A car accident can scramble your thinking fast. One moment you’re driving through Murrieta or merging onto the 15, and the next you’re standing on the shoulder trying to figure out what just happened. The decisions you make in those first 24 hours – some of them in the minutes right after impact – can have a real effect on how your injury claim unfolds. Attorney Dustin Maricic has seen it firsthand: cases where clients protected themselves from the start and recovered far more than they expected, and cases where avoidable missteps gave the insurance company exactly the foothold it needed.
This guide walks through what you should actually do, in order, starting the moment the crash happens.
Stay at the Scene and Make Sure Everyone Is Safe
Before anything else – do not leave. California law requires all drivers involved in an accident to remain at the scene if there are injuries, deaths, or property damage. Move your vehicle out of live traffic if it’s safe to do so, but stay nearby.
Check on the other people involved. If anyone is injured, call 911 immediately. Even if injuries aren’t obvious, it’s worth calling – some soft tissue injuries and internal trauma don’t produce visible symptoms right away, and having paramedics evaluate everyone creates a medical record tied to the exact time and location of the crash.
Call the Police and Get a Report on File
In Murrieta and Temecula, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department or California Highway Patrol will typically respond to accidents on major roads. Request that a report be filed even if the other driver suggests handling it privately.
A police report does two things. It creates an official, timestamped account of what happened before memories blur and stories shift. It also documents details that can be critical later – the officer’s observations about fault, weather and road conditions, whether either driver showed signs of impairment, and the presence of any traffic citations.
Ask the responding officer for their name, badge number, and the report number before they leave. You can request the full report from the law enforcement agency within a few days.
Document Everything at the Scene
Your phone is one of your most important tools right now. Photograph the damage to all vehicles from multiple angles, the position of the cars relative to the road, any visible injuries, skid marks, debris, traffic signs or signals, and road conditions. Take more than you think you need.
Get the other driver’s full name, license number, insurance company, policy number, and contact information. Do the same for any passengers. If there are witnesses standing nearby, ask for their names and phone numbers – bystander accounts carry significant weight, especially in disputed-fault cases.
One thing to be careful about: do not apologize, admit fault, or speculate about what caused the accident. Even a casual “I didn’t see you” can be treated as an admission and used against you. Stick to factual exchanges.
Seek Medical Attention – Even If You Feel Fine
This step is where many accident victims make a costly mistake. Adrenaline is a powerful thing. Whiplash, concussions, and soft tissue injuries often don’t produce sharp pain until 24 to 72 hours after the collision. If you wait until symptoms appear to see a doctor, the gap in your medical timeline becomes a weapon for the insurance company. Their adjusters are trained to argue that your injuries were caused by something else that happened after the accident.
Get evaluated the same day, whether at an urgent care clinic in Temecula, an emergency room, or your primary care physician. Tell the provider exactly what happened and describe every symptom, even minor ones. That documentation becomes part of your medical record and directly supports your claim.
Notify Your Insurance Company – But Choose Your Words Carefully
California requires you to report accidents to your insurer, but there is a meaningful difference between reporting a crash and giving a recorded statement. You should tell your insurance company that an accident occurred, when and where, and that you are receiving medical attention.
You are not obligated to provide a detailed recorded statement immediately, and you should be cautious about doing so before speaking with an attorney. Insurance adjusters – including your own – are skilled at asking questions in ways that can minimize your payout. Phrases like “I’m feeling okay” or “it wasn’t that bad” get logged and cited later.
Contact Attorney Dustin Before You Accept Anything
Insurance companies move quickly after accidents. The other driver’s insurer may contact you within 24 to 48 hours with a settlement offer. These early offers are almost always far below what your case is actually worth – they’re designed to close claims before victims understand the full extent of their injuries or their legal rights.
Attorney Dustin Maricic works differently than the large, volume-driven firms. He attends doctor’s appointments with clients, negotiates medical bills directly with providers, and approaches each case with the kind of focused attention that leads to substantially larger recoveries. He’s not managing hundreds of cases at once – your case gets real time.
Consulting an attorney before you sign anything costs you nothing. Personal injury attorneys in California work on contingency, meaning Attorney Dustin only gets paid if you recover compensation. There’s no financial risk to making that call.
Preserve Everything Related to the Accident
In the days following the crash, keep a simple log. Note your pain levels, any activities you can’t perform, missed work, medical appointments, and how your injuries are affecting daily life. Save every medical bill, prescription receipt, and out-of-pocket expense.
Do not post about the accident on social media. Photos, check-ins, or even vague status updates can be pulled into evidence and used to contradict your injury claims. It has happened to clients in Riverside County and it will happen again.
Why the Murrieta and Temecula Area Matters
Local context isn’t just background detail. The 15 and 79 corridors through Murrieta and Temecula see a high volume of rear-end and multi-vehicle accidents, particularly near major interchanges during commute hours. Riverside County courts have their own procedures, local insurance adjusters have established patterns, and knowing how fault is typically argued in this region makes a real difference in how cases are built.
Attorney Dustin grew up here. That matters when you’re navigating a claim in your own backyard.
Take the First Step
The first 24 hours set the trajectory for your entire claim. Document thoroughly, get medical care, protect what you say to insurers, and talk to an attorney before you make any decisions. Attorney Dustin offers free consultations and has built his practice on giving Murrieta and Temecula residents the kind of direct, personal representation that actually moves the needle. Reach out to the Maricic Law Firm before the other side gets ahead of your case.
