Miami Car Accident Lawyers Helping Miami-Dade Drivers Through the First Days After a Collision
What Happens After a Miami-Dade Crash
The hours right after a Miami-Dade collision decide more about a claim than most drivers realize. A police officer writes a crash report from what two shaken people tell him on the shoulder of the Palmetto. An insurance adjuster calls the next morning, friendly and quick, before anyone has seen an X-ray. A clinic asks who is paying for the visit. Each of those small moments becomes evidence later.
The Law Offices of Suarez & Montero handle car and auto collision claims across the City of Miami and the rest of Miami-Dade County. We have spent over 24 years representing injured people in South Florida, and millions have been recovered for clients in that time. This page sets out what actually happens in the first 72 hours after a crash here: the report and what it gets wrong, the PIP claim and the deadline attached to it, the recorded statement request, and the way fault gets sorted out when two drivers describe different events.
Reading it costs nothing, and neither does calling. Consultations are free, the phones are answered around the clock, and there is no fee unless we win.
Start with the report. A Florida Traffic Crash Report is written by the responding officer from City of Miami Police, Miami-Dade Police or the Florida Highway Patrol. It records vehicle positions, direction of travel, any citation issued and the officer’s short narrative. Insurers read it before they read anything you send them. If it puts your car in the wrong lane, leaves out a witness who stopped to help, or repeats a statement you do not remember giving, that error follows the claim for months. Request it through the state crash portal a few days later and read it line by line. Corrections are possible, but only if somebody asks.
Treatment is the second thing that matters in those early days. Florida runs a no-fault system, so your own Personal Injury Protection coverage pays the first medical bills and part of lost wages regardless of who caused the crash. The catch is a hard 14-day deadline. See a doctor, a hospital, a clinic or a chiropractor within fourteen days of the collision or PIP benefits can be denied outright. Adrenaline masks neck and back injuries for a day or two, and waiting two weeks to see whether the stiffness fades is the most expensive decision a Miami driver can make.
Then the phone rings. The other driver’s insurer wants a recorded statement, often within 24 to 48 hours. The questions sound routine. How fast were you going. Where exactly were you looking. Are you feeling better today. Answers given before anyone knows the extent of an injury get quoted back at settlement time. Your own policy obliges you to cooperate with your own carrier. Nothing obliges you to sit for an interview with the other side.
Most disputes here come down to two drivers who honestly remember different crashes, and independent proof is what breaks the tie. Traffic cameras on Brickell Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard, transit footage, a corner store’s exterior camera, event data from newer vehicles and the damage pattern on each bumper settle arguments that testimony cannot. Nearly all of it is overwritten within weeks, which is why a preservation letter sent early beats a well-argued one sent late.
Fault is not all-or-nothing in this state. Under modified comparative negligence your recovery drops by whatever share of blame is assigned to you, and above 50 percent you recover nothing at all. Expect the opposing carrier to push a slice in your direction for that reason. Deadlines are equally strict: negligence claims accruing on or after 24 March 2023 must be filed within two years, where older claims ran four.
PIP is a floor, not a ceiling. Serious injuries push a claim past your own coverage to the at-fault driver’s bodily injury liability policy, and to your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage when theirs falls short. We match medical records to the mechanism of impact, document time away from work, and take the adjuster calls so you can spend the time recovering.
Car accident claims across Miami-Dade
Where a crash happens shapes the file. I-95 through downtown produces chain collisions in the afternoon backup, four cars deep, each driver blaming the one behind. The Dolphin Expressway, SR 836, funnels airport and commuter traffic into merges where drivers cross three lanes at once, and the Palmetto, SR 826, does the same on the west side. Brickell Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard mix commuters, delivery vans and visitors who do not know the light sequence. Serious trauma usually arrives at Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial, and those imaging records become the backbone of a claim. Suits are filed at the Miami-Dade County Courthouse at 73 W Flagler Street.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to file a car accident claim in Florida?
For a negligence claim accruing on or after 24 March 2023 the limitation period is two years from the date of the crash; claims that arose earlier generally had four. Shorter deadlines sit inside your own policy, since PIP requires treatment within 14 days and carriers add their own notice requirements. Leaving it until the two-year mark is close also means witnesses have moved and footage is long gone.
What if the other driver had no insurance?
Florida requires PIP and property damage coverage but not bodily injury liability, so many drivers cannot pay for the harm they cause. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage fills that gap, and it is worth checking your declarations page today rather than after a collision. If the at-fault driver was working at the time, a commercial policy may also respond. We look for every policy that could apply.
Do I have to give the insurance company a recorded statement?
Not to the other driver’s insurer. Your own policy usually requires cooperation with your carrier, which can include a statement, but that duty stops at the opposing company. There is no penalty for saying your lawyer will arrange it. Once we are on the file those calls come to us, and anything you provide is prepared rather than improvised.
Call the Law Offices of Suarez & Montero at any hour. Miami-Dade: 305-631-1911. Broward: (954) 529-9377. Duval and St. John: (904) 800-5297. The consultation is free and no fee is charged unless we win.
About Jaime Suarez
Jaime Suarez took his law degree at the University of Miami School of Law, graduating with highest honors, and has spent over 24 years since then acting for injured people in South Florida. Car and auto collision claims make up much of that work, alongside spinal and brain injuries, slip and fall accidents, prescription errors, negligent homicide and injuries suffered on the job.
He practices with Andres G. Montero at the Law Offices of Suarez & Montero. Between them the firm has recovered millions for clients across the state. Consultations are free, calls are answered 24 hours a day, and clients owe no fee unless the case is won.
Tell Us What Happened
A free case review takes one call. Reach us at 305-631-1911 and we will read your crash report with you.
AFTER THE CRASH
Call us before you speak to any adjuster, and we will explain what the report already says about you
YOUR PIP BENEFITS
Florida gives you fourteen days to begin treatment, and we make sure that clock does not run out
WHO WAS AT FAULT
When two accounts conflict we gather cameras, vehicle data and witnesses before any of it disappears
No fee unless we win, and your first conversation with us costs nothing
The Law Offices of Suarez & Montero act for injured drivers, passengers and pedestrians throughout Miami-Dade County. Tell us what happened and we will say honestly whether there is a claim worth bringing. Call 305-631-1911 at any hour for a free consultation, or send us an e-mail. No fee unless we win your case.