What should I do after a car accident in Ontario?
Quick answer
Check for injuries and move drivable cars out of traffic. Call 911 if anyone is hurt; otherwise report to a Collision Reporting Centre within 24 hours when combined damage looks to exceed $5,000. Exchange licence, insurance, and plate details, photograph everything, and notify your insurance company promptly. Then pick your repair shop — in Ontario that choice is yours.
- Drivable or not
- At fault or not
- Free written estimates
At the scene
Work down this list — it protects your safety first and your claim second:
- Check everyone for injuries; call 911 if anyone is hurt
- Move drivable cars out of the live lane; hazards on
- Exchange driver’s licence, registration, insurance, and plate numbers
- Photograph both vehicles, the scene, debris, and any visible injuries
- Get witness names and numbers; note time, location, and weather
- Don’t argue fault at the scene — say little, document a lot
The first 48 hours
Ontario requires a police report when anyone is injured or the combined damage looks likely to exceed $5,000 — which a single modern bumper can reach. If police don’t attend the scene, take the vehicle to a Collision Reporting Centre within 24 hours; the report gets filed there. Then notify your insurance company promptly — the standard Ontario policy expects notice within 7 days.
For the vehicle damage itself, Ontario works on direct compensation: when you’re not at fault, your own insurance company pays under DCPD, with fault split between drivers under the province’s Fault Determination Rules. You are not chasing a stranger’s insurance company for your own car — your file stays with yours.
Getting the car repaired
The shop is your choice — in Ontario your insurance company can recommend one but cannot require it. Call Collision Auto Center at (647) 594-3401: if the car isn’t drivable we help arrange the tow (and in Ontario you choose where it’s towed), we can open the claim with you in one phone call, and the adjuster meets the car at our shop in North York. From there you get a written estimate, a timeline, and one person guiding your file start to finish.
