I was hurt in a car accident in San Antonio. What happens now?

Fault is shared, and that is the whole fight

Texas uses proportionate responsibility. A jury assigns each party a percentage, your damages are reduced by your share, and if you are found more than 50% responsible you recover nothing at all.

That rule is why an adjuster’s early questions are rarely idle. Were you on your phone, were you speeding, did you brake late. A few percentage points moved onto you is worth real money to them, and above fifty-one it is worth everything.

It also means the case is built from evidence rather than from your account of it: the crash report, scene photographs, intersection and business cameras, and where a vehicle is late enough model, its own event data recorder.

The other driver’s policy is often too small

Texas requires only $30,000 per injured person. An ambulance ride, a night in the hospital and an MRI can pass that before any surgery is discussed.

So the first question in a serious case is not who was at fault but how many policies exist. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is usually the answer, and it sits on your policy unless you declined it in writing. Personal injury protection works the same way and pays regardless of fault.

Using your own coverage is not a claim against yourself and does not work like a fault claim on your record. People routinely leave it unused because nobody told them it was there.

Treatment gaps are what an adjuster looks for first

The most common way a genuine claim loses value is a gap in treatment. If you wait three weeks to see anyone, or miss a run of appointments, that becomes the argument that you were not really hurt or that something else caused it.

Texas also limits what medical expenses you can recover to amounts actually paid or incurred, rather than the full billed charge, so how your care is billed and who pays for it changes what the claim is worth.

Get seen early, follow the plan, and tell every provider it was a collision.

What the claim is actually worth

Medical care and lost earnings are the arithmetic. The larger part is usually the human one: pain, physical impairment, disfigurement, and the things you can no longer do.

None of that can be valued honestly until your doctors can say where your recovery has landed. That is why an early offer is nearly always low — not because the adjuster is being difficult, but because settling before maximum medical improvement means guessing, and the guess is theirs.

What to do now

Get the crash report number and see a doctor, even if you feel able to walk away. Soft tissue and head injuries commonly present a day or two later.

Photograph both vehicles, the scene and your injuries as they develop, and get names for anyone who stopped.

Tell your own insurer the crash happened. That is a separate obligation and it is what opens your UM/UIM and PIP coverage.

Do not give the other insurer a recorded statement, and do not accept a quick check before you know what your treatment involves. Signing a release ends the claim permanently.

Common questions