How to Document a Car Accident in California: Phone, Dashcam, and the Police Report
- Tom Feher, Esq.
From Tom Feher, Esq. “Fault gets decided by whoever documented better. The driver who takes ninety seconds of video at the scene, saves the dashcam file, and orders the CHP report usually beats the driver with the better story, because stories fade and files do not.”
Short answer: use your phone at the scene to photograph the vehicles where they stopped, the damage, the road, and the other driver’s license and insurance card; save any dashcam footage immediately; collect witness names and numbers; then order the official collision report and file your DMV report on time. California requires the information exchange at the scene, a police report within 24 hours if anyone was hurt, and a DMV SR-1 within 10 days for injury or damage over $1,000.
Key Takeaways
- Phone first, ninety seconds: positions, damage, skid marks, sight lines, and the other driver’s documents, photographed not copied.
- Dashcam footage is admissible: save the file the same day, before the loop recorder overwrites it.
- Three reports, three clocks: scene exchange under VEH 16025, police report within 24 hours for injury under VEH 20008, DMV SR-1 within 10 days under VEH 16000.
- Get the official report: request the CHP-180 or police collision report; it is the document every adjuster reads first.
- Stay off social media: insurers read it, and a gym selfie can outweigh an MRI.
Free Case Evaluation – No Fee Unless You Win
If you are sorting out what to save and what to send after a crash, Feher Law will walk through it with you in a free consultation. Call (310) 340-1112 – You pay nothing unless we win.
| Evidence | How to Capture It | Deadline or Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Scene photos and video | Wide shots of positions, closeups of damage, skid marks, signals, sight lines | Before vehicles move – unrepeatable |
| Other driver’s documents | Photograph license, insurance card, plate – required exchange | At the scene under VEH 16025 |
| Witnesses | Names and cell numbers, ask them to text you on the spot | They leave in minutes |
| Dashcam footage | Export and back up the file same day | Loop recorders overwrite in hours to days |
| Police report | Report injury crashes within 24 hours; order the report in 1-2 weeks | VEH 20008; request via CHP-180 or the local department |
| DMV SR-1 | File within 10 days for injury, death, or damage over $1,000 | VEH 16000 – independent of the police report |
| Your injuries | Same-day medical visit, photos as bruising develops, symptom journal | Gaps in treatment become gaps in the claim |
The First Ninety Seconds: What Your Phone Should Capture
If you are safe and able, photograph before anything moves: wide shots showing where the vehicles came to rest, the debris field, skid or gouge marks, closeups of every damage point on both cars, the traffic signals or signs, and the sight lines each driver had. Then photograph the other driver’s license, insurance card, and plate rather than copying numbers by hand; the exchange itself is required by Vehicle Code 16025. Shoot a slow walk-around video too; it captures context photos miss.
Get every witness’s name and cell number and ask them to text you at the scene so the number is verified. Officers sometimes miss bystanders, and a neutral witness who saw the light is routinely the difference in a disputed-fault case.
Dashcam and Nearby Cameras: The Evidence That Overwrites Itself
Dashcam footage is generally admissible in California and it is the closest thing to a neutral eyewitness that exists. Save the file the same day: loop recorders overwrite in hours to days, and a footage file that existed and vanished helps no one. Back it up to cloud storage and email a copy to yourself so the metadata dates it.
Nearby businesses, doorbells, and transit cameras may also have the crash; most systems overwrite within 7 to 30 days, so identify them in the first week and have your attorney send preservation letters. Our motorcycle evidence guide covers the preservation-letter playbook in depth, and it applies to car crashes identically.
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Feher Law has recovered over $170 million for clients across Southern California. Call (310) 340-1112 – Free, no-obligation case review.
The Three Required Reports, and Their Three Different Clocks
California layers three reporting duties with different deadlines. The scene exchange under Vehicle Code 16025 happens immediately. If anyone was injured or killed, Vehicle Code 20008 requires a written report to the CHP or local police within 24 hours. Separately, and regardless of whether police responded, Vehicle Code 16000 requires you to file an SR-1 with the DMV within 10 days when anyone was hurt, someone died, or property damage exceeds $1,000, which in practice means nearly every real collision. The SR-1 can be filed through your insurer or lawyer, but the duty is yours.
Then order the official collision report: from CHP using the CHP-180 request form, or from the local department’s records unit, typically available one to two weeks after the crash. The report’s diagram, statements, and witness list are the spine of the claim, and correcting an error in it is far easier early.
Document Your Injuries Like They Will Be Disputed - Because They Will Be
See a doctor the same day, even if you feel mostly fine; adrenaline masks injuries and delayed-onset symptoms are common. Describe the crash at that visit so the record connects cause and injury. Photograph bruising and wounds as they develop, keep a short daily note of pain levels and what you could not do, and attend every appointment, because under the comparative-fault framework of Civil Code 1431.2 the insurer profits from every doubt it can raise about causation and severity.
And stay off social media. Adjusters read it, and a smiling photo at a birthday party will be offered as proof you were fine. The claim is documented in your medical file, not your feed. If the other driver turns out to be uninsured, the same documentation drives your own policy’s claim under Insurance Code 11580.2.
From Documentation to Deadline
All of this evidence serves a claim that still has to be brought on time: two years for most injury suits under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1, and a six-month government claim under Government Code 911.2 when a public vehicle or dangerous road condition is involved. The practical deadlines are shorter, because footage overwrites and witnesses move.
Once the record exists, put numbers on it with our personal injury settlement calculator, and see how the medical bills get paid while the claim is pending.
You Pay Nothing Unless We Win
Our California personal injury attorneys work on contingency – no upfront fees, and the fee terms are in writing before we start. Call (310) 340-1112 – Free, confidential case review.
What to Expect When You Work With Feher Law
- Free Case Evaluation: You speak with our team, we review the crash or incident facts, your treatment, and any offers on the table, and we give you a straight read on the claim’s value. No fee, no obligation.
- Case Investigation: We gather and preserve the evidence that drives gross value: your scene photos and dashcam file, camera footage before it overwrites, the collision report, medical records, wage documentation, and where needed, accident reconstruction and medical experts. We also start a running ledger of every lien against your recovery.
- Demand and Filing: We present a documented demand to the insurer, and if they will not pay full value we file suit within the two-year deadline under CCP 335.1 so you never lose leverage to the calendar.
- Negotiation and Lien Reduction: While we push the gross number up through discovery and mediation, we simultaneously negotiate every hospital, provider, and government lien down. Both moves raise your net.
- Resolution and Your Settlement Statement: Before anything is final you receive a line-item settlement statement showing the fee, each cost, each lien payoff, and your exact net. Our fee comes only out of the recovery – you pay nothing unless we win.
Why California Injury Clients Choose Feher Law
Thomas Feher, Esq. has taken more than 50 jury trials to verdict, and that trial record is what moves settlement math, because insurers pay real value to firms they know will pick a jury. The results are public: a $20.7 million brain injury verdict against a hotel defendant in July 2026, a $14.6 million verdict in Simone v. Estate of Bruce Jameson for a catastrophic spine injury, an $8.5 million recovery for a T-boned worker, and more than $170 million recovered for California clients overall. Feher Law also treats the back end of the case, lien negotiation and the settlement statement, as part of the representation, not an afterthought, because the firm’s job is your net recovery, not just the headline number. From offices in Torrance and Huntington Beach, the firm serves clients throughout Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, and Riverside County, in English and Spanish. Every case is handled on contingency – you pay nothing unless Feher Law wins for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Last reviewed by Thomas Feher, Esq. – September 2026
