What to Do in the First 72 Hours After a Texas Car Accident

Most clients call us a week or two after a crash, when the adrenaline has worn off and the bills have started showing up. By then, evidence has already moved: dashcam loops have overwritten themselves, witnesses have lost the police report number, and the at- fault driver's insurer has already taken a recorded statement that did not help.

The first 72 hours decide more about a Texas car-accident case than the next 72 days. Here is what we tell our own family members to do.

Hour 0 to Hour 24: Document everything, decide nothing.

Call 911 and stay at the scene until an officer arrives, even if the other driver wants to settle it “between you two.” A Texas Peace Officer's Crash Report (CR-3) is the single most important document in the file. Without it, you are arguing against the other driver's memory.

Photograph the cars before they are moved, photograph the intersection, photograph the other driver's license and insurance card, and photograph any visible injuries. Get the names and phone numbers of every witness, not just the ones the officer talks to. Witnesses disappear fast.

Get checked out, even if you feel fine. Soft-tissue injuries, concussions, and internal bleeding routinely do not show up for 24 to 72 hours. A documented ER or urgent-care visit on the day of the crash is the foundation of every injury claim that follows.

Hour 24 to Hour 48: Do not talk to the other driver's insurer.

Their adjuster will call quickly and politely. They will say they just need a quick recorded statement to “process the claim.” You are under no obligation to give one, and you should not. Anything you say can and will be used to reduce or deny your claim later.

Report the crash to your own insurer — that is required under your policy — but keep it short and factual. Date, time, location, the fact that you were injured. No speculation about fault, no estimate of injuries, no guesses about speed.

Hour 48 to Hour 72: Lock down the evidence the insurance company cannot delete.

Preserve your vehicle exactly as it is. Do not let the other side's insurer “total” it and haul it off before your lawyer has photographed the damage, downloaded the event data recorder, and documented anything mechanical that may have contributed.

Save every receipt: prescriptions, parking at the hospital, mileage to appointments, over-the-counter medication. Start a one-page-a-day pain journal. These small artifacts become a jury's window into what the injury actually cost you.

The two-year clock, and why it is shorter than it sounds.

Texas gives you two years from the date of injury to file most personal-injury lawsuits (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003). That sounds like plenty of time. It is not. Evidence preservation letters, traffic-camera footage requests, and 911 audio retention windows often run out in 30 to 90 days. Waiting a year to call a lawyer is not the same as filing a year later; by then, the case is half-built or half-gone.

When to call a lawyer.

Call before you talk to the at-fault insurer, not after. A free case review costs you nothing and locks in the evidence-preservation work that has to happen now. At Cap City, your case is reviewed and handled by an attorney, not handed off to a case manager, because a car crash is not a form-field problem.