If you can read this from your phone right now, you are probably already past the worst of it. Take a breath. The next forty-eight hours matter more than most people realize.

I have handled car accident cases in Los Angeles for years. The pattern I see again and again is people doing reasonable things in the first hour that quietly hurt their case for the next twelve months. A few simple decisions, made in the right order, can change everything about what you recover.

The first ten minutes

Check yourself for injuries before you check your car. Adrenaline masks pain, and people walk away from collisions with cracked ribs and concussions feeling fine. If anything hurts, do not move more than you have to.

Call 911. Even in a low impact crash. You want a CHP or LAPD officer at the scene, and you want a written report. People skip this step to "save the other driver from a ticket" and regret it three months later when liability is suddenly disputed.

Take photos. The cars, the lane positions, the license plates, the skid marks, the traffic signals, the road conditions, the surrounding businesses. Wide shots and close shots. Photograph the other driver's insurance card and license. If there are witnesses, get phone numbers before they leave.

What not to say

Do not apologize. I know it feels rude. But "I'm sorry" gets quoted in deposition transcripts as an admission of fault. Stick to the facts: where you were going, what speed, what you saw.

The same applies later when the other driver's insurance company calls you, often within twenty-four hours. They will sound friendly. They will want a "recorded statement just for our file." Politely decline. Their job is to find inconsistencies in your story they can use against you. There is a good explanation of how insurers work the early hours of a claim in our piece on insurance company tactics.

Get evaluated, even if you feel okay

This is the part people skip and the part I wish they would not. See a doctor within twenty-four to seventy-two hours. Soft tissue injuries, concussions, internal bruising, and disc herniations often do not show up at the scene. The medical record from those first visits becomes the spine of your case later. Without it, the defense will argue that whatever pain you have now must have come from somewhere else.

If you have a primary care doctor, start there. If not, urgent care is fine. Tell them everything that hurts, not just the worst thing. We go into detail about why that record matters so much in why medical documentation makes or breaks your case.

The first week

Open a claim with your own insurer. You are required to under most policies, even if the other driver was clearly at fault. Use the words "report only" if you do not want it counted against you. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may matter later, so do not skip this step.

Start a small notebook or a notes app entry. Date, symptoms, missed work, appointments. Quote of the day from the adjuster. It feels excessive in week one. By month four, when someone is asking you to remember whether you had headaches on March 19, you will thank yourself.

When to call a lawyer

If your injuries are limited to a sore neck for a few days and the property damage is modest, you may not need representation. Most reputable firms will tell you that during a free consultation. But if you went to the emergency room, missed work, have ongoing pain, or you are getting calls from an adjuster who wants to "settle this quickly," talk to a lawyer before you sign anything. The signs that you should are laid out in our guide on when you should hire a personal injury lawyer.

One more piece of context: the broader process of how an injury claim moves from the accident scene to a check in your bank account is covered in how personal injury claims work. It is worth reading before you make any major decisions.

If you were hurt in a crash in LA and you want a confidential second opinion before talking to an insurer, the Frances Dunham Law car accident team reviews cases at no cost. You can also reach Jennie Levin directly through our contact page.