Stop — always, by law (Section 106 RTA 1961; hit-and-run carries up to a €5,000 fine and/or 6 months). Check for injuries and call 999 / 112 if anyone's hurt. Call the Gardaí if anyone is injured, the road is blocked, drink-driving is suspected, vehicles can't be moved, property is damaged or you disagree about what happened. Exchange names, addresses, phone numbers, insurer + policy numbers, and reg/make/model with every party and witness. Take photos of everything. Never admit fault. Notify your insurer within 24–48 hours. If anyone was injured, personal injury claims go through the Injuries Resolution Board (IRB), the rebranded PIAB, before any court. If the other driver was uninsured, claim through MIBI.
At the scene — 9 steps in order
- Stop — immediately. Failing to stop is a criminal offence under Section 106 of the Road Traffic Act 1961, even if damage looks minor. Pull over safely as close to the scene as possible
- Hazard lights on, engine off. Put on the handbrake. If it's dark or visibility is poor, turn on your sidelights too
- Check for injuries — yourself first, then passengers, then the other vehicle's occupants. Call 999 / 112 for an ambulance and Gardaí if anyone is hurt, even slightly — whiplash and concussion can hide for hours
- Decide whether to move the vehicles. If there are no injuries and the cars can be driven, move them to the hard shoulder or off the live lane. If a vehicle cannot be safely moved — or an injury is suspected — leave it exactly where it stopped, stay inside with your seatbelt on, and put on a hi-vis vest
- Call the Gardaí if any of the triggers below apply (see next section). Note the incident number — you'll need it
- Exchange details with every other driver and any witnesses — full names, addresses, phone numbers, insurer, policy number, vehicle reg, make, model (detailed list below)
- Take photos — damage, vehicle positions, road layout, signs, skid marks, weather, time on your phone. More is always better
- Do not admit fault, do not sign anything, and do not discuss causes beyond stating the facts. If pressed, say: "I need to speak to my insurer before discussing this."
- Note the time, date, exact location, weather and road conditions — put it in your phone Notes app while it's fresh. This note is your claim memory
Under Section 106 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 (as amended), a driver involved in a collision must: stop the vehicle and keep it at the scene for a reasonable period, give name, address and vehicle details on request to a Garda or anyone with a legitimate interest (injured party, property owner), and — if no Garda is at the scene — report the collision to a Garda as soon as possible. Failing to stop or failing to report is a criminal offence prosecutable on summary conviction with a Class A fine (up to €5,000) and/or up to 6 months' imprisonment, with consequential disqualification.
When to call the Gardaí
Call the Gardaí on 999 or 112(non-emergency: your local station) if any of the following apply. Err on the side of calling — a Garda incident record protects you later:
- Anyone is injured, even slightly. Always. Whiplash and concussion can hide for 24–48 hours
- The road is blocked or a live lane is obstructed
- You suspect drink-driving or drug-driving — the Gardaí can arrange an immediate breath/saliva test
- A driver leaves the scene without exchanging details (hit and run)
- Property is damaged — walls, gates, bollards, shop fronts
- There's any dispute about what happened or whose fault it was
- The other driver is uninsured, or refuses to give details
- Vehicles can't be moved and are creating a hazard
If the Gardaí attend, the collision is logged on the PULSE system and you (or your insurer) can apply later for a Garda Abstract Report — the short factual summary insurers use to assess the claim. The abstract costs around €40 and takes a few weeks to issue. Apply via the Garda Síochána online services.
Section 106 still requires you to report to a Garda as soon as possible. In practice this means calling into your local Garda station within 24 hours to make a statement, especially if anyone was injured. The 24-hour figure is insurer and industry norm, not statutory wording — but it's the safe benchmark.
Exchanging details — the full list
Get all of the following from every other driver, every passenger with injuries, and every witness who saw what happened:
| From drivers | From witnesses |
|---|---|
| Full name | Full name |
| Home address | Phone number |
| Mobile number | Where they were standing / driving |
| Insurance company | What they saw, in their own words |
| Policy number (on the disc or app) | Whether they'd give a statement to Gardaí |
| Vehicle registration | |
| Make, model, colour | |
| Name & address of the vehicle owner (if different) |
Photograph their insurance disc and driving licence rather than writing by hand — faster and mistake-free. If they refuse to give details, that itself triggers a Garda call under Section 106.
What to photograph — the checklist
Phone cameras make this easy. Take 20+ photos — storage is free, retakes are not. You want:
- All four sides of every vehicle involved — damage and undamaged areas
- Close-ups of the points of impact on both cars
- Number plates of all vehicles — clearly legible
- The insurance disc on each windscreen (shows insurer, policy number, cover dates)
- Wider shots of the scene showing final vehicle positions before anything is moved
- Skid marks, debris, road signs, traffic lights and any lane markings
- Weather — rain, sun glare, ice — take one photo of the sky and one down the road
- Any visible injuries (with consent) and damaged items inside vehicles
- Time and date — your phone embeds this in metadata, but also photograph a watch / dashboard clock as backup
Save these immediately to cloud (iCloud, Google Photos) so they can't be lost if your phone is damaged. Do not post accident photos on social media — it can breach GDPR if people are identifiable, and insurers look dimly on claimants who pre-publicise. See our dash-cam laws guidefor the full evidence rules.
In the 48 hours after
- Call your insurer within 24–48 hours, even if you don't intend to claim. Most policies require notification "as soon as reasonably practicable" and late notification can be a breach of policy terms. You do not have to commit to claiming at this call
- Get a claim reference number and write it down. Ask what happens next, what documents they need, and what your excess is
- If anyone was injured, visit your GP or an Emergency Department — document injuries medically, even seemingly mild whiplash. You'll need this for any IRB personal injury claim
- Report to a Garda station if no Gardaí attended the scene and anyone was injured — required by Section 106
- Apply for a Garda Abstract (if Gardaí attended) — your insurer will usually do this for you, but confirm
- Back up all photos, notes and the other driver's details — email to yourself, paste into a Google Doc, print a copy
- Don't discuss the accident publicly — don't post on Facebook, don't WhatsApp group chats. Insurers and solicitors search social media during contested claims
The insurance claim process, step by step
Once you've notified your insurer, a standard Irish claim follows this flow:
| Step | Typical timing | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Notification | Within 24–48 h | You call your insurer, get a claim number |
| 2. Assessor instructed | 1–3 working days | Insurer appoints a motor assessor |
| 3. Assessor inspects | 3–14 working days | Car examined at approved garage or your home |
| 4. Repair authorisation or total-loss decision | 1–7 days after inspection | Insurer issues repair authority or total-loss settlement offer |
| 5. Repairs | 1–6 weeks | Approved garage rebuilds the car |
| 6. Courtesy car | During repair (if covered) | Usually from the point of authorised repair, not the collision date — check your policy |
| 7. Recovery from third party | 3–12 months | If the other driver was at fault, your insurer recovers costs from theirs. You get your excess back only once this completes |
Excess: typical 2026 Irish comprehensive excess is €250–€500 standard, €600–€1,500 for young/inexperienced drivers. Your excess is deducted from the payout or waived if the other driver was fully at fault and your insurer recovers from theirs.
Fault vs non-fault: even in a non-fault claim, most insurers categorise your claim as a "claim" at renewal — because the money has gone out and back in, your No Claims Bonus can still be affected. Always ask explicitly at renewal.
What if the car is written off?
Ireland doesn't operate the UK's statutory Cat A/B/S/N write-off system — there's no equivalent legal category on the logbook. Instead, Irish insurers make their own total-loss decision: if the cost to repair exceeds a percentage of market value (commonly 60–70%), the car is declared a total loss. You get market value paid out minus your excess.
- Pre-accident market value is typically based on DoneDeal / Carzone trade guides. If you disagree, you can present comparable listings
- You can keep the salvage — but then get a lower payout (market value minus salvage value). The insurer notifies Revenue and the NVDF, and any future buyer should see an "accident history" flag via history checks
- UK imports with prior Cat A/B/S/N markers retain those markers on Motorcheck / Cartell. If you imported a car with a UK category, it's visible to Irish buyers
- If the car was on finance (PCP, HP), the insurer pays the finance company first; any surplus goes to you. A shortfall (negative equity) is your liability unless you had GAP insurance
- Cancel motor tax, insurance and preserve NCB after a write-off — see our scrap car Ireland guide for the paperwork (ATF, Certificate of Destruction)
If anyone was injured — the IRB process
Personal injury claims in Ireland must go through the Injuries Resolution Board (IRB) — the rebranded PIAB under the Personal Injuries Resolution Board Act 2022 — as a mandatory pre-litigation step. You cannot go straight to court.
- Submit an IRB application online at piab.ie — €45 fee for the claimant
- Include the CT1 medical form completed by your GP or treating doctor (this is an IRB medical form — not a Garda document)
- IRB notifies the respondent (the other driver's insurer) who has 90 days to consent to assessment
- Medical assessment is arranged; the IRB produces a provisional award based on the Judicial Council's Personal Injuries Guidelines
- Both parties accept or reject. If both accept, the award becomes a binding Order to Pay. If either rejects, the claimant receives an Authorisation to bring court proceedings
- Mediation — the 2022 Act introduced a mediation option, which can resolve claims faster than assessment
Typical IRB timeline is around 9 months; mediation and complex medicals can extend it. Legal representation is not required for IRB but most claimants use a solicitor — fees come out of the award on a pre-agreed basis.
If the other driver was uninsured or untraced
If the driver who hit you was uninsured, or drove off and was never identified, you claim through the Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) — mibi.ie. MIBI operates under a standing agreement with the State and is funded by a levy on all Irish motor insurance policies.
- Personal injury: no financial cap. Passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers can all claim
- Uninsured-driver property damage: typically €500 excess applies
- Untraced-driver property damage: more restrictive — usually only payable where a significant personal injury also occurred
- You must report to the Gardaí — MIBI will not process a claim without a Garda incident reference
- Claim within 3 years of the accident for adults; 2 years for children (from their 18th birthday)
- MIBI goes through IRB for the personal injury element, just like any other insurer claim
If your comprehensive policy pays you first and then recovers from MIBI, that's often faster — ask. Some insurers run a dedicated uninsured-driver promise that covers your repairs and courtesy car upfront while MIBI is pursued in the background.
Impact on your No Claims Bonus and next premium
A single fault claim has two effects:
- Step-back on NCB: typically 2 years unless you bought NCB Protection (€30–€80/year). Without protection, some insurers step you back to zero on a fault claim — check your policy wording. See our No Claims Bonus Ireland guide for the full ladder and protection rules
- Premium increase at renewal: highly insurer-specific but commonly 20–50%+ for a first fault claim; larger increases or declined-renewal are possible for multiple claims or drink-driving
Should you claim for minor damage? If repair is €500–€1,200 and your excess is €300–€500, the remaining €200–€700 may be less than the increase in premium over the next 3 renewals. Get two repair quotes, get a written renewal estimate from your insurer (with and without the claim), and do the maths. For anything involving injuries, always claim — the IRB award covers losses that are very hard to fund out of pocket.
Using dash-cam footage
A working dash cam is the single most useful piece of evidence in a contested Irish accident claim. Best practice:
- Save the clip immediately — most cameras loop-overwrite within 2–7 days. Park up, open the SD card, copy the file to your phone and to cloud
- Export in original format — don't re-encode or trim. Insurers and courts prefer the untouched file with timestamp metadata intact
- Share with your insurer, not with the world — publishing on social media before the claim is resolved is a GDPR risk (identifiable people) and insurers dislike it
- Check for an insurance discount — AXA Ireland offers around 10% off comprehensive premiums for drivers with a verified dash cam. Other insurers are starting to match
- Know the admissibility — dash-cam footage is accepted in Irish courts as "real evidence" under general evidence principles
See our dedicated dash-cam laws in Ireland guide for the full DPC GDPR rules, household exemption, retention limits and taxi/fleet obligations.
Emotional and practical support
A collision — even one with no physical injuries — can leave drivers shaken for weeks. Anxiety, sleep disruption, driving-avoidance and flashback-like intrusive thoughts are common. This is normal and treatable:
- Talk to your GP. They can refer you for trauma-focused CBT on the HSE for persistent symptoms
- PARC Road Safety Group (parcroadsafety.ie) — peer support and advocacy, especially for bereaved and seriously injured families
- Irish Road Victims' Association (IRVA) (irva.ie) — support, guidance and representation
- Samaritans — 116 123, free, 24/7, if you're struggling immediately
- Your employer's EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) — most Irish employers offer free counselling sessions
If you have children who were in the car, watch for changes in behaviour (nightmares, clinginess, fear of cars) in the two weeks after — most resolve quickly, but persistent issues respond well to a short course of play-based therapy. Your GP can refer.
Log every post-accident repair on odo.ie
When the repairs are signed off, add them to your car's service history on odo.ie — garage, date, cost, what was done. A complete repair history protects your car's resale value, gives you documentary proof if the same issue recurs, and keeps your NCT prep tidy. odo.ie Solo is free forever for your car, takes 30 seconds to log; Family (€4/mo) covers up to 3.