Most of the protection happens before the crash, when you choose your uninsured motorist coverage, and in the first hour afterward, when you decide what to say and who to say it to. Everything after that is damage control.
Georgia’s minimum liability limits are $25,000 per person, which one ambulance ride and an ER visit can quickly exhaust, and that’s what the other driver is legally required to carry. A Columbus car accident lawyer sees the consequences of that gap often.
What can you do before a crash ever happens?
Buy uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and pay attention to which kind you’re buying.
Georgia requires UM coverage to be part of your policy unless you reject it in writing, so check whether you signed that rejection. The part most drivers don’t know is that Georgia offers two versions:
- Added-on UM sits on top of the at-fault driver’s coverage. If they carry $25,000 and you have $50,000 added-on, you can reach up to $75,000.
- Reduced-by UM fills the gap instead of stacking. Same numbers, and you’d reach $50,000 total, because their $25,000 counts against yours.
Added-on costs more, and it’s worth asking your agent about by name. The difference shows up exactly when you need it most.
What should you do in the first minutes after a car crash?
Check yourself and your passengers, then call 911. Georgia law requires immediate notice, by the quickest means of communication, of any crash causing injury, death, or apparent property damage of $500 or more, which is a threshold two bumpers can clear.
Calling also gets an officer out to write a police report, which becomes the neutral account of the crash. While you wait, take photos and videos of the vehicles and the whole accident scene, exchange information with the other driver, and get contact details from anyone who saw it.
Then be careful what you say. Don’t apologize, don’t speculate about what you might have done differently, and don’t say “I didn’t see them.” You don’t know yet what happened, and neither does anyone else standing there.
Should you see a doctor if you feel fine?
Yes. Seek medical attention the same day. Adrenaline masks pain for hours, and the absence of visible injuries means very little. Concussions, soft tissue damage, and internal injuries all announce themselves late.
There’s a claim reason too. Your medical treatment records from the days right after the crash are what tie your injuries to the collision, and they’re the backbone of any car accident claim that follows. A gap between the accident and your first visit is the first thing an insurer points to when it argues something else caused your pain.
What should you never say to an insurance adjuster?
Start by knowing which adjuster you’re talking to. Your own policy requires you to cooperate with your insurer, so report the crash promptly and factually. You owe the other driver’s insurance company nothing, including the recorded statement they’ll ask for early.
With either one, skip “I’m fine” and “I’m not really hurt.” You don’t know yet, and those sentences get quoted back months later.
The reason to be careful is Georgia’s comparative fault rule: a person found 50 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and any share below that reduces the award proportionally. Every casual remark that sounds like an admission gets aimed at that line.
How do you protect your claim in the weeks that follow?
Stay off social media, or at least off the parts of it that show you doing things. A photo of you at a cookout doesn’t have to prove anything to be useful to an adjuster arguing your back is fine.
The statute of limitations gives you two years from the crash to file suit in Georgia for medical bills, lost wages, property damage, and pain and suffering. Waiting costs you evidence long before it costs you the deadline. Witnesses move, dashcam footage overwrites, and the scene gets repaved.
Talk to Fox Injury Law
Melody Fox is listed in Best Lawyers in Georgia: Ones to Watch for 2025, and the firm handles claims in English and Spanish from offices in Columbus, Atlanta, and Tucker. Call us at (404) 777-7778 or contact us online for a free consultation.
