What to Do After an Accident

The first ten minutes at the scene

The order matters. Safety, then documentation, then information, then the phone call. People commonly reverse the middle two, exchanging details and then realizing the vehicles have already been moved to a shoulder and the scene is gone. Positions, angles and the debris field are the physical evidence of what happened, and they exist for about as long as it takes to clear a lane.

Photograph wide first. A close up of a crushed corner tells an adjuster the panel is damaged. A wide shot showing both vehicles, the lane markings and the angle of impact tells them how it happened, and that is what determines fault and mechanism. On a large vehicle take the wide shots from far enough back to get the whole rig in frame, including the roofline.

Then work inward. Each vehicle from four corners. Each damaged area straight on and at an angle. Anything that came off the vehicle, wherever it landed. If a slide, an awning or a compartment door is involved, photograph it in its damaged position before anyone tries to close or retract it, because attempting to operate a damaged mechanism can turn a repairable component into a replaced one.

• Wide scene shots showing both vehicles and lane position
• All four corners of every vehicle involved
• Close ups of each damaged area, straight on and angled
• The other driver's license, insurance card and plate
• Debris, fluid on the ground, skid marks, any sign or structure involved

What to say and what to leave alone

Give facts. Where you were going, what lane you were in, what you saw, what you did. Speculating about fault at the scene helps nobody and it can end up quoted back in a file weeks later by someone who was not there. This is not about being evasive. It is that the reconstruction of an accident is a technical question and nobody standing on a shoulder with adrenaline running is in a position to answer it.

The same applies to injury. People routinely say they are fine at the scene and discover otherwise the next morning, which is normal and well documented. Say what you know at the time and get checked if anything changes. Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital is the closest emergency facility to most of West Covina if you need one.

If the other driver's carrier calls you before your own adjuster does, that is a common sequence and it is not a trap, but you are under no requirement to give a recorded statement on the spot before you have talked to your own carrier. Take the name and number, tell them your carrier is handling it, and call your adjuster.

Weather protection is the highest value thing you can do next

This is the step people skip and it costs more than any other omission on this page. A collision that opens a roof seam, cracks a sidewall, breaks a window or tears a slide seal has created a water path. Southern California weather is forgiving most of the year and then it is not, and one storm through an open seam turns a body claim into a subfloor and framing claim.

Plastic sheeting and quality tape over any opening, weighted or taped so wind does not lift it, is enough. Get it over the seam rather than just over the visible hole, because water tracks along the seam rather than falling straight down. If the rig is parked outdoors and the roof is involved, cover the whole affected run rather than the specific tear.

Water damage also sits at the exact boundary between covered sudden loss and excluded gradual deterioration. Every carrier watches that line. If water enters after the loss because the vehicle sat uncovered for two weeks, that is a conversation nobody wants to have. Covering the opening protects the vehicle and the claim at the same time.

Getting the vehicle off the meter and into a shop

Tow and storage decisions get made in the first hours by whoever is on scene, long before an adjuster exists. Storage yards bill daily and oversize rates are not small. The interval between the loss and a shop assignment is exactly where those charges accumulate, and it is also the interval nobody is actively managing.

Move quickly. Once you have a claim number, tell the adjuster where the vehicle is going and ask them to confirm in writing what storage period the carrier will pay. Keep every tow and yard receipt. Reimbursement conversations weeks later run on paper, not on memory, and a receipt you cannot produce is a charge you absorb.

You choose the facility. An insurer may recommend a shop but may not require a specific one under California law. If your vehicle is an RV, a fifth wheel, a Sprinter conversion, a box truck or a bus, the relevant question is whether the shop has the bay height, the booth length and the fiberglass and structural experience for it. Call us at (949) 799-3387 with the claim number and we will start the conversation with your adjuster.

Bringing the vehicle down from West Covina

The shop is at Yorba Linda, about 22 miles from West Covina, and the drive runs 30 to 45 minutes depending on the hour. Most customers take the 10 or the 60 west to the 57 south, then the 91 east to Imperial Highway. Carbon Canyon Road to the 71 is the shortcut when the 57 is backed up. All work is performed in shop at the Yorba Linda facility. We do not run mobile, roadside or route service, so the vehicle needs to come to us or arrive on a tow.

If the rig is not safely drivable, do not drive it. A door that will not latch, a slide that will not retract fully, an awning hanging loose, a damaged tire or a compromised structure are all reasons to tow. A vehicle that gets damaged further on the way to the shop creates a genuinely difficult claim conversation about which damage came from which event.

Come during posted hours: Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Saturday 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM, closed Sunday. Insurance walk ins are welcome and collision estimates are written at the shop. Call ahead at (949) 799-3387 if the vehicle is oversize so there is room set aside to park it while the estimate is written.

The paperwork to start immediately

Open a folder, physical or digital, the day of the loss and put everything in it. The claim number. The adjuster name, direct line and email. The police report number. Every photo from the scene. Every tow and storage receipt. Notes from each phone call with the date and who you spoke with.

Add the vehicle documentation next: registration, insurance card, declarations page, the original build sheet or window sticker if you still have it, and the paint code. Then the aftermarket paperwork: invoices and serial numbers for solar arrays, lithium banks, inverters, upgraded suspension, custom interiors, awnings and racks. That equipment is invisible to a standard vehicle database unless someone puts it into the file.

This folder does two jobs. During the claim it answers questions in seconds that otherwise take days of searching. After the claim it is the record of what was damaged, what was repaired and what was paid, which is the documentation that matters if the vehicle is ever valued, sold or claimed on again.

• Claim number, adjuster contact, police report number
• All scene photos, saved somewhere other than only the phone
• Tow invoice, storage receipts, any towing authorization you signed
• Registration, insurance card, declarations page, paint code
• Invoices and serials for all aftermarket and installed equipment