Check for injuries, move the vehicles out of traffic if it is safe, exchange the information the Motor Vehicle Act requires, photograph everything before anything moves, and report it. The steps after a minor car accident take twenty minutes and they decide what the file looks like if the collision turns out not to have been minor. Most of what goes wrong in a small claim goes wrong in that first twenty minutes.
Check for Injuries Before You Look at the Bumpers
Ask everyone in both vehicles whether they are hurt. Call 911 if anyone is, if anyone is unconscious even briefly, or if a vehicle is on fire or leaking fuel.
Do not move a person who is complaining of neck or back pain unless there is an immediate danger. Do not let anyone talk themselves out of an ambulance because they feel fine and do not want the bill.
Move the Vehicles Only When Nobody Is Hurt and the Damage Is Light
Where there are no injuries and the vehicles are driveable, every province expects drivers to clear the travelled lanes. A collision left in a live lane on the highway causes the second, worse crash.
Photograph the positions first if you can do it in seconds. If you cannot, move the vehicles anyway. Safety beats evidence.
Turn the hazards on. Stay out of the roadway while you exchange information.
Exchange the Information the Motor Vehicle Act Requires
Take it from the documents, not from what the other driver tells you. Photograph the driver’s licence, the registration and the pink insurance card.
Record the full name and address, the licence number, the plate, the insurer and the policy number, and the make, model and colour of the vehicle. If the driver is not the owner, get the owner’s name too, because coverage follows the vehicle.
Get the same details from any passenger, and from anyone who stopped. A witness with no phone number is not a witness.
Call the Police When Anyone Is Injured, or a Driver Seems Impaired
Police attendance is mandatory in defined circumstances in every Atlantic province: injury, death, a hit and run, a suspected impaired or dangerous driver, and property damage over a threshold set by statute.
Roadside estimates of damage are consistently too low, so treat the threshold as easily crossed. If you are not sure, call the non emergency line and let the dispatcher decide.
Ask for the file number before the officer leaves. That number is what you quote when you request the report later.
Photograph the Scene From Far Away and Up Close
Take wide shots that show both vehicles, the lane markings, the signals and the sightlines. Then take close shots of every panel on both vehicles, including the ones that are not damaged.
Photograph the road surface, any debris, any skid marks, the weather and the light. Photograph the other vehicle’s plate with the vehicle in frame.
Video helps. Walk around the scene once with the camera running and narrate the time, the location and the direction each vehicle was travelling.
What to Do After a Minor Car Accident When You Feel Completely Fine
See a doctor or go to a walk in clinic within a day or two anyway.
Adrenaline masks pain for hours. Whiplash and concussion symptoms commonly start the next morning. An insurer that sees a first medical visit three weeks after the crash argues that whatever hurts now came from something else, and that argument succeeds more often than it should.
One visit on the day creates a dated record. If nothing develops, it cost you an afternoon. If something does, that record proves the whiplash claim.
Report the Collision to Your Own Insurer Promptly
Notice is a condition of your policy, not an admission of fault. Report even when you intend to pay for your own damage.
Your treatment is covered by Section B accident benefits under your own policy regardless of who caused the crash, and those benefits have short application deadlines. The insurer cannot start them until it knows.
Do Not Apologise Your Way Into a Fault Finding
Canadians apologise reflexively. An adjuster records it as an admission.
Say nothing about fault to the other driver, to any bystander, or on any social media post. Answer the officer’s questions accurately and briefly. Describe what you did and what you saw, not what you think you should have done.
Fault in New Brunswick is first assessed by an insurer under the fault determination rules, which look at the geometry of the collision and ignore anyone’s apology.
A Small Injury Is Still Worth Something, and the Cap Decides How Much
Atlantic provinces limit what can be recovered for pain and suffering on injuries that meet a statutory definition of minor. The definition, the amount and the way the cap is applied differ by province, and the minor injury cap guide sets out each one.
The cap applies only to the pain and suffering portion. Lost income, treatment costs and out of pocket expenses are recoverable on top of it, and they are recovered by keeping receipts.
You Have Two Years, and You Should Not Use Them
Every Atlantic province gives two years to start a court action for personal injury. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador count from the day the injury was known or ought to have been known; Prince Edward Island counts from the collision. That is the outside limit, not a plan.
Evidence disappears in weeks. If the injury has not resolved within a month or the insurer is disputing fault, get advice on a car accident claim before the trail is cold. There is more on the firm’s approach at what we can do.
FAQ
Do I Have to Call the Police for a Parking Lot Bump?
Not usually, unless someone is injured or the damage is significant. Exchange information and photograph everything either way, because private property collisions produce fault disputes.
The Other Driver Wants to Handle It Without Insurance. Can I Agree?
Only where nobody is hurt and you are paid before you sign anything. Reporting duties still apply.
How Long Do I Have to Report the Accident to My Insurer?
Promptly, and the standard policy says so. Days, not months.