You’re sitting at a stoplight on Main Street in Greenwood, waiting for the light to change, when it happens: the crunch of metal, the jolt of impact against your fender, and a deployed airbag now inches from your face. Your heart is racing, your hands are shaking, and your mind is pulling you in five directions at once. It’s hard to think straight, let alone know what to do next.
In those first moments, questions will run rapid-fire through your mind. Is anyone hurt? Do I call the police? What do I say to the other driver? Do I need a car accident attorney? The answers to those questions can impact your well-being as well as your future insurance claim. In this guide, we’ll outline what to do after a car crash, so you understand your legal rights and options.
Step 1: Check for Injuries and Call for Emergency Assistance
The first thing to do after a collision is check yourself for injury before you try to help anyone else. Pain from adrenaline can mask injuries like whiplash, concussions, and even internal bleeding, so assess your condition first. Once you’ve determined you can move safely, check your passengers and then the occupants of the other vehicle.
If anyone has visible wounds, is unconscious, reports chest pain, has difficulty breathing, or can’t move, call 911 immediately. Indiana Code § 9-26-1-1.1 requires drivers involved in an accident to provide reasonable assistance to anyone injured or entrapped, as directed by law enforcement, medical personnel, or a 911 operator. Don’t assume an injury is minor: let emergency responders make that call.
If the vehicles are operable and no one is trapped, move them off the traveled portion of the highway to a location as close to the accident as possible. Turn on your hazard lights right away, and if you have reflective triangles or flares in your vehicle, place them to alert oncoming traffic. If the crash involves hazardous materials, entrapment, or serious injury, leave the vehicles exactly where they are and wait for police instructions.
Step 2: Contact Law Enforcement
Under Indiana law, drivers must report an accident to law enforcement as soon as possible when it results in injury, death, or entrapment of any person. Even if the damage appears minor, calling the police is in your best interest: what looks like a small dent at the accident scene can cost well over $2,500 to repair, and injuries that don’t hurt immediately can surface hours later.
When you call 911, tell the dispatcher your exact location, whether anyone is injured, and how many vehicles are involved. If the accident happens within a municipality, police from that local department will typically respond. If it happens outside city limits, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office or the nearest Indiana State Police post will have jurisdiction. Stay at the scene until officers arrive, as leaving before then is a separate violation under Indiana law and can result in misdemeanor or felony charges depending on the circumstances.
Once officers respond, they’ll interview all drivers and witnesses, assess the scene, and prepare an official crash report. That report documents the officer’s observations, driver and witness statements, vehicle positions, and a preliminary assessment of how the crash occurred. Insurance companies rely on this report when investigating claims, and a personal injury attorney will use it as a starting point when building your case, so request the report number before you leave so you can obtain the full report from the responding agency afterward.
Step 3: Exchange Information with the Other Driver
Once you’ve called 911 and confirmed that emergency help is on the way, exchange information with the at-fault driver. Collect their full name, phone number, home address, driver’s license number, license plate number, and vehicle make and model. You’ll also need their insurance company name and policy number. If there are multiple drivers involved, collect this information from each one before you leave the scene.
Keep the conversation brief and factual. Don’t apologize, speculate about what caused the crash, or say anything that could be interpreted as an admission of fault. Even a statement like “I didn’t see you” can be used against you later by the other driver’s insurance company. Your only goal at this stage is to gather accurate contact and insurance information, not to discuss who is responsible.
There’s also information you should not volunteer. For example:
- Don’t tell the other driver your policy limits or describe the extent of your coverage in detail.
- Don’t offer your theory of how the accident happened.
- Don’t discuss your injuries beyond what’s necessary.
If the other driver becomes confrontational or uncooperative, wait for the police to arrive and let the responding officer handle the exchange of information.
Step 4: Gather Evidence at the Scene
Start taking pictures immediately: capture the damage to all vehicles from multiple angles, their position before they’re moved, any skid marks on the pavement, traffic signals and signs, road conditions, and any visible injuries. If there’s a traffic camera, a business with exterior security cameras, or a residential doorbell camera nearby, note its location, as your car accident attorney can later request that footage before it’s overwritten.
If there are witnesses, approach them before they leave. Get each person’s full name and phone number, and ask them briefly what they saw. A witness who watched the other driver run a red light or fail to stop can provide testimony that directly supports your account of the crash. Don’t rely on the police report to capture witness information automatically, as officers don’t always get to every bystander before people disperse.
Write down your own account of what happened as soon as you’re safely able to. Note the time of day, the weather and lighting conditions, what you were doing immediately before the impact, and anything the other driver said at the scene. Memory degrades quickly after a traumatic event, and the details you record in the first hour will be far more reliable than what you recall a week later. Keep these notes somewhere you can access them throughout the claims process.
Step 5: Seek Medical Attention Immediately
Go to an emergency room or urgent care facility the same day as the crash, even if you feel fine at the scene. Adrenaline released during a collision temporarily dulls pain and masks injury, which means you can walk away from a serious accident feeling shaken but physically okay. Whiplash symptoms, for example, commonly appear within 6 to 24 hours after impact and can be delayed up to 72 hours as inflammation builds. Concussions, internal organ injuries, and soft tissue damage to tendons and ligaments can all follow the same pattern.
The gap between your accident and your first medical visit is one of the things insurance companies use to reduce or deny claims. If you wait two weeks to see a doctor, the claims adjuster will argue that something other than the crash caused your injuries. A same-day visit to an emergency room creates a medical record tied directly to the date of the accident, establishing the causal link between the collision and your injuries.
Once you have a diagnosis, follow the full treatment plan your doctor prescribes. Attend every follow-up appointment, complete your physical therapy sessions, and fill every prescription. Stopping treatment early (even when you start to feel better) gives the opposing insurance company grounds to argue that your injuries weren’t serious enough to warrant continued care, which affects the value of your claim.
Step 6: Notify Your Insurance Company
Contact your insurance company the same day as the accident or the next day at the latest. Most Indiana auto insurance policies require policyholders to report accidents promptly, and some policies define “prompt” as within 24 to 48 hours. Waiting days or weeks to report can give your insurer grounds to question the validity of your claim, regardless of who caused the crash.
When you make that call, stick to the basic facts: the date, time, and location of the accident, the names and contact information of the other drivers involved, and the police report number if you have it. You don’t need to give a detailed account of how the accident happened, and you shouldn’t speculate about fault or describe your injuries in depth at this stage. Your medical picture isn’t fully clear yet, and anything you say in that first call becomes part of your claim file.
Your insurer will open a claim and assign an adjuster to your case. That adjuster may ask you to provide a recorded statement, submit to a vehicle inspection, or authorize the release of your medical records. Before you agree to any of those requests, particularly a recorded statement, consider speaking with a personal injury attorney. What you say in a recorded statement can be used to limit your compensation later, and you’re under no obligation to provide one before you’ve had legal guidance.
Step 7: Be Careful When Dealing with Insurance Adjusters
Insurance adjusters work for the insurance company, not for you. Their job is to evaluate your claim and settle it for as little as possible, and they’re trained to do that effectively. An adjuster may call you within hours of an accident, often before you’ve had a chance to speak with an attorney.
One of the most common adjuster strategies is the early settlement offer. If you’ve been in a crash that caused a back injury, soft tissue damage, or a concussion, the full cost of your treatment may not be clear for weeks or months. Accepting a check for $3,000 the week after the accident and signing a release means you can’t go back for the $40,000 in medical bills, physical therapy, and lost wages that follow. Once you sign a settlement release in Indiana, that claim is closed permanently, regardless of how your condition develops.
You have the right to decline a recorded statement, to take time before responding to any settlement offer, and to have an attorney review any documents before you sign them. If an adjuster tells you that you must provide a recorded statement immediately or that the offer expires soon, those are pressure tactics. A legitimate settlement offer doesn’t disappear because you took a week to consult a lawyer, and a credible adjuster won’t demand an immediate recorded statement as a condition of processing your claim.
Step 8: Keep Records of All Accident-Related Expenses
Start a dedicated folder (physical or digital) the day of the accident and put every expense related to the crash into it. That means emergency room bills, follow-up appointment statements, pharmacy receipts, physical therapy invoices, vehicle repair estimates, and rental car receipts. If you miss work because of your injuries, collect pay stubs that show your normal earnings and document each day you couldn’t work.
Keep every receipt, even small ones. Prescription co-pays, over-the-counter medications your doctor recommended, a back brace, or a ride to a medical appointment because your car was totaled – these expenses add up, and each one is potentially recoverable. Insurance companies don’t reimburse what you can’t prove, so a receipt you throw away is money you can’t claim.
Start a personal injury journal on the day of the accident and write in it consistently. Record your pain level each day on a scale of one to ten, which activities you couldn’t perform because of your injuries, how your sleep has been affected, and how your condition changes over time. If you coached your kid’s soccer game before the crash but can’t stand for more than twenty minutes now, write that down. That journal can show how the accident has affected your daily life, which directly supports the non-economic damages portion of your claim.
Step 9: Consider Speaking With a Personal Injury Lawyer
If you suffered serious and compensable injuries, speak to an Indiana car accident lawyer. You’ll definitely want to obtain legal representation if the other driver’s insurance company is disputing liability, the insurance provider has denied your claim outright, or you’ve received a settlement offer that doesn’t come close to covering your medical bills and lost wages.
A personal injury attorney at Habig Injury Law can investigate the accident, obtain the police report and any available traffic or surveillance footage, work with medical professionals to document the full extent of your injuries, and negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf. If the insurer won’t offer a fair settlement, your attorney can file a lawsuit and take the case to trial. Having an attorney also removes you from direct contact with adjusters, which means you’re no longer at risk of saying something that gets used to reduce your compensation.
Most personal injury firms, including Habig Injury Law, handle car accident cases on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing up front, and your attorney only collects a fee if compensation is recovered on your behalf.
Speak to an Indiana Car Accident Lawyer Now
Indiana’s fault-based system puts the burden on you to prove what happened and what it cost you. The evidence you collect at the scene, the medical records you build from day one, and the documentation you maintain throughout your recovery are all critical to any accident claim you bring. Gaps in that record give insurance companies room to minimize or deny what you’re owed.
If you were injured in a car accident in Indiana and have questions about your legal options, the attorneys at Habig Injury Law are ready to help. Located in Greenwood and serving communities across central and southern Indiana, Habig Injury Law handles car accident cases on a contingency fee basis, so it costs you nothing to retain top-rated legal representation. Call (317) 642-3813 to schedule a free consultation now.
