Guide
What to Do After a Car Accident in Bergen County
The first twenty minutes after a collision set up everything that follows. Here is the order to do things in, written for people who are having a bad day.
Guide
The first twenty minutes after a collision set up everything that follows. Here is the order to do things in, written for people who are having a bad day.
Check yourself and your passengers before anything else. Adrenaline hides injuries, so take an actual moment rather than assuming you are fine because you can stand up. If anyone is hurt, or if you are not sure, call 911 and say so.
If the vehicles are drivable and it is safe to move them, get them onto a shoulder or into a nearby lot. Turn on your hazards. Staying in a live traffic lane on Route 4, Route 17, or the Parkway to argue about fault is how a minor collision becomes a serious one. If the car cannot move, stay belted inside with hazards on rather than standing on the shoulder.
New Jersey requires reporting a crash involving injury, death, or apparent property damage above the statutory threshold, which in practice covers almost any collision beyond a parking-lot scuff. Call the police, and if the other driver suggests handling it privately, call anyway.
A police report is the most useful document you will have later. It records the time, location, conditions, and both parties' accounts while everything is fresh. Get the responding officer's name and the report or case number before you leave the scene.
This is the step people skip and regret. Photograph both vehicles from several angles, wide enough to show position on the road and close enough to show the damage. Get the other vehicle's plate, the other driver's license and insurance card, any skid marks or debris, the road conditions, and any relevant signs or signals.
Photos cost nothing and take two minutes. Insurance disputes turn on details that seem irrelevant at the scene and become impossible to reconstruct a week later.
You need the other driver's name, phone number, address, insurance company and policy number, plate number, and the make and model of the vehicle. Get the same from any witnesses, because independent witnesses become very difficult to find afterward.
Do not admit fault, apologize in a way that sounds like admitting fault, or speculate about what happened. Say what you observed to the police and to your insurer, and let the determination be made from evidence. This is not about being evasive. People routinely take blame at the scene for things that were not their fault.
Take your registration, insurance card, garage remote, house keys, phone charger, and anything valuable out of the vehicle. Once it goes to a yard or a shop, getting back in is inconvenient at best.
Then make the decision that matters most: where it is going. In New Jersey the choice of repair shop is yours, not the tow company's and not the other driver's insurer's. Nobody can require you to use a particular shop. Tell the operator where you want it, confirm that is what is written on the tow slip before you sign, and photograph the slip.
Be cautious about trucks that arrive unrequested. If nobody called them and the driver is pushing you to sign quickly, you can decline and call a company you choose.
Report the claim to your own insurer promptly even if the other driver was at fault, and give them the police report number. Keep every receipt: the tow, the rental, any medical visit. If you felt fine at the scene and sore two days later, see a doctor and mention that it followed a collision, because delayed-onset injuries are common and undocumented ones are hard to claim.
If your vehicle went to a storage yard rather than a shop, move it promptly. Storage fees accrue daily and are one of the more common unpleasant surprises after a crash.
We recover vehicles that cannot roll, steer, or start, document the condition on scene, and provide the paperwork your insurance carrier needs, including sending it to your carrier directly. Then the car goes wherever you tell us, and we confirm that before we load it rather than after.
We dispatch 24 hours a day from Englewood and cover every town in Bergen County. If you are at a scene right now, call (551) 346-5037.
New Jersey requires reporting crashes involving injury or property damage above the statutory threshold. In practice, calling the police is advisable for almost any collision, because the report becomes your most useful documentation later.
No. In New Jersey the choice of repair shop belongs to you. Tell the operator your destination and confirm it appears on the tow slip before signing.
Both vehicles from multiple angles, the other driver's license and insurance card, plate numbers, road conditions, debris or skid marks, and any relevant signs or signals.
Registration, insurance card, garage remote, house keys, chargers, and anything valuable. Retrieving items from a storage yard afterward is inconvenient.
You are not required to. If you did not call them and you feel pressured to sign, you can decline and call a company you choose instead.
See a doctor and tell them it followed a collision. Delayed-onset injuries are common, and documenting the connection matters for any claim.