After a crash, you may need to call the police, notify your insurance company, and file a claim against the driver who hit you. The deadlines are not all the same.

So, how long do you have to report a car accident in Virginia? 

If someone was injured or killed, Virginia law requires the driver, or someone acting for the driver, to notify law enforcement immediately. Your insurance company may also require prompt notice of the crash.

Smith Law Center has represented injured people in Virginia since 1949. If you were hurt in a crash and are unsure what needs to be reported or when, call (757) 244-7000 to speak with our team or send us the details of your accident online. Your consultation is free.

When Do You Have to Call the Police After a Virginia Car Accident?

If the accident injured or killed someone, Virginia law requires immediate notice to law enforcement.

In most cases, that means calling 911 or the appropriate police agency from the accident scene. If someone needs medical help, tell the dispatcher so emergency medical services can also respond.

Virginia also requires police officers who investigate certain crashes to prepare a report for the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. This includes crashes involving an injury, death, or at least $3,000 in apparent total property damage.

You may see a 24-hour reporting deadline mentioned when researching Virginia accident law online. That deadline applies to the investigating police officer, who must submit the report to DMV within 24 hours after completing the investigation. It is not a 24-hour deadline for an injured driver to file a DMV report.

Local governments in Virginia can also have their own accident-reporting requirements.

Do I Have to Report the Accident to the Virginia DMV Myself?

In many cases, the police report takes care of the official crash reporting that goes to DMV.

Virginia also allows a driver, vehicle owner, or representative involved in an accident to submit a written crash report directly to DMV. One reason you might do this is if you believe the other driver did not have insurance.

Virginia DMV uses Form FR200 for this purpose. If you report that the other vehicle may have been uninsured, DMV can request insurance information from its owner.

This is different from requesting a copy of the police crash report after an accident. If an officer investigated your collision, DMV may already have the report on file.

How Long Do You Have to Report an Accident in Virginia?

When someone is injured or killed, report the accident to law enforcement immediately.

You may not know at the scene how serious an injury is. Neck and back pain can worsen later, and symptoms associated with a concussion or other car accident injury may not be fully apparent during the first few minutes after a crash.

Calling the police also gives you an official record that the collision occurred. If an officer investigates, the report may identify the drivers and vehicles, insurance information, crash location, witnesses, and other details the officer gathered.

That can become useful if the other driver later gives their insurance company a different version of what happened.

How Long Do I Have to Report an Accident in Virginia to My Insurance Company?

Virginia does not set one deadline, such as 24 hours or seven days, for every driver to notify an auto insurer.

Look at the notice requirements in your policy. Many insurers require drivers to report an accident promptly or within a reasonable time.

You may need your own insurance company even if the other driver caused the crash. For example:

• The other driver denies causing the accident.
• The other vehicle was uninsured.
• The driver does not have enough liability coverage for your losses.
• You use collision coverage to repair your vehicle.
• Coverage under your own policy applies to some of your accident-related expenses.

You also do not need to wait until you know the full extent of your injuries before notifying the insurer. You can report that the collision occurred while you continue receiving medical care.

What Should I Tell the Insurance Company When I Report the Crash?

Stick with what you know.

Give the insurer the date, time, and location of the accident, information about the vehicles and drivers, and a factual description of what happened. If you do not know an answer, say that rather than guessing.

The first conversation can also turn into something more involved, especially when you are speaking with the other driver's insurer. An adjuster may ask for:

• A recorded statement: You may be questioned in detail about the collision, your injuries, and what you were doing immediately before impact.
• A medical authorization: Check what records the authorization allows the insurer to obtain. Some releases reach medical treatment from before the accident.
• Information about old injuries: If you previously injured the same part of your body, the insurer may question whether the crash caused your current symptoms.
• A settlement: An insurer may make an offer while you are still receiving treatment and before your doctors know whether you will need additional care.

Reporting the accident does not require you to settle the claim or give the other driver's insurer unlimited access to your medical history.

What If I Waited to Report the Accident?

Report it now rather than deciding it is too late.

A delay may give the insurance company more to question. The adjuster may want to know why the accident was not reported earlier, whether the vehicle damage came from this collision, or whether your injuries occurred somewhere else.

Time can also affect the evidence available to support your account. A business may record over security footage. The cars may no longer show the damage exactly as they did after impact. Someone who witnessed the crash may be difficult to find several weeks later.

The same concern applies to medical care. If you wait a significant amount of time to see a doctor, the insurer may argue that the gap makes it harder to connect your symptoms to the crash.

A late report does not necessarily end an injury claim. What matters next will depend on what was delayed and the facts surrounding your accident.

An insurer questioning a late report can quickly turn into a dispute over when you were injured, how the crash happened, or whether coverage applies. Call Smith Law Center at (757) 244-7000 or tell us what happened through our online contact form. We can look at what the insurer is challenging and what evidence may answer it.

What If I Did Not Know I Was Hurt When the Accident Happened?

You can feel relatively okay immediately after a collision and have more pain or other symptoms later that day or over the next several days.

After a car accident, pay attention to symptoms such as:

• Increasing neck or back pain
• Headaches
• Dizziness or problems with balance
• Numbness or tingling
• Difficulty concentrating
• Memory problems
• Changes in sleep

Tell your medical provider when the crash happened, when you first noticed the symptoms, and whether they have changed since then.

This can be especially important with head injuries. Smith Law Center has handled serious traumatic brain injury claims arising from auto accidents, including cases involving cognitive and other symptoms that continued after the crash.

Is Reporting a Car Accident the Same as Filing an Insurance Claim?

No. Reporting an accident generally means notifying the police, your insurer, or both that the crash occurred.

An insurance claim asks an insurance company to pay for covered losses. If another driver caused the accident, that could include a liability claim against that driver's policy. You may also have a claim under your own policy for collision, uninsured motorist, underinsured motorist, or other applicable coverage.

A lawsuit comes later if the injury claim cannot be resolved through insurance negotiations.

You can therefore have several dates to keep track of after the same accident. The date you called police is not your deadline to sue, and opening an insurance claim does not stop Virginia's deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit.

How Long Do You Have to File a Virginia Car Accident Lawsuit?

Most people injured in a Virginia car accident have two years to file a personal injury lawsuit. The Commonwealth generally allows five years for claims involving damage to property.

The two-year deadline can become an issue when an insurance claim has been open for a long time. You and the adjuster might still be exchanging medical records, discussing fault, or negotiating compensation as the filing deadline approaches.

Insurance negotiations generally do not stop that clock.

There are situations in which a different deadline or rule may apply. If substantial time has passed since your accident, have an attorney determine the filing deadline that applies to your claim rather than relying on the status of your insurance negotiations.

Why Can Waiting Hurt a Virginia Car Accident Claim?

Virginia's contributory negligence rule makes evidence about how the crash happened especially important. If you were negligent and that negligence contributed to causing the collision, you can be barred from recovering compensation.

An insurance company may argue that you:

• Were speeding
• Failed to yield
• Followed too closely
• Made an unsafe lane change
• Were distracted
• Could have avoided the collision

Photos from the scene, video, vehicle damage, witness accounts, and information collected by police can help answer those allegations.

The sooner someone begins looking for that evidence, the better the chance that it still exists. This can be important when fault seemed obvious at the scene but becomes disputed once the insurance claim begins.

Can I Get a Copy of My Virginia Crash Report?

Yes, if police prepared a report and you are authorized to receive it.

Virginia DMV allows drivers, passengers, people injured in the accident, owners of involved vehicles or property, attorneys representing people involved, and certain other authorized parties to request a copy.

You will generally need information that identifies the crash, such as its date, location, and the drivers involved.

The police report can give you and your attorney a starting point for investigating the collision. Depending on the claim, additional evidence may include photos, video, witness accounts, medical records, vehicle data, and information that was not available to the officer at the scene.

What If I Missed a Reporting Deadline After a Virginia Car Accident?

A reporting delay is something to address, rather than a reason to give up on your claim.

Maybe you thought the accident was too minor to report and developed pain the next day. Maybe the other driver promised to pay for the damage and then stopped responding. Or perhaps you notified the police but waited to call your insurer.

What happened during that time will help determine how the delay affects your claim. An insurer may have questions, but there may also be photographs, medical records, witnesses, repair records, text messages with the other driver, or other evidence available to support what happened.

Smith Law Center has represented injured Virginians since 1949. Our firm has handled more than 90,000 cases and recovered more than $1 billion for clients, including substantial car accident and traumatic brain injury settlements and verdicts.

If you reported your accident late or think an insurance deadline may have passed, there may still be steps you can take. Talk with Smith Law Center at (757) 244-7000 or request your free case review online. We can determine where your claim stands and what needs your attention now.