What happens after a collision, in order.
We coordinate what comes next. Everything below runs on its own clock, and most people learn the clocks exist by missing one. This is the schedule the aftermath actually follows, and the reason the attorney question comes first even though it feels like the one that can wait.
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T+0
The scene
The vehicle, the report, the other driver
If it cannot be driven, it gets towed, and the storage meter starts the day it lands in a lot. The police report gets filed now or becomes hard to get later. The other driver's insurance information exists right now in a way it will not next week. If you ask us for a tow, this is the one we treat as urgent.
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T+24h
Treatment
The gap starts counting
The distance between the crash and your first medical visit is measured, and it comes up later, because an insurer reads a late first visit as a light injury. Get seen because you are hurt, not for a claim. We route to medical providers only if you explicitly ask us to.
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T+72h
The claim
Rental clock, repair estimate, adjuster calls
Your rental coverage has a dollar cap and a day cap, both already written into your policy. The repair estimate decides whether the vehicle is worth fixing. The adjuster's first number arrives fast, and fast numbers favor the person who sent them.
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Week 1-2
Decisions
Repair it, total it, or replace it
If the vehicle is declared a total loss, the valuation fight and the replacement search start here. This is the stretch where having asked for everything in one place pays for itself, because the repair, rental, and replacement decisions depend on each other.
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By year 2
The statute
The filing deadline, set by your state
Every state limits how long you have to file an injury claim. Two years from the date of the crash is common, and some states allow less. After it passes, the claim is gone no matter what it was worth. This is why the attorney conversation belongs at the top of this page and not the bottom, and it costs nothing to have it.
Six questions people ask before they fill anything in.
01What we are
Collision Bureau connects people involved in collisions with the providers they need afterwards. An attorney licensed in your state, towing, vehicle repair, a rental, medical care, or replacing the vehicle. We are not a law firm, a medical provider, or an insurer, and we cannot advise you. Only a licensed professional can do that.
02What we do not do
We do not rank, rate, recommend, or pick the best provider for you. We match what you asked for against the providers in your state who do that work and meet our published eligibility requirements. You decide who to use, and you are never obligated to use anyone.
03What happens to your information
It goes to providers in the categories you picked, and only those. Ask for a tow and a rental and it goes to towing and rental providers. It does not go to attorneys or medical providers. The box you check names the categories before you submit, and it rewrites itself as your answers change. If you tell us you are not sure what you need, nothing routes anywhere until we confirm the categories with you on the call.
04What it costs you
Nothing. Providers pay us a flat fee for the connection. That fee never depends on whether you hire anyone, and it never depends on what your claim is worth or what any provider earns. Nothing is taken out of a settlement to pay us.
05Why the legal question comes first
It is the only one with a deadline set by law, and the timeline above ends at it. Gaps between the crash and your first medical visit can weaken a claim long before the limit runs out. Everything else after a collision can be fixed late. That one cannot.
06If you already have a lawyer
Tell us on the form and we stop the legal side there. Nobody contacts you about representation. The rest of your request stays live, because having a lawyer does not get your car out of the impound lot.