UK collision scenarios - a hub for 24 claim patterns

UK collision claims - universal FAQs

What should I do in the first ten minutes after any UK collision?

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Stop the vehicle, switch on hazard lights, check yourself and your passengers for injury and check the other vehicle's occupants. Move to a safe position if the carriageway is live. Exchange names, addresses, vehicle registration marks and insurer details under section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Photograph every vehicle position before vehicles are moved. Record dashcam footage and back it up immediately. Note witness names and registration plates of vehicles that stopped. Where injury is present, where details were not exchanged, or where the other party is an animal listed in section 170(8), the collision must be reported to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 24 hours.

When do I have to report a collision to the police in the UK?

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Under section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 you must report to a police constable as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any event within 24 hours, if injury was caused to any person other than yourself, if details could not be exchanged at the scene with every party entitled to them, or if the collision involved an animal in the prescribed list - horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog (but not cat). Failure to report is a separate offence from failing to stop and is prosecuted independently. Most UK forces accept reports through an online collision-reporting service in addition to in-person attendance at a station.

What is the time limit for making a UK accident claim?

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Personal injury claims must be issued within three years of the accident or the date of knowledge under section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980. Vehicle damage and other property loss claims must be issued within six years under section 2 of the same Act. Different limitation rules apply for children (the three-year clock starts at age 18), for protected parties under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and for claims against the Motor Insurers' Bureau (with strict 12-month or 14-day notification deadlines in the MIB Uninsured and Untraced Drivers' Agreements). The relevant limitation date is recorded on every file at intake.

Does the Highway Code rule H1-H3 hierarchy decide liability?

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Rules H1, H2 and H3 of the Highway Code, introduced in the 29 January 2022 update, set a hierarchy of road users. Those who can do the greatest harm (large vehicles) carry the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger they pose to others; pedestrians, cyclists and horse-riders are at the most vulnerable end. The hierarchy is not itself a statutory rule and does not displace the Road Traffic Act 1988, but the courts treat it as an interpretive aid when assessing contributory negligence and the standard of care, and most motor insurers now plead it explicitly in disputed-liability cases involving a vulnerable road user.

What happens if the other driver is uninsured or untraced?

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Where the at-fault driver is identified but uninsured, the claim runs against the Motor Insurers' Bureau under the MIB Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2015. Where the at-fault driver is not identified at all (a hit-and-run), the claim runs against the MIB under the Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017. The Untraced Agreement requires a police report and proper notification inside 14 days of the accident for damage-only claims, with strict evidence rules. Excess deductions, exclusions for passengers who knew the driver was uninsured (under Stinton v Stinton [1995]), and recovery from the at-fault driver remain features of both routes.

Is whiplash valued differently in 2026 than before?

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Yes. The Civil Liability Act 2018 introduced the fixed whiplash tariff and the £5,000 small-claims limit for road-traffic injury claims via the Official Injury Claim portal at officialinjuryclaim.org.uk. The tariff was reviewed and uplifted by the Whiplash Injury (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/615), which apply to accidents occurring on or after 31 May 2025. The current tariff bands run from a few hundred pounds for soft-tissue injury under three months to around four thousand pounds for severe-injury bands of fifteen to twenty-four months, with a small uplift available where the injury significantly affects the claimant's ability to function.

Can I get a like-for-like replacement vehicle while mine is repaired?

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Where you are non-fault, yes. Credit hire under Lagden v O'Connor [2003] UKHL 64 authorises a like-for-like replacement to be sourced on credit terms, with the hire charges recovered from the at-fault driver's insurer subject to reasonable need and impecuniosity. The like-for-like principle was confirmed in Bee v Jenson [2007] EWCA Civ 923. A courtesy car offered by your own insurer is a different product - usually a small hatchback offered without need-matching. Where your usage is a private hire vehicle, an electric vehicle or a clean-air-zone-compliant vehicle, the courtesy car will almost never be like-for-like.

Do I have to use a claims management company to make a UK accident claim?

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No. You can pursue your claim directly with the at-fault driver's insurer at no cost. For personal injury claims qualifying for the small-claims track you can use the Official Injury Claim portal at officialinjuryclaim.org.uk without any representative at all. The CMCOB standalone-disclosure rule (CMCOB 4.3.1R(1A)) requires every regulated claims management company to tell you this in writing on a standalone basis before you instruct them. CityGrip Accident Claims (Citygrip LTD) is an accident management company. Personal injury work is referred to an SRA-regulated panel solicitor with the referral arrangement disclosed at the point of instruction.

What is contributory negligence and when does it apply?

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Contributory negligence under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 reduces a claimant's damages where the claimant's own conduct contributed to the injury or loss. The classic seatbelt-non-wear deduction under Froom v Butcher [1976] QB 286 is 25% where the seatbelt would have prevented the injury entirely and 15% where it would have made the injury less severe. Similar percentage deductions apply for crash-helmet non-wear, mobile-phone use, passenger conduct, foreseeable contributory acts (drinking with a driver known to be intoxicated under Owens v Brimmell [1977]) and breaches of the Highway Code that contribute to the collision.

Why do you handle each scenario claim-by-claim rather than using a template?

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Two scenarios that look identical on the headline rarely share the same evidence map. A rear-end shunt on a fog-bound M5 pulls National Highways gantry footage and a Met Office weather report. A rear-end shunt at a 20mph signal-controlled junction in Bristol pulls bus-mounted CCTV and the council's traffic-signal-phase data. The Highway Code rules engaged, the police-reporting obligation, the credit-hire eligibility test and the OIC portal eligibility all turn on facts that scenario templates obscure. CityGrip takes evidence at intake on a claim-by-claim basis and lets the file shape itself.

When does a scenario warrant a solicitor referral rather than in-house handling?

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Where the claim involves a serious injury outside the OIC portal scope (over the £5,000 small-claims limit), contested liability that needs disclosure and witness statements, fatal-injury claims under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 or the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934, or any claim against the MIB on the Untraced Agreement route, an SRA-regulated solicitor takes the file. CityGrip refers personal-injury work to a panel solicitor with the referral arrangement disclosed under CMCOB 6 and CMCOB 7 at the point of instruction. The accident-management work - recovery, storage, engineer, credit hire, repair - continues to be handled in-house alongside the solicitor's litigation file.

What evidence should I preserve in the first 72 hours after a UK collision?

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Scene photographs of every vehicle position before vehicles are moved, registration plates and damage panels. The dashcam clip backed up to cloud storage or a second device within 24 hours. The names, addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registration marks and insurer names of every driver involved. Names and contact details of every witness. The crime or incident reference number where police attended. Any CCTV preservation letters (supermarket car parks, fast-food drive-thrus, junction-camera authorities, bus operators) - these typically retain footage for 14 to 28 days only. Photographs of road markings, traffic signs, traffic signals showing phase, weather conditions and any debris field.