What to do after a car accident

Stop. This is a legal obligation, not a courtesy, and it applies however minor the impact appears. Leaving the scene of a crash you were involved in is an offence in every state and territory, and the penalties escalate sharply where anyone is injured.

Check for injuries and call 000 if anyone is hurt, trapped, or if the crash is blocking traffic or creating a hazard. Ambulance, fire and police all come from the same number. Do not move a seriously injured person unless there is an immediate danger such as fire.

Make the scene safe. Turn on hazard lights, and if the vehicles are drivable and nobody is injured, move them clear of live traffic. On a motorway, get people behind the barrier rather than standing between vehicles. A secondary collision at a crash scene is a real and common risk.

Exchange particulars with every other driver: full name, residential address, vehicle registration number, and the name of the vehicle's owner if they are not driving. Adding a phone number and the insurer's name saves a great deal of time later. You are legally required to provide these details, and so are they.

Photograph before anything is moved if it is safe to do so. Wide shots showing the position of both vehicles, the road, lane markings, signs, traffic lights and skid marks. Then close shots of every point of damage on both vehicles. Then the other driver's licence and the registration plates. Then the weather and light conditions.

Get details of any independent witness — someone with no connection to either driver. A single witness statement resolves more liability disputes than any amount of argument between drivers.

Write down what happened while it is fresh: direction of travel, speeds, what each vehicle did, the sequence. Insurers ask for this and memories reorganise themselves within days.

Do not admit fault, apologise in a way that reads as an admission, or agree to settle privately at the roadside. Liability is a legal question your insurer assesses, and a private cash settlement that seemed sensible at the scene routinely unravels when hidden damage or an injury emerges.

Every state and territory requires a crash to be reported to police in defined circumstances, and the triggers are broadly similar even though the detail and the timeframes differ.

The near-universal triggers are: anyone is killed or injured; a driver fails to stop or fails to exchange particulars; a driver appears to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs; a vehicle needs to be towed away; property is damaged and the owner is not present to be told; or a government vehicle is involved.

Where the trigger is met, reporting is generally required promptly — commonly at the scene by calling police, or within a short window afterwards through an online crash reporting system or at a station. Victoria Police, for example, publishes a traffic accident report process and the circumstances requiring a report; other jurisdictions run equivalent systems.

Where no trigger is met — two drivers, no injuries, both vehicles drivable, details exchanged — police generally do not attend and no report is required. Insurers do not need a police report for an ordinary claim, and being told by another driver that you must have one is often a delaying tactic.

Reporting to police is not the same as making an insurance claim, and neither replaces the other. It is also not the same as police laying charges; a report creates a record and provides an event number, which is useful evidence for the insurer.

If the other driver refuses to give their details, or gives details you suspect are false, take a photo of the plate, call police immediately and treat it as a failure-to-exchange matter. That is a specific offence and is the situation police most reliably act on.

Report a hit and run, or damage found on a parked car, even if there seems no prospect of finding the driver. Many insurers require a police event number before paying a claim where the other party is unidentified, and it is the necessary first step for the nominal defendant arrangements that cover injuries caused by unidentified vehicles.

Compulsory third party insurance is bought with your vehicle registration and covers personal injury caused by the use of that vehicle. It pays for medical treatment, income support and, in some schemes, longer-term damages for people hurt in the crash. It does not pay a cent for damage to any vehicle, fence, building or piece of property.

The schemes differ significantly. New South Wales premiums are set within a regulated framework and injured people claim from the insurer of the at-fault vehicle, with defined benefits available regardless of fault in the early period. Victoria runs a no-fault scheme through the Transport Accident Commission, funded by a charge inside your registration, and you claim from the TAC whether or not you caused the crash. Queensland lets you choose a licensed CTP insurer at registration under a fault-based scheme regulated by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission. Western Australia's motor injury insurance is provided through the Insurance Commission of Western Australia. South Australia lets you select a CTP insurer under a regulated scheme. Tasmania's Motor Accidents Insurance Board operates a no-fault scheme.

The practical implication is that if you are injured, the first question is not whose fault it was but which state the crash happened in, because that determines the scheme, the benefits and the deadlines. Time limits for lodging an injury claim are short in several schemes and missing one can extinguish an entitlement entirely.

Vehicle damage is a completely separate matter handled under whatever motor policy you hold. Comprehensive covers your own vehicle plus damage you cause to others. Third party property covers only the damage you cause to others. Compulsory third party covers neither. If you hold CTP alone and you run into someone's car, you personally owe the repair bill.

Where the other driver was at fault and you have no comprehensive cover, you can claim directly against them — through their insurer if they have one, or against them personally if they do not. Some insurers offer a limited uninsured motorist benefit inside a third party property policy that pays a capped amount where the at-fault driver is identified and uninsured.

The two claims do not talk to each other. Settling your damage claim quickly does not affect your injury claim, and being found at fault for the collision does not necessarily stop you receiving injury benefits in a no-fault state.

Tell your insurer promptly, even if you have not decided whether to claim. Most policies require notification of an incident that could give rise to a claim, and delay is one of the grounds insurers use to reduce or refuse.

Have the details ready: date, time, location, the other driver's name, address, registration and insurer, a description of what happened, your photos, any witness details and a police event number if there is one.

Understand the excess before you decide. Your basic excess applies to most claims, and additional excesses stack on top for young drivers, inexperienced drivers, unlisted drivers or specific circumstances. Where the repair is close to the total excess, claiming can cost more than paying directly once the effect on your no-claim discount is included.

Where the other driver was clearly at fault and identified, many insurers waive your excess and recover their costs from the other insurer. Ask specifically whether the excess is waived rather than assuming it will be refunded later.

Expect an assessment. The insurer arranges or approves an assessor, decides between repair and total loss, and nominates repairers. Whether you may choose your own repairer depends on the policy — some allow it, some allow it at extra cost, some do not.

If the vehicle is written off, the settlement is based on either an agreed value fixed at policy inception or the market value at the time of loss, depending on the policy. A written-off vehicle is recorded on the written-off vehicles register in your state, which affects whether it can ever be re-registered and what it is worth as salvage.

Keep every document: the claim number, the assessor's report, the repair authority, the invoice and all correspondence. If a dispute develops later, the paper trail is the case.

An uninsured at-fault driver is common and is not the end of the matter. If you hold comprehensive cover, claim on your own policy and let your insurer pursue recovery. Ask whether your excess is waived where the at-fault driver is identified.

If you hold third party property only, check the policy for an uninsured motorist benefit. Many include a capped payment for damage to your own vehicle where the at-fault driver is identified and uninsured, which is often enough to cover an older car.

If you hold nothing, you can pursue the at-fault driver personally for the cost of repairs. That means a letter of demand with quotes and evidence, and if necessary a claim in the small claims division of your state's civil tribunal or local court. Winning is one thing; collecting from someone with no assets and no insurance is another, and this is the practical reason third party property cover exists.

Where the at-fault vehicle cannot be identified — a hit and run, or damage found on a parked car — injury claims are still possible in every state through nominal defendant or equivalent arrangements, subject to strict requirements about reporting to police and about the effort made to identify the vehicle. Property damage in the same situation is only covered if you hold comprehensive.

If the other driver's insurer contacts you directly, you are not obliged to give a statement on the spot. Refer them to your insurer, or take the details and respond after you have your own advice. Recorded statements taken under pressure at the roadside or in the first phone call are routinely used to establish liability.

If you receive a letter of demand from another driver or their insurer, do not ignore it and do not pay it without checking. Send it to your insurer immediately — responding to third party claims is exactly what the policy is for, and paying privately can breach the policy and void your cover for that event.

Insurers must have an internal dispute resolution process, and it is the compulsory first step. Put the complaint in writing, be specific about the decision you are disputing, attach evidence, and ask for reasons in writing. Internal complaints have a defined maximum response time.

General insurers who subscribe to the General Insurance Code of Practice commit to standards on claims handling, timeframes, communication and support for customers experiencing vulnerability. Referring to the Code in a complaint is legitimate and often effective, because compliance is independently monitored.

If the internal process fails, or the insurer does not respond in time, take it to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. AFCA is free to consumers, independent, and its determinations are binding on the insurer if you accept them. There are time limits for lodging, and it will normally require you to have completed the internal complaint first.

For a dispute about an injury claim, the path is different: each CTP scheme has its own review and dispute mechanism run by the state regulator, and those bodies handle medical assessment disputes and liability disputes within the scheme.

Legal representation is not required to complain, and for smaller property claims it is rarely economic. For serious injury claims it usually is, and many personal injury firms act on a no-win-no-fee basis. Check what happens to disbursements if the claim is unsuccessful before signing.

Keep an eye on time. Insurance disputes, tribunal claims and injury claims all run on limitation periods, and the most common way a good claim fails is that it was left too long while someone waited for a reply.