What to Do After a Car Accident That’s Not Your Fault in California

Reviewed by David Gammill, California trial attorney · Last reviewed: October 11, 2026

After a car accident in California that was not your fault, the other driver’s liability insurance is supposed to pay for your injuries and your car, and the way you get there is by building the record: a police report, photographs, a same-day medical visit, the required DMV and police reports, and a claim with your own insurer so your own coverage can step in while fault is sorted out. California’s fault rules protect you more than most people expect. An accident you did not principally cause cannot be used against your driving record, and even a share of fault only reduces what you recover rather than ending the claim. What costs people money is the other side: a recorded statement given too early, a release signed before treatment is finished, and deadlines that run whether or not anyone mentions them. This guide covers the scene, both insurance companies, what you can recover, and the dates that matter.

The Bottom Line

• Build the record at the scene: call 911 if anyone may be hurt, call the police even for a minor crash, photograph everything, exchange information, and do not apologize.
• See a doctor the same day: the gap between the crash and your first visit is the first thing the other driver’s insurer looks for.
• Report it twice: a written report to the police or CHP within 24 hours when anyone is hurt, and an SR-1 to the DMV within 10 days when anyone is hurt or the damage passes $1,000.
• Use your own policy: a not-at-fault accident cannot be counted against your driving record under California’s rating rules, and your own collision, medical payments, and uninsured motorist coverage can pay first.
• Say little, sign nothing: you are not required to give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement, and a signed release ends the claim for good.

If you were hit in California and the other driver’s insurer has already called, you can call 310-750-4149 before you call them back. The consultation is free and confidential.

What Should I Do at the Scene?

Make sure everyone is safe, get the police there, and record what happened before anything moves. Check yourself and your passengers first. If anyone may be hurt, call 911; a serious injury can feel like stiffness in the first hour, and an ambulance you did not need costs far less than a head or neck injury nobody caught. If the crash caused only property damage and the cars can be driven, California’s Vehicle Code requires you to stop at the nearest spot that will not block traffic or put other drivers at risk, and the same section says that moving the car for that reason does not affect the question of fault. Turn on your hazard lights and stay at the scene until information has been exchanged and, if you called them, the police have come.

Call the police even if the other driver is friendly and suggests handling it between yourselves. The driver who admits fault at the roadside often tells a different story once an adjuster is on the phone, and without an officer’s report it becomes your word against theirs. When the officer arrives, answer briefly and factually: where you were going, what you saw, when the impact happened. Do not guess at speeds and do not apologize. “Are you all right?” is polite; “I’m sorry” is an admission an insurer will quote back to you.

Photograph both cars from several angles with the plates visible, the damage on each, the position of the cars before they are moved, skid marks, debris, the signal or sign that governed the intersection, and any visible injury. Ask witnesses for a name and phone number; an independent witness is the most valuable thing you can leave the scene with. Exchange name, phone number, driver’s license number, plate number, insurance company and policy number, and the make and model of the car. You do not have to tell the other driver where you live or work beyond what the Vehicle Code requires, and the insurers will handle the rest. If the other driver leaves without stopping, our guide to Vehicle Code § 20001, California’s hit-and-run law, explains what to do next. For the short checklist version of everything above, see 5 steps to take after a car accident in California. And download our free guide, Crash Course: A California Car Accident Guide (2026), to keep every deadline and first step in one place.

Do I Need to See a Doctor If I Feel Fine?

Yes, the same day if you can, and the next day at the latest. Neck, back, and head injuries often show up after the adrenaline wears off, and a visit that happens a week after the crash hands the other driver’s insurer its favorite argument: that whatever hurts now came from somewhere else. Tell the doctor exactly when and how the crash happened and describe every symptom, including the ones that seem minor, so they are in the record from the start. Keep the follow-up appointments. A gap in treatment is read by adjusters as a gap in injury, whether or not that is medically true.

Do I Have to Report the Crash?

Usually twice, and both reports protect your license and your claim. When anyone is injured or killed, California requires a written report to the police or the CHP within 24 hours (Vehicle Code § 20008). Separately, an SR-1 report goes to the DMV within 10 days when anyone is hurt or property damage exceeds $1,000 (Vehicle Code § 16000), and that applies even when the crash was entirely the other driver’s fault and even when the police took a report at the scene. The SR-1 form is on the DMV’s website and takes a few minutes. If you hire a lawyer, the firm files it for you.

Should I Call My Own Insurance Company If I Was Not at Fault?

Yes. Most policies require you to report any crash, and your own coverage is often the fastest money. People hesitate because they expect their rates to go up. California’s rating rules do not work that way. Under the Department of Insurance regulation on at-fault accidents, an insurer may count an accident against your driving record only if it finds you were at least 51 percent of the legal cause and either someone was hurt or the property damage exceeded $1,000, and it must investigate before making that finding. If you were struck from behind and were not convicted of a moving violation in connection with the crash, the regulation presumes you were not principally at fault, and the insurer has to rebut that presumption before it can count the accident against you. An accident that was the other driver’s doing is not an at-fault accident on your record.

Reporting is not the same as paying out of your own policy, but your own coverage can be the practical route. Collision coverage can repair your car now, with your insurer then recovering from the at-fault driver’s company through a process called subrogation and refunding your deductible if it succeeds. Medical payments coverage can pay early bills regardless of fault. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, discussed below, pays when the other driver has no insurance or too little. When you call, give the facts and nothing more: the time, the place, the other driver’s information, and the police report number. Do not estimate your injuries, do not guess at fault, and do not accept any share of blame.

What Should I Say to the Other Driver’s Insurance Company?

As little as possible, and nothing recorded. An adjuster from the at-fault driver’s insurer will usually call within days. The call is friendly because friendliness works; the purpose is to lock in your account of the crash and your injuries before you know what either one is. You are not required to give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement. Tell the adjuster you will provide information in writing once you have it, take the claim number, and end the call. Do not sign a medical authorization that opens your entire history; if records are needed, a release limited to the crash is enough, and an open release is used to blame your pain on something older. Do not discuss the crash on social media, and do not text friends anything about how you feel, because those messages can be requested later.

Expect an early offer, and expect it to be low. The number is the insurer’s estimate of the least you will take while you are stressed and behind on bills, made before your treatment is finished and before anyone has valued the claim. Once you sign a release the claim is over, including for injuries that have not shown up yet. Do not settle until your doctors can say what your treatment will involve and what it will cost.

Who Pays When the Crash Was Not My Fault?

The at-fault driver’s liability policy first, then every other policy that applies. California requires drivers to carry only minimum liability coverage of $30,000 per injured person and $60,000 per accident for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025 (Vehicle Code § 16451), and a serious injury passes those limits quickly. When the at-fault driver has no insurance, your own uninsured motorist coverage pays; when the driver’s policy is too small, your underinsured motorist coverage can make up part of the difference. If the driver was working at the time, in a delivery van, a company car, or a rideshare vehicle, the employer’s or the platform’s policy may apply. If the driver borrowed the car, the owner’s policy may apply. And if a defective road, a missing signal, or a government vehicle contributed, a claim against the public entity under Government Code § 835, California’s dangerous condition law, has its own rules and a much shorter deadline. Finding every layer of coverage is most of the work in a serious case.

What Can I Recover?

Economic damages, non-economic damages, and in rare cases punitive damages. Economic damages are the losses with a number attached: emergency care, hospital and surgical bills, therapy, medication, future treatment a doctor says you will need, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, the repair or value of your car, and the property inside it. Non-economic damages compensate for what has no receipt: pain, emotional distress, the fear of driving, loss of enjoyment of life, and lasting disability or disfigurement. In an ordinary negligence case California puts no cap on non-economic damages. Punitive damages are available only where the defendant’s conduct was malicious, oppressive, or fraudulent under Civil Code § 3294, which comes up most often when the other driver was drunk.

There is no formula for pain and suffering. The jury instruction California judges read on the subject tells jurors there is no fixed standard for deciding the amount, and insurers and lawyers use two rough approaches in negotiation: one starts from the economic damages and scales them by the severity and duration of the injury, the other assigns a daily value to the time between the crash and recovery. Neither is law, and the insurer will use whichever produces the smaller number. What actually moves the figure is the medical record and the evidence of how the injury changed your life, which is why the same-day doctor visit and the treatment record matter more than any method. Our guide to how a California car accident settlement works walks through the demand, the negotiation, and the check, and the firm’s free case value calculator gives a starting range.

What If the Insurer Says I Was Partly at Fault?

You can still recover. California follows pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804): your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, never eliminated by it. That is why adjusters assign fault percentages aggressively; every point they put on you is money they keep. It is also why the scene matters. The police report, the photographs, the witness, and the vehicle damage are what push the percentage back down, and a claim with no record is a claim where the adjuster’s number stands.

What Does Proposition 213 Mean If I Did Not Have Insurance?

If you owned or were driving an uninsured car, you can recover your economic losses but not pain and suffering, with one exception. Civil Code § 3333.4, the statute Proposition 213 enacted, bars non-economic damages in a motor vehicle case for the owner of an uninsured vehicle involved in the crash, for a driver who cannot show financial responsibility, and for a driver who was convicted of DUI for that crash. Medical bills, lost wages, and vehicle damage remain recoverable. The exception: an uninsured owner may recover non-economic damages when the other driver was operating under the influence and was convicted of it. The bar applies even when the other driver was entirely at fault, which is the strongest practical reason to keep a California policy current.

How Do I Get My Car Repaired or Paid For?

You choose the shop, the insurer owes the repair, and a total loss must be paid with the taxes and fees included. California’s claims regulations bar an insurer from requiring that your car be repaired at a specific shop, and once you have named your shop the insurer may not steer you to a different one. If your shop’s written estimate comes in higher than the insurer’s, the regulation gives the insurer three options: pay the difference, name a shop that will do the repair for its estimate and restore the car to its pre-crash condition, or adjust your shop’s estimate line by line in writing. Get an independent estimate if the insurer’s number looks thin; hidden damage, a bent frame or a damaged sensor, often shows up only after the bumper comes off, and a shop will document it as a supplement.

If the car is a total loss, the insurer may settle in cash based on the actual cost of a comparable car in your local market, and the settlement must include the sales tax and the one-time transfer fees on that comparable car plus the unused portion of your registration, whether or not you buy a replacement. The valuation has to be itemized and explained in writing, with any deductions documented. Comparable sales from local dealers are how you push back on a low number. A rental or loss-of-use amount is part of the claim while your car is down, and when the crash was someone else’s fault the lost resale value of a repaired car, called diminished value, can be part of the claim against their insurer.

How Long Do I Have?

Two years for the injury claim, three for the car, and six months if a public entity is involved. Most California injury lawsuits must be filed within two years of the crash under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. A claim for damage to your vehicle has a three-year limit under Code of Civil Procedure § 338. If a city, county, state, or transit vehicle or a dangerous public road played a part, a written claim must be presented to the right entity within six months before any lawsuit can be filed; our guide to the California government claim deadline walks through the sequence. Your own policy has notice deadlines of its own, measured in days or weeks, so read it and report promptly. Evidence has a shorter life than any of these dates: business cameras overwrite in days, cars get repaired or scrapped, and witnesses move.

Do I Need a Lawyer If the Crash Was Not My Fault?

Not for every crash, but for any crash with an injury, a disputed fault story, an uninsured driver, a commercial vehicle, or an offer you cannot evaluate. A property-only claim with clear fault is something many people handle themselves. Once there is an injury the dynamics change: the insurer’s number is set by the risk it faces, and the risk is a lawyer who will file suit and try the case. Injury lawyers in California work on contingency, which means no fee unless there is a recovery, with most firms charging in the range of 33 to 40 percent of the recovery under a written fee agreement that state law requires. Our guide to how to choose a personal injury lawyer covers the questions to ask at the free consultation. Call before you give a statement or sign anything, not after.

Frequently Asked Questions About Not-at-Fault Car Accidents

Will my insurance rates go up if the accident was not my fault?

Not because of this accident. California’s rating regulation lets an insurer count an accident against your driving record only if it finds you were at least 51 percent at fault after an investigation, and a driver who was rear-ended and not convicted of a moving violation is presumed not to be principally at fault. If an insurer treats a not-at-fault crash as at-fault anyway, you can dispute it with the company and complain to the California Department of Insurance.

Do I have to give the other driver’s insurance company a recorded statement?

No. You have no obligation to the other driver’s insurer. You can decline politely, ask for the questions in writing, and provide information once you have it. Your own insurer is different: your policy requires you to cooperate with it, which still means facts only, no guesses about injuries or fault.

Should I accept the first settlement offer?

Not before your treatment is finished and someone who does this for a living has looked at it. A signed release is final, including for injuries that appear later. The number a lawyer can get for the same facts is usually different from the number offered to someone unrepresented, which is the reason the first offer comes so fast.

What if the driver who hit me has no insurance?

Your own uninsured motorist coverage pays, if you carry it, and underinsured motorist coverage can add to a policy that is too small. Without it, the claim runs against the driver personally, and a driver without insurance rarely has assets to collect from. Check your declarations page now; this coverage is inexpensive relative to what it does.

Can I get a rental car while mine is being fixed?

Usually. The at-fault driver’s insurer owes the reasonable cost of a rental for the repair period as part of the property claim, and your own policy may cover it sooner if you carry rental reimbursement. Keep the receipts; loss of use is part of what the claim recovers.

Related Pages

Our Torrance car accident attorney page explains how the firm handles a crash case from the first call through trial, including the coverage search and the deadlines, for Torrance and the South Bay.

About Gammill Law

David Gammill is a former Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney who has tried over 100 cases to verdict, first as a prosecutor and then as a trial lawyer for injured people. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers represents people in personal injury, wrongful death, and civil rights cases across California, and its attorneys bring more than 40 years of combined legal experience to every case they take. The firm has recovered more than $100 million for California clients across verdicts and settlements. Its results include a $21.1 million wrongful death verdict, a $16 million school sexual abuse verdict, and a $12 million whistleblower retaliation verdict; every case is different, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. You can read more on our case results page. Consultations are free, there is no fee unless the firm recovers, and the firm takes calls in English and Spanish. Call 310-750-4149 or request a free case evaluation.

If the other driver’s insurer has made you an offer, call 310-750-4149 before you sign it. We will tell you what the release means and whether the number is fair.

This page is attorney advertising and general information, not legal advice for any specific situation. Deadlines and outcomes are fact-specific; consult a licensed California attorney about your own circumstances. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.