What should I do right after a car accident in Texas?
- Texas Attorney
- Yale B.A. · University of Houston Law Center J.D.
- Habla español
- Updated October 1, 2026
Get medical care first, even if you feel fine — some injuries take days to appear. Don't admit fault or give recorded statements to any insurer. Photograph the scene, vehicles, and injuries, get the crash report number, and talk to a lawyer before an adjuster talks to you.
Tell me what happened
Jimmy reads every request himself and will be in touch with you shortly.
At the scene
Get to safety and check for injuries. If anyone is hurt, call 911 and say so — that determines what gets dispatched. Texas law requires drivers to stop and to render reasonable aid to anyone injured.
Get law enforcement out if you can. A crash report is not required in every fender-bender, but it is valuable: it records the date, location, vehicles, drivers, witnesses and the officer's observations in one document created at the time.
Photograph more than you think you need. All vehicles from several angles, including undamaged sides. Final rest positions before anything moves. License plates. The other driver's license and insurance card. Skid marks, debris, fluid, damaged guardrails. Traffic signals and signs, and what the sightlines actually looked like. Weather and road conditions. Your visible injuries, then again over the following days as bruising develops.
Get witness contact information yourself. Independent witnesses matter enormously and they scatter fast. A name and cell number is enough. Do not assume the officer collected it.
Say very little. Exchange information and cooperate with police. Do not apologize, do not speculate about what happened, and do not say "I'm fine." Courtesy at a crash scene gets quoted back as an admission.
The same day
Get medical attention even if you feel okay. Adrenaline hides injuries, and the gap between the crash and your first visit is the single most common thing used to devalue a claim.
Your own insurer needs prompt notice, and we give it for you. Most policies require it, and you may need your own PIP or UM/UIM coverage — especially if the other driver turns out to be uninsured. Notice of the crash is different from giving a recorded statement.
The first weeks
Keep everything. Bills, discharge instructions, prescriptions, mileage to appointments, repair estimates, the rental receipt, and a short daily note on pain and what you could not do. That last one is hard to reconstruct later and is genuinely persuasive.
Stay off social media about it. Insurers look. A photo of you at a birthday party gets offered as proof you are not in pain, with no context about what it cost you the next day. Privacy settings are not a real defense.
Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer, and do not sign a broad medical authorization.
Watch the deadline
Most Texas injury suits must be filed within two years. If a government entity is involved, a much shorter notice deadline applies first — 90 days for the City of Houston, six months under the Texas Tort Claims Act. Identify that early, because it is not recoverable once missed.
Your next steps, and ours
Call Jimmy
713-600-6233Do not give a recorded statement or sign a medical authorization. Call first, and the insurers deal with us instead of you.
See a doctor
Even if you feel fine. The gap between the crash and your first visit is what gets used to devalue a claim.
Write it down, keep your photos
Weather, lanes, what was said, who stopped. Keep every photo and the officer's report number. Nothing about the crash on social media.
We gather records and watch deadlines
We collect the report, bills and records, and track the two-year deadline and any shorter government notice.
If someone else's negligence put you here, we take it from here
Car Accidents
Rear-endings, intersection crashes, uninsured drivers, hit-and-runs — in Houston, El Paso, and everywhere in between.
Truck & 18-Wheeler Crashes
Federal regulations, black-box data, driver logs, multiple insurers. We move fast to preserve evidence before it disappears.
Work Accidents
Hurt on the job for a non-subscriber employer, or injured by a third party at a job site? Texas gives you real options.
Wrongful Death
When the worst happens, we pursue accountability for surviving families with the care and seriousness it deserves.
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