What photos should I take after a car accident?

Take wide shots showing both vehicles in position and the road layout, close-ups of every area of damage on both vehicles, all registration plates, the road surface including skid marks and debris, any relevant signs, markings or traffic lights, and the weather and light conditions. Take the wide shots first, before any vehicle is moved, because vehicle positions cannot be recreated afterwards.

Should I move my car before taking photos?

Only if staying put is dangerous or the vehicles are obstructing traffic. Safety comes first. If you must move immediately, try to take at least one wide photograph showing both vehicles in position first, even from inside the car, because the resting positions are the single most useful piece of evidence and are lost permanently once the vehicles move.

How do I give my exact location after an accident?

A what3words address identifies a three-metre square and, according to what3words, is accepted by the large majority of UK police, ambulance and fire services. Give it alongside conventional information such as the road name, direction of travel, nearest junction and any landmarks, rather than instead of it, since not every call handler will be able to accept a three word address.

How long do I have to save dashcam footage?

Most dashcams record in a loop and overwrite the oldest footage once the memory card is full, which on a busy card can mean hours rather than days. Save or lock the relevant clip as soon as it is safe to do so, and copy it off the card to a phone or computer. Dashcam footage is among the most frequently lost pieces of accident evidence.

Why should I record a voice note after an accident?

Because memory fades and insurers often take a detailed statement days or weeks later. A voice note recorded at the scene captures the sequence of events, your speed and direction, and what you saw while it is still accurate. It is quicker than writing under stress and preserves detail you would otherwise lose.

Are photos taken on a phone acceptable as evidence?

Yes. Phone photographs are used routinely in insurance claims and in court. Keep the originals rather than only edited or cropped copies, and avoid re-saving them through messaging apps where possible, since that can strip the embedded date, time and location data that helps establish when and where a photograph was taken.

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How to Document Car Accident Evidence: Photos, Voice Notes & Location

Photograph the vehicles where they stopped before anything is moved, then work outwards to the damage, the plates and the road. Record a voice note describing what happened while it is still fresh. Pin your exact location. Save your dashcam clip before it loops. Almost every dispute months later turns on evidence that took two minutes to capture, or was never captured at all.

Last updated 4 August 2026 · Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Why the first ten minutes decide everything

Liability is usually argued long after the event, from whatever evidence exists. Two things degrade immediately, and neither can be recovered:

The scene itself. Once the vehicles move, their resting positions are gone. Debris is swept away, skid marks fade, and the traffic returns to normal.
Your memory. Recall of a sudden, stressful event degrades quickly and, worse, reshapes itself. An account given three weeks later is genuinely less reliable than one given at the roadside — even when you are being entirely honest.

Everything below is ordered by how quickly it disappears. Safety first, always: if the scene is dangerous, get clear of it before photographing anything.

Photographs: what to take, in order

Wide shots, before anything moves

Stand back far enough to show both vehicles in their final positions and the road around them — lane markings, junction, kerbs. Take these from two or three angles. This is the only irreplaceable photograph, so if you take nothing else, take this.
Registration plates

Every vehicle involved, clearly legible. This ties every other photograph to a specific vehicle and lets a DVLA check confirm the make, model, MOT and tax status.
Damage, close up and in context

Photograph each damaged area twice: once close enough to show the detail, once far enough back to show where on the vehicle it sits. Do this for both vehicles — photographing the other car's existing damage protects you against a repair bill that grows later.
The road surface

Skid marks, broken glass, fluid, debris fields and their position relative to the vehicles. These indicate speed and point of impact, and street cleaning removes them within days.
Signs, markings and signals

Give way lines, stop signs, speed limits, traffic light phasing, obscured or missing signs, overgrown hedges blocking sightlines. If a road defect such as a pothole contributed, photograph it with something for scale.
Conditions and viewpoint

Weather, light level, low sun, standing water. A photograph taken from the driver's seat showing what you could actually see is often more persuasive than any description.

Keep the originals. Phone photographs carry embedded date, time and often location data. Sending them through messaging apps frequently strips that and compresses the image. Share copies if you need to, but keep the originals untouched.

Your account: record it, don't rely on remembering

Write it down or, better, record a voice note — it is far quicker than typing with shaking hands, and it captures detail you would otherwise skip. Cover:

Date, time and where you were going
The road, direction of travel and which lane
Your speed, and the speed limit
What you first saw, and when
What you did — braking, steering, horn
The point of impact on each vehicle
What was said afterwards, as closely as you can recall
Anything unusual: a phone in the other driver's hand, an obscured sign, a vehicle pulling out

Stick to what you saw and did. Resist the urge to explain who was at fault — that is decided later on the evidence, and most UK motor policies contain a condition against admitting liability in any case.

Location: be precise

"The A34 near Newbury" is not a location. Record the road number and name, the direction you were travelling, the nearest junction or house number, and any landmark.

A what3words address identifies a three-metre square with three words, and according to what3words is accepted by the large majority of UK police, ambulance and fire services in their control rooms.

Give it alongside conventional details, not instead of them. what3words' own guidance is to gather as much location information as you can, in case a three word address cannot be accepted on that particular call. In an emergency, lead with the road and direction, then offer the three words.

Dashcam footage: save it now

Most dashcams record on a loop and overwrite the oldest footage when the card fills. Depending on card size and video quality, that can be a matter of hours. It is the most commonly lost piece of accident evidence, and it is lost through delay rather than accident.

As soon as it is safe, press the lock or protect button if your camera has one
If not, stop the camera recording so the loop cannot reach the clip
Copy the file off the card onto your phone or a computer the same day
Keep the footage either side of the impact — the approach often matters more than the collision
Ask other drivers who stopped whether they have footage, and get their contact details

Nearby shops, homes and buses may also have cameras. CCTV is routinely overwritten within days, so ask immediately and in writing if you can.

Witnesses

A name and a mobile number is enough — do not try to take a statement. Independent witnesses carry disproportionate weight precisely because they have nothing at stake, and they disperse within minutes of the vehicles stopping.

Note where each witness was standing or driving, because what they could actually see determines how useful they are. Passengers in your own car are worth noting too, though an insurer will weigh them differently.

Mistakes that cost people claims

Moving the vehicles before any wide shot. Understandable, and irreversible.
Photographing only your own damage. You need theirs to stop the bill growing.
Close-ups with no context. A dented wing could be from anywhere.
Letting the dashcam keep running. The loop erases the evidence.
Not getting witness numbers. "Someone saw it" is worth nothing.
Waiting to write it down. The account you give in three weeks is not the one you would have given today.
Not telling your insurer because you are not claiming. GOV.UK says you must report the accident to your insurer regardless.

Read as a list, every one of those looks avoidable. They happen anyway, and they happen to careful people, because the moment you most need a methodical approach is the moment you are least capable of one. You have just been in a collision. The checklist you need is one you have never used before, and you are reading it for the first time in the rain.

Why we built this

This is precisely what Car Crash Lawyer AI is for. It prompts you through the photographs in the order above, records and transcribes your account so you are not relying on memory weeks later, captures your what3words location, and stores your dashcam footage before the loop reaches it. What gets recorded stops depending on how composed you are. See how it works.

In the days afterwards

See a GP or attend A&E if you have any symptoms — some injuries surface a day or two later, and a contemporaneous medical record matters.
Keep every receipt: recovery, storage, hire car, taxis, prescriptions.
Photograph bruising as it develops; it often looks worse on day three than on day one.
Date anything you remember later and keep it with the rest.

The evidence you don't take is the evidence you can't get back

Everything on this page has a shelf life. The vehicle positions last until the cars move. The debris lasts until the road is swept. The dashcam clip lasts until the loop comes round. Your memory of the sequence starts fading immediately. None of it can be recreated later, and all of it is what a liability decision eventually turns on.

Car Crash Lawyer AI prompts you through each photograph in the order above, records and transcribes your spoken account while it is accurate, captures your what3words location, runs a DVLA check on the other vehicle, and holds your dashcam footage safely off the card. It then assembles an 18-page incident report and emails it to you, usually within a couple of minutes.

£11.99 for a year. The catch is that it only helps if it is already on your phone and set up — which is a decision you can only make today, not at the scene.

Get the app — £11.99 a year

How to Document Car Accident Evidence: Photos, Voice Notes & Location

Why the first ten minutes decide everything

Photographs: what to take, in order

Wide shots, before anything moves

Registration plates

Damage, close up and in context

The road surface

Signs, markings and signals

Conditions and viewpoint

Your account: record it, don't rely on remembering

Location: be precise

Dashcam footage: save it now

Witnesses

Mistakes that cost people claims

In the days afterwards

The evidence you don't take is the evidence you can't get back

Sources

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