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How do you report a car accident to your insurance company?

I got into my first accident yesterday. I know I need to tell my insurance about it, but I'm not sure how. How would I report the accident to them?

avatar
Emily Maracle · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
You are correct! Any time you’re in an accident, you’ll want to report it to your
car insurance company
. Thankfully, even if it’s your first accident, submitting a claim is easy to do.
Most car insurance companies now give you the option to report accidents through your online account or their mobile app. Electronically filing a claim or informing them of an accident is a faster way than waiting on hold for the claims department. The online process will walk you through exactly what you should do
after the accident
.
While you should report the accident right away, doing it a few days later shouldn’t cause you any additional problems. When reporting the accident, provide all the accident details. Your insurance will also want pictures of the damage and the other driver’s information. If you called the police, provide a copy of the police report too.
After reporting an accident or filing a claim, your insurance rates could change. Accidents, tickets, and violations all impact the cost of your
car insurance
. If this happens, you should shop around. An increase with one company doesn’t mean you will always pay more for insurance.
If you’d rather leave the hard work of gathering quotes to someone else, use
Jerry
. This app can collect quotes from up to 50 top insurance companies in seconds!
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Jerry partners with more than 50 insurance companies, but our content is independently researched, written, and fact-checked by our team of editors and agents. We aren’t paid for reviews or other content.

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