win. Call (317) 642-3813 to schedule a free consultation now.