What to Do After a Car Accident in Arizona — Step by Step

Nobody plans to need this guide. Save it anyway — the order of operations matters, and the decisions you make in the first fifteen minutes affect your safety, your insurance claim, and what the tow costs you.

1. Get safe before anything else

If the vehicles drive and there are no serious injuries, Arizona expects you to move out of travel lanes — to the shoulder, a parking lot, or the nearest exit. Hazards on, and get people behind a barrier or well away from traffic, especially at night or on freeways like the US-60 and Loop 202. Secondary collisions hurt more people than the original crash.

2. Call 911 when it’s warranted

Call 911 for any injury, a blocked roadway, an impaired driver, or significant damage. Officers document the scene and generate a report number your insurer will want. For minor parking-lot dings, Arizona lets drivers exchange information without a police response — but when in doubt, call.

3. Exchange exactly this information

• Name, phone number, and address of every driver
• Insurance company and policy number
• Driver’s license number and plate
• Make, model, and color of each vehicle

Photograph their insurance card and plate instead of transcribing — fewer errors.

4. Photograph like an adjuster

Wide shots of the whole scene from several angles, close-ups of every damaged panel on both vehicles, skid marks, debris, traffic signs or signals, and the other car’s VIN through the windshield. Thirty extra seconds of photos has settled a thousand arguments.

5. You choose the tow company

Here’s the part most drivers don’t know: unless police order an immediate rotation tow to clear the road, you have the right to call the tow company you choose. Before any vehicle gets hooked:

• Ask for the price before the truck rolls — we quote before dispatch, always.
• Confirm where the vehicle is going and write it down. You want it at your chosen shop or a documented yard, not an unknown lot with daily storage fees.
• Never sign a blank authorization or an “agreement” with no prices on it.

Our accident recovery service runs 24/7 with photo documentation from hookup to drop — the paper trail your insurer wants.

6. Call your insurer that day

Report the accident promptly, share your photos and the report number, and tell them where the vehicle was towed. If the car is drivable, an in-person estimate can wait; if it’s not, early reporting speeds the total-loss or repair decision — and stops storage fees from piling up while paperwork idles.

What if the accident involves a commercial truck?

Trucks change everything: federal reporting rules, load and hazmat concerns, and heavy recovery. If your company vehicle or trailer is involved, our Heavy Rescue Division handles the recovery, load shifts, and transloading statewide — dispatch at (480) AUTO-911 and the scene gets managed properly from the first call.