What To Do After A Car Accident In Michigan: 16 Steps To Take

In Michigan, after a car accident, check for injuries, call 911 if needed, and move to a safe location with hazard lights on. Contact the police to file a report, exchange information with the other driver, and document the scene with photos, witness details, and notes. Seek medical care right away, notify your insurance company, keep all records, and consider speaking with an attorney if injuries or claim disputes arise.

Immediately after a car accident in Michigan, there are so many important steps to take. Our attorneys have detailed the most time-sensitive precautions below.

If you’d like to speak with a specialized and experienced auto crash attorney, call now (800) 968-1001. There’s no fee or obligation.

After a car accident in Michigan at the scene, first ensure safety by checking for injuries and calling 911 if needed. Move your vehicle to a safe spot and turn on hazard lights. Call the police to file a report, exchange contact and insurance information with the other driver(s), and collect witness details. Document the scene with photos of vehicles, damage, road conditions, and traffic signs. Avoid admitting fault—let insurance companies and authorities determine responsibility.

1. Ensure safety
2. Move to safety
3. Call the police
4. Exchange information
5. Document the crash scene
6. Avoid admitting fault

After a car accident in Michigan, your first priority should always be safety. Check yourself and any passengers for injuries, and call 911 immediately if anyone is hurt. If the vehicles are creating a hazard and it is safe to do so, move them to the side of the road and turn on your hazard lights. Ensuring everyone’s safety at the scene helps prevent further crashes and provides a safe environment for emergency responders.

It’s also important to stay calm and assess the situation carefully. Keep yourself and others out of traffic whenever possible, and wait for police or emergency personnel to arrive. Taking these immediate safety steps after a car accident in Michigan protects your well-being, preserves the crash scene for documentation, and sets the foundation for a smoother claims process with insurance or legal representatives.

After a car accident in Michigan, it’s important to move to a safe location as soon as possible. If your vehicle can be driven safely, pull over out of traffic and turn on your hazard lights. This helps protect you, your passengers, and other drivers while waiting for police or emergency responders.

Staying in a safe position also allows you to assess the situation calmly. Ensure everyone involved is out of immediate danger, check for injuries, and avoid standing in traffic. Taking these steps early not only protects your safety but also preserves the scene for accurate documentation and supports any insurance or legal claims that may follow.

After a car accident in Michigan, it’s important to call the police immediately, even if the crash seems minor. Having an official report documents the crash, helps determine fault, and provides essential information for insurance claims or potential legal matters.

Remain at the scene until the police arrive, and cooperate fully with officers. Provide accurate details about what happened, but avoid admitting fault. A proper police report ensures the incident is officially recorded and can protect your rights during insurance or legal processes.

State law says you must call the police and file a police report if someone has been injured or killed or if the vehicle damage is more than $1,000 (MCL 257.622). Importantly, a police report will document details about the crash, statements of the people involved including witnesses, and insurance information.

Depending on the terms of your auto insurance policy, you may also be required to file your police report within a certain amount of time in order to make a claim for coverage. This is frequently the case with “uninsured motorist” and “underinsured motorist coverage.”

After a car accident in Michigan, it’s essential to exchange information with the other driver at the scene. Collect names, phone numbers, addresses, insurance companies, policy numbers, driver’s license numbers, and vehicle details. This ensures all parties have the information needed for insurance claims and potential legal matters.

Also gather contact information from any witnesses and take detailed notes about the circumstances of the crash, including the time, location, weather conditions, and how the crash occurred. Accurate records, clear communication, and thorough documentation help support your insurance claim, protect your legal rights, and provide a reliable account of the incident if questions or disputes arise later.

After a car accident in Michigan, it’s important to document the scene thoroughly. Take clear photos of all vehicles, visible damage, license plates, skid marks, traffic signs, and any injuries. Detailed documentation helps support insurance claims and provides evidence if legal issues arise later.

Also consider taking videos of the scene from multiple angles, noting the time, date, location, and weather conditions, and recording statements from any witnesses if possible. Include details about road conditions, traffic signals, and the positions of vehicles after the crash. Preserving as much evidence as you can ensures a complete and accurate record of the crash, which can protect your rights, support your insurance claim, and simplify the claims process or any potential legal proceedings.

After a car accident in Michigan, it’s important to avoid admitting fault at the scene. Even if you feel responsible, making statements that suggest liability can be used against you later in insurance claims or legal proceedings. Stick to the facts and describe what happened clearly and calmly.

Also, focus on sharing accurate and factual details with the police and other drivers without speculating or admitting blame. Provide clear descriptions of what happened, the position of the vehicles, road conditions, and any relevant circumstances, but avoid making statements that could be interpreted as taking responsibility. Let insurance companies, police, and authorities determine fault based on evidence, official reports, and witness statements. Staying neutral at the scene helps protect your legal rights, prevents complications in your insurance claim, and ensures that any determination of liability is fair and based on facts rather than assumptions or pressure in the moment.

After a car accident in Michigan, take immediate steps once you leave the scene: seek medical attention, document all injuries, notify your insurance company, keep organized records, and consider filing a No-Fault benefits application. Avoid giving statements or signing releases, and consult an attorney if injuries or disputes arise. Below, we’ll go into each of these steps in greater detail to help you protect your health, legal rights, and insurance claim.

1. Seek medical attention immediately
2. Report and document ALL injuries
3. Notify you insurance company
4. Never give statements or sign releases
5. File a No-Fault benefits application
6. Obtain a copy of your police report
7. Attend all medical appointments
8. Keep organized records
9. Comply with notice requirements
10. Consider hiring an attorney

After a car accident in Michigan, it’s crucial to seek medical attention immediately, even if you feel fine. Some injuries, like whiplash or internal trauma, may not show symptoms right away. Prompt medical care ensures your health is protected and provides documentation for insurance or legal purposes.

Continue to follow up with your healthcare provider regularly and maintain detailed records of all treatments, tests, prescriptions, and medical bills. Document any changes in your condition, ongoing symptoms, or additional medical visits related to the crash. Timely and thorough documentation not only helps support insurance claims and verifies the connection between the crash and your injuries, but it also ensures you receive appropriate care throughout your recovery. Keeping a complete record of your medical journey can be critical if questions arise about the extent of your injuries, the need for future treatment, or in the event of legal proceedings related to the crash.

After a car accident in Michigan, it is essential that you report all of your injuries including any loss of consciousness to the first responders and to the emergency room personnel. You must also insist that medical personnel document and record all of your injuries.

Often, very serious injuries are not experienced immediately after the crash. Make a detailed list of all injuries, pain and other symptoms you are suffering from even if a symptom seems to be minor at the time.

Be sure to report and document any or all of the following symptoms after your automobile crash:

• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Lightheadedness
• Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
• Blurred vision
• Problems with short-term memory loss or concentration
• Emotional changes

After a car accident in Michigan, you should notify your insurance company as soon as possible. Provide accurate and factual information about the crash, including the time, location, and details of any damage or injuries. Prompt reporting ensures your claim is processed efficiently and helps protect your coverage.

Make sure to keep detailed records of all communications with your insurance company, including emails, letters, and notes from phone calls. Document every conversation, including the date, time, and the name of the representative you spoke with. Providing timely documentation, photos of vehicle damage, medical records, repair estimates, and any other relevant evidence can strengthen your claim, help resolve disputes more efficiently, and ensure you receive the full benefits you are entitled to under your policy. In Michigan, maintaining organized records after a car accident also makes it easier to track the progress of your claim and supports you in case of any disagreements or delays with the insurance company.

After a car accident in Michigan, never give “statements” to an auto insurance claims adjuster and never sign releases presented to you by an insurance claims adjuster unless and until you have talked with an attorney first. Additionally, never allow the insurance adjuster to look at your vehicle damage without your attorney present.

Why? Because claims adjusters try to minimize crash survivors’ pain and injuries and one of the ways they do it is by getting recorded statements before the survivors have been able to hire and get advice from an auto crash lawyer who is looking out for the survivors’ best interests.

By catching survivors after a motor vehicle crash, while they are still in shock and when their guard is down, the adjusters are able to obtain statements that will be used later in court to try to undermine the survivor’s claim. Often, when there is low vehicle damage, insurance adjusters try to argue that no one could have been seriously injured in the crash.

Also, it is not uncommon for adjusters to try to use the statements to shift blame for the car accident to the Michigan crash survivor.

Releases are just dangerous as statements for motor vehicle crash survivors.

It is not uncommon that an insurance adjuster’s release – even one for limited property damage or mini tort – will contain unrelated language that effectively “settles” the crash survivor’s claim for substantially less than it is worth and extinguishes the survivor’s right to recover No-Fault benefits, to sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering compensation, and/or to collect “uninsured motorist” or “underinsured motorist” benefits.

These settlement tactics by the insurance companies are not uncommon and their sole purpose is to get the survivor to give up his or her rights to compensation and benefits and, thus, cut-off or limit the insurance company’s legal liability to pay out on the survivor’s claim.

Given the stakes for crash survivors and their families, it is essential that a lawyer who is looking out for the survivor’s best interests review and approve any and all releases before a crash survivor considers signing.

After a car accident in Michigan, you must file an application for No-Fault benefits with your auto insurance company in order to receive benefits to pay for your crash-related medical bills and to reimburse you for lost wages if your injuries have disabled you from returning to work.

In Michigan, you have one (1) year from the date of your car accident to file your application for No-Fault benefits with your insurer, the insurer of your spouse or a relative who lives in your home, or with the Assigned Claims Plan.

Filing your application on time is essential for protecting your No-Fault rights. Failure to do so will disqualify you forever from recovering No-Fault benefits and/or being able to sue for unpaid benefits.

We recommend filing your No-Fault benefits application immediately because the sooner you apply the sooner that you will begin to receive to your No-Fault PIP benefits which include:

• Medical benefits
• Wage loss
• Replacement services (household services)
• Mileage reimbursement for medical appointments
• Attendant care benefits (nursing services)

After a car accident in Michigan, contact the police department where your crash occurred to order a copy of your police report.

You can also order a copy of the traffic crash report (which is called a “UD-10”) for your crash through the state police’s “Traffic Crash Purchasing System.”

After a car accident in Michigan, make sure to attend all of your medical appointments and if for some reason you cannot make one, be sure to cancel, reschedule and attend on the rescheduled date.

It is imperative that you continue treatment for your personal injuries, whether it be physical therapy and occupational therapy, or routine follow-ups with your family doctor.

It is key to helping you with your medical recovery and with rebuilding your life.

Additionally, it is important for your claim and any case you may file in court because insurance adjusters will often contend that a crash survivor who fails to attend his or her doctor’s appointment must not be experiencing pain and, therefore, is not entitled to benefits or compensation.

Read why getting the right medical care at the right time is important.

After a car accident in Michigan, it’s important to keep organized records of everything related to the incident. This includes police reports, medical records, repair estimates, photos of vehicle damage, correspondence with insurance companies, and any notes from conversations with witnesses or officials. Maintaining organized records ensures you have all the necessary documentation to support your claim.

Organized documentation not only helps streamline insurance claims but also protects your legal rights if disputes arise. Keeping a detailed and orderly record of treatments, repairs, expenses, and communications allows you to track the progress of your claim, provides evidence of damages and injuries, and ensures you can respond quickly to any requests from insurers or legal representatives.

After a car accident in Michigan, it is important to check your auto insurance policy to see if there are any specific notice requirements. It is equally important that you comply with the notice requirements contained in your policy.

This is where it is best to have any attorney who is looking out for your best interests review the fine print in your insurance policy to ensure that you are doing everything you need to do in order to protect your rights to benefits and compensation.

Although the legislature in our state has set out certain deadlines that all insurance companies and crash survivors must abide by – such as the one-year limit for filing an application for No-Fault benefits – some insurance companies include VERY specific notification requirements for coverages that are not addressed by the state’s No-Fault auto insurance law.

Specifically, it is not uncommon in the case of a hit-and-run auto crash for an insurer to require a crash survivor to file a police report within 24 hours of the crash and/or to make a written report to the insurer within 30 days of the crash. Failure to meet either or both deadlines could jeopardize a survivor’s rights to “uninsured motorist” and/or “underinsured motorist” benefits as well as collision and comprehensive coverage, depending on the victim’s insurer and the terms of his or her policy.

Our auto crash injury lawyers have seen far too many unadvised crash survivors assume that their auto insurance policies were consistent with our state’s No-Fault timelines. In many cases, the contractual language of the policy and the filing limits were far more restrictive. If crash survivors fail to adhere to these notification requirements on time, they can lose important coverage.

After a car accident in Michigan, you may want to consider hiring an attorney, especially if there are injuries, disputes over fault, or significant property damage. An experienced lawyer can guide you through the claims process, protect your rights, and help ensure you receive fair compensation.

A lawyer can review your case, communicate with insurance companies on your behalf, and gather evidence to support your claim. They can also advise on legal options if your claim is denied or if long-term medical treatment is needed, giving you confidence that your rights are fully protected throughout the recovery and claims process.

In Michigan, you should consider getting an attorney as soon as possible after a car accident, especially if there are injuries, significant property damage, or disputes over fault. Early legal guidance helps protect your rights, ensures evidence is preserved, and allows your lawyer to handle communications with insurance companies to avoid mistakes that could hurt your claim.

In Michigan, the time limit to file a lawsuit after a car accident is determined by the state’s statute of limitations:

• Personal injury: You have 3 years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit for injuries sustained. (MCL 600.5805(1) and (2))
• Property damage: You have 1 year to file a lawsuit for damage to your vehicle or other property (MCL 500.3145(5)).
• Wrongful death: If the crash results in death, a lawsuit must usually be filed within 3 years of the person’s death. (MCL 600.5805(1) and (2))

It’s important to note that these deadlines can vary in certain circumstances, such as if a government entity is involved, which may have shorter filing deadlines. Filing within the statute of limitations is crucial because if you miss the deadline, your case may be dismissed, and you could lose your right to compensation.

Hiring a Michigan car accident lawyer after a crash is often more affordable than many expect. Most attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay nothing upfront—the lawyer only collects a percentage of your settlement or court award. State law typically limits this fee to one-third of your net recovery, ensuring you only pay if your case is successful. Many firms also cover case-related expenses, like court fees or expert witnesses, and only recover these costs if you win. This “no win, no fee” structure makes legal representation accessible while protecting your financial interests.

After being injured in a crash, a skilled Michigan Auto Law car accident lawyer can help you pursue the maximum compensation for both your economic losses and pain and suffering.

For over 50 years, our firm has stood as a dedicated advocate for crash victims across our state and nationwide. With unmatched experience and a proven track record, we anticipate legal challenges and develop strategies that win—even in the most complex or high-stakes cases. Every attorney at our firm focuses exclusively on motor vehicle crashes, giving us a level of expertise and attention that few others can match.

Our results speak volumes. We’ve secured more multi-million-dollar settlements and verdicts for semi and motor vehicle crashes than any other firm in the state, including the largest reported recoveries for truck and auto crash cases in our state’s history. Insurance companies know we’re prepared to take cases to trial when necessary, which often results in faster, larger settlements for our clients.

Beyond outcomes, our reputation reflects our commitment to clients. With over 3,000 five-star reviews and recognition from Best Law Firms in America, Best Lawyers in America, and Super Lawyers, we’re known for both legal excellence and compassionate client care. We intentionally handle fewer cases to ensure each client receives focused attention and support during a challenging time.

At Michigan Auto Law, representing you is more than a job—it’s a commitment to helping you rebuild your life after a devastating crash. If you want the state’s most experienced and auto crash law firm, call us today. We’re ready to fight for the justice and recovery you deserve.

If you were injured in a crash in Michigan and not sure what to do, call now (800) 968-1001 for a free consultation with an experienced and specialized car accident lawyer. There is no cost or obligation. You can also visit our contact page or use the chat feature on our website.

Our law firm is the state’s largest and most successful law firm that specializes exclusively in helping people who have been injured in automobile crashes.

Our secret? Our attorneys deliberately handle fewer cases than other personal injury law firms.  This allows us to focus more time and attention on our cases.

Unlike other law firms, our attorneys are never too busy to promptly return phone calls and answer questions. 

We have more than 3,000 5-Star Reviews that reflect this care and attention to detail.

More importantly, this client-focused approach leads to better and faster settlements for our clients. Our attorneys have recovered more million-dollar settlements and trial verdicts for motor vehicle crashes than any other lawyer or law firm in the state. We’ve also recovered the highest ever reported automobile crash settlements in the state.

Call now so we can start making a real difference for you.