Process After the Accident: What to Do Now

Secure the accident scene, exchange details, call the police if needed, instruct your own vehicle expert, and only then have the car repaired or settle the claim.

The order protects you: whoever repairs first and only gets an expert afterwards risks the insurer disputing the original scope of the damage. Your own report independently documents what is damaged and what a proper repair costs. The sections below answer the questions that in practice come up at exactly these stages.

How quickly must I report the accident to the insurer?

There is no statutory deadline for reporting to the other driver's liability insurer (Haftpflichtversicherung) — the party at fault and their insurer have no contract with you that would create a duty to notify. Report the damage promptly anyway: memories fade, traces on the vehicle and at the scene disappear, and your claim is due immediately in any case (§ 271 Abs. 1 BGB). If you also settle through your own comprehensive cover (Kaskoregulierung), use the usually short reporting deadline set out in your own insurance contract.

Do I have to speak to the other driver's insurer on the phone at all?

No. There is no legal obligation to — and no court decision exists on this either, simply because there is no legal basis for such a duty. If you do speak to the insurer, it is best not to say anything about fault or your own injuries; leave the amount of damage to your expert. A phone call rarely speeds up anything that a written claim letter would not achieve too.

How long does it take to get my report?

That depends on the extent of the damage and the office's workload. Visible bodywork damage is often assessed within a few working days; technically more demanding cases — for example Kalibrierung (sensor calibration) of driver-assistance systems or high-voltage battery checks — take longer. This is different from the review period the other driver's insurer takes before paying afterwards; on that, and on default, see Claims.

Do I have to bring my car to the expert, or does the expert come to me?

Both are possible. Depending on the damage and location, the expert comes to you — to the workshop or your home — or you bring the vehicle to one of our inspection centres. Which option fits your case is clarified by the responsible office when it calls you back after your claim report. The full list of locations with addresses is under Locations.

Does the expert still come if my car is no longer drivable?

Yes. We assess a vehicle that broke down or was towed wherever it currently is — at the accident scene, at the workshop, or at a storage yard. That does not change your right to your own expert. What happens to towing and storage costs is explained under Auslagenpauschale, towing and storage (Auslagenpauschale, Abschleppen, Standgeld).

May I have my car repaired before the expert has seen it?

That is not legally forbidden, but it is risky. Without a prior report or at least meaningful photos taken before the repair, there is no proof of which damage actually came from the accident and how extensive it was. For an already-repaired vehicle with an invoice, the invoice itself is often enough evidence of the amount of damage (BGH VI ZR 528/12) — but if the insurer disputes the scope, you have no independent evidence without a prior assessment. So wait for the expert's appointment wherever possible.

What do I do if the police were not at the scene?

Document as much as possible yourself: photos of all vehicles involved, their final positions, brake marks and road signs, plus the other driver's name, address, licence plate and insurance details, and contact details of any witnesses. Your expert can make technical findings about how the damage occurred during the assessment, but this does not replace a police accident report. If fault is disputed or someone was injured, report the accident to the police afterwards.

Do I need a lawyer, or is the expert enough?

The expert clarifies the technical question — what is damaged, what the repair costs, how much value is lost (Wertminderung). The lawyer handles legal enforcement against the insurer. These are different roles, not alternatives to each other. In an ordinary road accident with two parties involved, instructing a lawyer is, under Bundesgerichtshof case law, generally necessary, and the cost is reimbursable — details and the exception of the "simple case" are under Claims.

Do I have to present my car to the insurer after the repair?

The insurer has no unconditional right of inspection. The Oberlandesgericht (Higher Regional Court) Saarbrücken has ruled: if you refuse a follow-up inspection despite the insurer having justified doubts about your independent report and offering the inspection at its own cost, that can count against you in a dispute — up to and including paying court costs even after winning the case (OLG Saarbrücken 4 W 9/18). Without such a justified reason, you do not have to present the car. A blanket "you never have to present it" would be just as wrong as a blanket "you always have to".

Does my accident go into a database other insurers can see?

Possibly, but not automatically. The Hinweis- und Informationssystem (HIS, the German insurance industry's information-sharing register) stores unusual patterns — for example an unusually high number of claims in a short time, or particular claim outcomes such as a notional settlement (fiktive Abrechnung) based only on a report — and has been run since 01.10.2025 by Besurance HIS GmbH, Wiesbaden (previously: informa HIS GmbH). Only your name, address, and for vehicles the VIN and licence plate are reported — no health data and no information about criminal offences. Recipients are exclusively German insurance companies, never dealers or buyers.

What you can do: under Art. 15 GDPR you are entitled to a free self-disclosure request (Selbstauskunft) from Besurance HIS GmbH — it shows whether and what is stored about you, by whom and why. An HIS entry is not a fraud flag and not a pre-decision: a lookup is expressly "not the sole basis for a decision in an individual case", only a prompt to check further. The case law available on this still predates the GDPR (under the old Federal Data Protection Act, Alt-BDSG) and confirms above all: licence plate and VIN alone are usually unproblematic, and reporting a total loss (Totalschaden) does not amount to an admission (OLG Hamm I-11 U 126/17, OLG Hamm 6 U 42/18).