I asked for help after my NJ crash. What happens now?
Your phone should ring within about a minute, often from a number you don't know. The team behind the questionnaire calls back right away to ask what happened, where, and what insurance you have. Pick up: 1 in 3 people who asked for help never picked up the call back.
Hurt in a New Jersey crash and not sure where to start? A 30-second questionnaire checks whether a lawyer's office may look at what happened to you, for free.
Start the New Jersey accident quiz
Advertisement. Opens the New Jersey questionnaire. Review its policies and contact consent before submitting your details. No legal advice or guarantee of acceptance or compensation.
How fast will someone call me back, and what if I miss it?
Keep your phone close: the team behind the questionnaire tries to call you back within a minute. Turn the sound on, and expect a number you have never seen.
If you miss it, don't worry: they try again, and most people they reach answer on the first or second try.1
Answer unknown numbers for a few days, even ones that look like spam. Don't let it ring out: 1 in 3 people who asked for help never picked up the call back.1
- Check the number you typed. If one digit is off, nobody can call you back, and that happened to about 1 in 10 people.
- Sent it late at night? Keep the phone on and loud the next morning too.
- Check your voicemail and texts, and call back the number that called you.
What will they ask me on the first call?
The call is short, and you only need to answer what you know. On that first call, expect these questions, usually in this order:
- Do you already have a lawyer for this crash?
- When did it happen, and where (town and state)?
- Were you the driver, a passenger or walking?
- Were you hurt, and did you get medical care?
- Who was at fault, and was it a one-car crash?
- Do you have car insurance? Do you have uninsured motorist coverage (UM, the part of your own policy that pays when the other driver has none)? Did the other driver have insurance?
- Did police come? Do you have a witness's name and number?
Then a lawyer reads your answers. Have three things ready, because the lawyer asks them first: what treatment you have had so far, whether anyone in your home has UM, and, if the driver fled, whether police caught the car.2
If your crash was outside New Jersey, this can happen to you too. About ten months after her Florida crash, she signed with a New Jersey lawyer, who then had to give her case back because the crash was in Florida.
What to know: the state where your crash happened decides which lawyer can help you.
What to do: say the state in the first minute, and if it was not New Jersey, ask for a lawyer licensed there. Hurt in another state? Here are your deadlines when you live in NJ.
What should I have in front of me when they call?
You don't need everything. These are the answers people most often could not give, so find yours before the phone rings.
| Have this | Where to find it | How many people had it ready |
|---|---|---|
| Your policy's coverage page (declarations page) | Your insurance company's app or website, or the renewal papers they mail you | 42% did not know if they had UM; 10% had no car insurance of their own |
| Crash report number and police department | The slip the officer gave you | 89% had police at the scene |
| A witness's name and phone number | Your phone or notes from the scene | Only 28% had one, so ask now while you remember |
| Where you got medical care, and when | ER papers, urgent care or doctor bills | 81% had seen someone |
| Photos of the cars and the spot | Your camera roll | Not asked on the call; useful later |
| Whether the other driver had insurance | The info you swapped, or the report | 36% were not sure, so check the report |
Not sure about one? Say "I don't know". A wrong guess about fault or insurance costs more than an honest blank.3
No report number yet? Our NJ crash report finder shows which police agency has it and how to ask for it.
Will they ask me to sign something on that call?
Often, yes. The person on the phone may offer to send the agreement by text or email, and many people sign it that same day.
You can sign fast, but read it first, and it is fine to wait a day. Know your rights in New Jersey: you get the agreement in writing, and you can choose to pay by the hour (or another reasonable fee) instead of a share.4
If you agree to pay the lawyer a share of what you get, New Jersey caps it at a third (33 1/3 percent) of the first $750,000, and less above that. Ask what the fee is taken from.4
She did everything fast: she filled in the form within weeks of the crash and signed the same day. When the lawyer's office called her back, the lawyer couldn't take the case because her car had no insurance.
What to know: in New Jersey, if you drive a car you had to insure and didn't, you lose the right to sue for your injury, even when the other driver caused it.5
What to do: answer the insurance questions straight, and insure the car before you drive it again.
Why would a lawyer give my case back after I signed?
Usually because of something you could have said on the first call: the crash was in another state, or you already had a lawyer for it. Say both in the first minute.2
A lawyer may also stop working for you if you stop answering. So keep picking up after you sign, too: the office will need to reach you again.
Already have a lawyer and unhappy? Say so at the start. Our page on a lawyer who won't take the case or call back covers switching.
Questions people ask
What should I not say to an injury lawyer on the first call?
Don't guess. If you are not sure who was at fault or what your policy covers, say so: about 1 in 3 people who call (32 percent) are not sure about fault either. Don't leave out an earlier crash, an earlier lawyer or a crash in another state.
Is the person who calls me a lawyer?
Usually not. The person who calls takes notes for the office (the intake team). A lawyer reads your file afterwards and decides whether to take it.
What if nobody calls me back?
Check the number you typed, then your voicemail and texts. If the number was wrong, fill in the questionnaire again with the right one.
How long does it take a lawyer to settle a car accident in NJ?
It depends mostly on how long your treatment lasts. Our page on how long a NJ car accident settlement takes shows real timelines. The usual limit to sue is two years from the crash.6
Waited a while? Here is what happened to NJ crash victims who waited, and the first steps to take now on our New Jersey car accident help page.
Ready to ask for help? Answer a few short questions, about 30 seconds, then keep your phone close: the call back comes fast.
Start the New Jersey accident quiz
Advertisement. Opens the New Jersey questionnaire. Review its policies and contact consent before submitting your details. No legal advice or guarantee of acceptance or compensation.
Sources
- Injuries Cases Autos analysis of 5,252 New Jersey car-accident requests for help, May 2023 to November 2026 (2,715 reached).
- Injuries Cases Autos analysis of 138 signed cases a lawyer's office gave back, 2023 to 2026 (76 car crashes), including the lawyer's forwarding notes.
- Injuries Cases Autos analysis of 584 New Jersey intake conversations, 2023 to 2026.
- New Jersey Court Rule 1:21-7(b), (c) and (g) (official Rule 1:21 text, archived May 2022).
- N.J.S.A. 39:6A-4.5(a) (Justia, 2025 edition, read 2026-11-12).
- N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2 (Justia, 2025 edition).
How we counted
- Call backs: 5,252 people in New Jersey who asked one law office for help after a car accident, May 2023 to November 2026. "Reached" means the team spoke to the person. Pick-up shares are among the 2,715 reached.
- Questions and answers: 584 New Jersey intake conversations, 2023 to 2026. Each share is among the people asked that question.
- The three questions the lawyer asks first come from his own notes: "What type of treatment to date?", "Is there any household UM?" and "Did they catch the car?"
- Cases given back: 138 people who signed with the office and later had their case given back, 2023 to 2026. These are cases that went wrong, so they show what to avoid, not what usually happens.
- Stories are shared with initials, county and year only. This page is general information, not legal advice.