How to File a Car Insurance Claim After an Accident

Call the claims number on your insurance card today and report the crash, even if the other driver caused it. If the other driver was at fault, also open a claim with that driver's insurer: it pays your repairs with no deductible once it accepts that its driver was responsible. If that insurer drags its feet and you carry collision coverage, your insurer pays the repair minus your deductible and then tries to collect from the other company. Send both adjusters photos, the other driver's insurance details, the police report number and a repair estimate. In California, both insurers must acknowledge your claim within 15 days and accept or deny it within 40 days of proof of claim; Texas's 15-day and 15-business-day deadlines bind only your own insurer.

Your insurer or the other driver's: how each claim works

A claim on your own policy is a first-party claim; your insurer has a contract with you and owes you what the policy promises. A claim against the other driver's liability coverage is a third-party claim; that insurer has no contract with you, and its first duty is to its own policyholder.

The other driver's insurer: no deductible, and it pays for a rental car for the time a repair reasonably takes (see who pays for a rental after a crash). It pays only once it decides its driver is legally responsible, which can stall while it waits for its own policyholder to call back.
Your collision coverage, if you carry it: it pays your repair whoever caused the crash, minus your deductible, then tries to collect from the at-fault driver's insurer, a step called subrogation. In California, your insurer must include your deductible in its demand and refund it in the same share it recovers: 65 percent recovered, 65 percent of your deductible back.

What to collect and send

Send every adjuster the same packet:

The other driver's name, address, phone, license plate, insurance company and policy number; a photo of their insurance card captures most of it.
Names and phone numbers of witnesses. With no witness and a driver who denies fault, the other insurer can deny your claim.
The police report number, plus the officer's name and badge number.
Photos of both cars, the scene and anything else that was hit, with the time, date, exact location, weather and road conditions.
A repair estimate from the shop you choose, and receipts for towing, storage and rental.
Medical reports and bills, if anyone was hurt.

What happens after you file

Claim number and adjuster. The insurer assigns an adjuster, an employee or an independent contractor, to assess the damage and set the payment. Save the adjuster's contact details and every document request.
Acknowledgment. The insurer confirms the claim, starts investigating and lists what it needs.
Inspection and estimate. An adjuster or appraiser looks at the car and writes the estimate the payment is based on, or, for minor damage, asks for your own estimates. If the insurer's number is below your shop's, use the estimate comparison guide before you approve work.
Decision. The insurer accepts or denies the claim in writing, and a denial states its reasons.
Payment. The check names you and any lender on the car, and on a repair it can also name the shop.

You pick the repair shop. In California and Texas, neither insurer can require a particular shop; in New York, your own insurer can't on a collision or comprehensive claim.

How long each step takes in four states

State	Your own insurer	The other driver's insurer
California	Acknowledges within 15 days of your notice. Accepts or denies within 40 days of receiving proof of claim, with a written update every 30 days if it needs longer. Pays within 30 days of accepting.	The same deadlines: California's rules cover third-party claimants.
Texas	Acknowledges within 15 days. Accepts or rejects within 15 business days of getting every item it asked for (45 more days if it explains why). Pays within 5 business days of agreeing to pay.	No fixed deadline. The insurer must act in good faith and try to settle quickly and fairly.
New York	Inspects the car and makes a good-faith offer within 6 business days of notice, if the car is available. Sends written reasons if the claim is unsettled 30 days after notice. Pays within 5 business days of an agreed settlement.	Acknowledges or pays within 15 business days of your notice. Makes a written offer, or a written denial with reasons, within 10 business days of finishing its investigation. If the investigation runs past 60 days, it explains the delay in writing every 60 days and decides within six months. The 10-day, 60-day and six-month clocks drop out only when there is objective evidence that someone hurt in the crash has a serious injury as New York's no-fault law defines it, such as a fracture or permanent loss of use.
Illinois	Contacts you within 21 working days of notice. Explains the delay in writing once your physical damage claim sits unresolved more than 40 days.	Sends claim forms within 15 working days of your request. Explains the delay in writing once a property damage claim sits unresolved more than 60 days.

Proof of claim is the estimate, photos and reports that back up your amount. The California and Texas decision clocks run from the documents the insurer has, so email your estimate, photos and reports promptly and keep the sent copy.

What to do today

Report to your insurer. Call the claims number on your insurance card or file in the insurer's app. Write down the claim number.
Open the claim with the other driver's insurer if that driver caused the crash, and get its claim number and adjuster's name.
Email the packet above to each adjuster, with the claim number in the subject line.
Get an estimate from the shop you pick and tell the adjuster where the car is, so the inspection gets scheduled.

If your crash is one of these

If the other insurer denies fault or says you share it, get its reasons in writing. A shared-fault offer covers only its driver's share: 80 percent at fault, 80 percent of your damage. In New York, that offer must explain how the insurer split the blame. In Illinois and Texas, you collect only while you are 50 percent or less at fault. If you carry collision, file the repair there instead; your insurer then goes after the other company.
If you caused the crash, your liability coverage pays to repair the other driver's car, and your collision coverage, if you carry it, pays for yours.
If the other driver had no insurance, drove away, or carries too little coverage, claim under your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage or your collision coverage; the low property damage limit guide covers the shortfall case. Call the police about a hit-and-run: in Texas, uninsured motorist coverage pays for one only when you reported it to the police and the other car actually hit you or your car.
If someone was hurt, settle the car first and keep the injury claim open until your doctor has a treatment plan; in Illinois, the other insurer has to pay an agreed property damage claim while the injury claim is open. A release ends your claim for this crash, so talk to your doctor about future treatment before signing one.

When the insurer stalls: your leverage

A written follow-up. Email the adjuster the date your documents went in and the deadline that applies, and ask for a decision date and every decision in writing. The claim delay guide matches each stalled stage to the right question.
A free complaint to the state insurance department. The department forwards it, the insurer must answer, and the department can make the company correct a rule violation. California: 800-927-4357. Texas: file in writing through the TDI complaint page (questions: 800-252-3439); the company has 15 days to answer TDI (25 with an extension). A Texas complaint about the other driver's insurer gets you its written reasons, but TDI won't decide fault, so on a fault dispute move to collision coverage or small claims. New York: 800-342-3736 or the DFS complaint form. Other states: the NAIC map of state insurance departments.
Interest in Texas. When your own insurer owes the claim and misses the prompt-payment deadlines, it owes 18 percent a year in interest on the claim plus reasonable attorney's fees.
Small claims against the at-fault driver. California small claims court hears claims up to $12,500, and a Texas justice court hears claims of $20,000 or less.
A lawyer is worth a call when someone was hurt, when a written denial arrives on a large claim, or when you are handed a release before treatment ends.

Follow-up email to a slow adjuster

Subject: Claim [number]: documents received and decision date

I reported this loss on [date] and sent [photos, repair estimate, police report number] on [date]. Please confirm you have them, list anything else you need, and give me the date you will accept or deny the claim.

[California, either insurer: your decision is due within 40 days of proof of claim.] [Texas, to your own insurer: your decision is due within 15 business days of receiving the items you requested.] If you need more time, please tell me why in writing.

The car is at [shop name, phone], ready for repair once the estimate is approved.

Today

Report the crash to your insurer and write down the claim number.
Open the claim with the other driver's insurer and email both adjusters the same packet.
Get your shop's estimate to the adjuster.

What comes back: an acknowledgment with a list of anything missing, an inspection or a request for photos, then a written decision and payment. If the other insurer still hasn't accepted fault by then and you carry collision, move the repair to that coverage.