{"id":8,"date":"2026-07-14T11:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/2026\/07\/14\/first-hour-after-a-car-accident\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T11:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:05:00","slug":"first-hour-after-a-car-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/2026\/07\/14\/first-hour-after-a-car-accident\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do in the first hour after a car accident"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nobody is thinking clearly after a collision, which is why the useful advice is a short list you can follow without thinking. The goal in the first hour is evidence and safety, in that order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The list<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\n<li>Move to a safe position and turn hazards on<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Photograph both vehicles before anything is moved<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Exchange names, registration and insurer details<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Note the time, weather and any witnesses<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Call the claims line before you leave the scene<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The photographs matter more than the conversation. A disputed liability claim is usually settled by the position of the two cars, and that evidence disappears the moment either one is driven away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What not to do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do not apologise, do not agree a private settlement at the roadside, and do not accept a courtesy car from anyone who was not sent by your own insurer. Each of those makes the claim harder rather than easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What you do in the first sixty minutes decides how quickly the claim settles and how much of it you carry yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":58,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[8,9,10],"class_list":["post-8","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motor","tag-auto-insurance","tag-claims","tag-roadside"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demos.canvaswp.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}