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No Appointment Needed · We Take Insurance · Hablamos Español
Medically Reviewed By: Dr. Jack Norsworthy, D.C. | Doctor of Chiropractic · Personal Injury Specialist · Bear, Delaware
Reviewed: September 2026 | CAIC — 131 Becks Woods Dr, Bear, DE 19701 | (302) 595-2584
After a car accident in Delaware: get to safety, call 911 if anyone may be hurt, exchange information, photograph everything, and get a medical exam within 72 hours even if you feel fine. Delaware’s PIP insurance covers your accident treatment regardless of fault, and no referral is needed to be seen.
Move to safety if vehicles are drivable; turn on hazards. If a vehicle can’t be moved, get people away from traffic — secondary collisions injure bystanders every year.
Call 911 if anyone is injured or roadways are blocked. In Delaware, crashes involving injury, death, or an apparently impaired driver require a police response — our full guide on when you must call the police after a minor accident in Delaware covers the exact rules.
Exchange information: names, phone numbers, insurance carriers and policy numbers, plate numbers, driver’s license numbers. Photograph the other driver’s license and insurance card rather than transcribing — it’s faster and error-proof.
Photograph everything: all vehicles from multiple angles, the road, skid marks, signals, weather, debris field, and any visible injuries. Wide shots establish the scene; close shots establish the damage.
Identify witnesses and get contact information before they leave. A thirty-second phone number exchange at the scene is worth more than a week of searching later.
Say less, not more. Be factual with the other driver and police. Don’t speculate about fault, don’t apologize reflexively, and don’t announce that you’re uninjured — you don’t know that yet, and it will be quoted back to you.
Adrenaline masks pain. The inflammatory processes behind whiplash, ligament sprains, and disc injuries typically build over one to three days, which is why so many people feel fine at the scene and can barely move by day three. The medical literature on whiplash-associated disorders describes delayed onset as typical rather than exceptional.
Go to the emergency room first if you have loss of consciousness, severe bleeding, a suspected fracture, chest pain, difficulty breathing, or a worsening headache with confusion or vomiting.
See an accident clinic within 72 hours for everything else — and also after an ER visit. The emergency room rules out emergencies. It does not diagnose or treat the musculoskeletal injuries that make up the majority of accident cases, and it does not generate ongoing documentation.
An early exam does two things at once. It starts your recovery before injuries compound, and it creates the contemporaneous medical record that insurance carriers treat as the baseline of your claim. A gap between the crash and your first treatment is the single most common reason claims get discounted — an adjuster reads a two-week silence as “not really hurt,” whatever the actual reason was.
PIP is mandatory and no-fault. Every Delaware-registered vehicle carries Personal Injury Protection, which pays accident-related medical bills and a portion of lost wages for you and your passengers regardless of who caused the crash.
You do not need a referral. Delaware permits chiropractic physicians to evaluate and treat accident-related conditions without a referral from another doctor. You can start care the day of your crash.
Claim timing matters. How long you have to claim injury after a Delaware accident depends on the type of claim. PIP claims, injury lawsuits, and property claims each run on different clocks.
Delaware is not a no-fault state for lawsuits. PIP pays your bills first, but you retain the right to pursue the at-fault driver for damages beyond what PIP covers.
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This is the question that stops most people from getting examined, and the answer is usually better than they expect.
Your own PIP pays first, regardless of fault. Delaware Personal Injury Protection attaches to the vehicle, not to blame. If you were driving, riding as a passenger, or struck as a pedestrian by an insured Delaware vehicle, PIP applies to your accident-related medical care. You do not wait for an investigation, you do not wait for a settlement, and you do not need to prove the other driver was at fault before you are seen.
PIP covers chiropractic care. Reasonable and necessary accident-related treatment includes chiropractic evaluation and treatment. It also typically covers a portion of lost wages.
If the other driver was uninsured, your PIP still applies. Uninsured motorist coverage and other legal avenues may apply to damages beyond PIP, but your medical treatment is not contingent on the other driver having carried insurance.
If your PIP is exhausted, there are still options. Health insurance may pick up continuing care, and many personal injury patients are treated on a medical lien — care provided now, paid from the settlement when the case resolves. CAIC works with patients on liens.
What you should not do is wait. The most expensive version of this decision is the one where someone spends three weeks working out who pays while the injury becomes harder to treat and the medical record develops a gap an adjuster will later use. If you are unsure what your policy covers, call us at (302) 595-2584 before your visit and we will help you work it out.
Within days — sometimes hours — you will hear from adjusters, possibly from both carriers.
Report the crash to your own insurer promptly. Your policy requires it, and your PIP claim starts there. Stick to facts: time, place, vehicles, visible damage.
Be careful with the other driver’s insurer. You are generally not obligated to give a recorded statement to the at-fault carrier, and early recorded statements — given while injuries are still developing — are how “I’m a little sore” becomes a claim-killing quote. If an attorney is involved, route that carrier to them.
Do not sign medical authorizations or accept quick settlements before your injuries are fully evaluated. A settlement signed in week one closes the door on the disc injury diagnosed in week four.
Adjusters and attorneys evaluate accident claims on records, not on stories. From your first visit, CAIC documents objective examination findings, imaging results, diagnoses, treatment provided, your response to treatment, and any work or activity restrictions.
Keep your own file alongside ours: photos, the police report number, repair estimates, and a simple symptom diary noting pain levels and missed activities. If your case involves an attorney, we coordinate directly with their office.
Start with a same-day exam at our Bear clinic, serving Bear, Newark, Wilmington, Middletown, Christiana, and New Castle, Delaware. You do not need a referral, and you do not need an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM at 131 Becks Woods Dr.
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Partially. Delaware requires no-fault Personal Injury Protection coverage, which pays accident medical bills and a portion of lost wages regardless of fault. Delaware is not a no-fault state for lawsuits, so you retain the right to pursue the at-fault driver for damages beyond PIP.
You must report a crash to police if it involves injury, death, or an apparently impaired driver. For minor property-damage-only crashes the rules differ.
Deadlines depend on the type of claim. PIP claims, injury lawsuits and property claims each run on different clocks. Late documentation weakens every kind of claim, so do not wait.
Yes. Delaware PIP coverage pays for reasonable and necessary accident-related medical care, which includes chiropractic evaluation and treatment, regardless of who caused the crash.
Injury correlates poorly with vehicle damage, and low-speed collisions routinely produce whiplash and disc injuries. A brief examination either documents an injury early or provides genuine reassurance.
Your own PIP coverage still pays for your medical treatment. For damages beyond PIP, uninsured motorist coverage and other legal options may apply.
Generally no. You must cooperate with your own insurer, but you are typically not obligated to give the at-fault driver’s carrier a recorded statement, and early statements made before injuries fully develop are frequently used against claims later.
For most patients, nothing out of pocket at the time of care. Delaware PIP covers accident-related medical treatment regardless of fault, and CAIC also works with patients on medical liens where care is paid from the settlement.
