Personal injury
A semi hit me and the trucking company is calling. Now what?
The carrier is already working, and some of its records can lawfully disappear in six months. What you say and what you send in the first week matter.
Say little to the caller, get medical care within 14 days, and write down the carrier’s name and the USDOT number printed on the truck. The company’s insurer is already investigating, and federal rules let it discard a driver’s logs and their supporting documents after six months. Some of what you need, such as logs, dispatch records and the engine’s data, is in the carrier’s hands and not yours. A written preservation demand is how you put the carrier on notice that a claim is coming. Do not give a recorded statement or sign anything before you have talked to a lawyer.
01 What the carrier is doing
What a trucking company is already doing after a crash
The company’s first call is part of a process, and the process is not built around your recovery. A motor carrier must make all records and information about an accident available to federal and state investigators and to authorized third-party representatives, and must give an investigator full assistance, including a full, true and correct response to any question (49 CFR 390.15(a)). Its insurer is usually notified quickly, and larger carriers send an adjuster and sometimes an investigator to the scene. None of that is improper. It is a head start.
Whoever is calling you works for that process. A friendly adjuster asking how you are feeling and whether you can give a quick recorded statement is gathering the account that will be compared with yours later. You do not have to give a statement to the other side’s insurer, and nothing requires it.
What you said to the officer for the crash report has a protection that the call does not. A crash report made by a person involved, and statements made to an officer to complete it, may not be used as evidence in any trial (§ 316.066(4)). A recorded statement to an adjuster has no such protection.
The carrier’s first call is part of a process. It is not built around your recovery.
02 What it has to keep
How long a trucking company has to keep its records
It keeps an accident register for three years, and the register is a list, not the evidence. The carrier must keep, for three years after each accident, the date, the place, the driver’s name, the number of injuries and fatalities, whether hazardous materials were released, and copies of the accident reports required by government agencies or insurers (49 CFR 390.15(b)). That tells you a crash happened. It does not hold the driver’s logs.
Records of duty status and their supporting documents are kept for six months. A carrier must retain each driver’s record of duty status and the supporting documents for not less than six months from receipt (49 CFR 395.8(k)(1)). The driver carries the previous seven days (395.8(k)(2)). After six months a carrier may lawfully have nothing left that shows how many hours the driver had been on duty when the crash happened.
Other records run longer, and some run shorter. The federal retention schedule lists, among many items, dispatchers’ sheets and records of the movement of equipment for three years, records of loading and unloading for two years, and freight bills for one year. It lists supporting data for periodical reports of accidents, inspections, tests, hours of service and repairs at six months (49 CFR part 379, appendix A). The driver qualification file stays for as long as the driver is employed and for three years after (49 CFR 391.51).
Drug and alcohol testing may not have happened at all. After a crash a carrier must test a surviving driver only in the cases the rule lists: where someone died, or where the driver is cited within 8 hours for alcohol or 32 hours for controlled substances and the crash involved injury treated away from the scene or a vehicle towed away (49 CFR 382.303). If no ticket was issued, a test may not have been required. Where a required test was not given in time, the carrier must keep a record of why. Negative results are kept for one year and results at 0.02 or higher for five (49 CFR 382.401).
03 What a letter does
What a preservation letter does and does not do
A preservation demand puts the carrier on written notice that a claim is coming and names what it should not discard. The rules above are retention minimums, not a promise that records will exist. A carrier that has received a written demand cannot later say it did not know a claim was coming. What a court does with a carrier that discarded records after notice depends on the case and is a question for a lawyer, not something a letter guarantees.
It works only if it names the records. The logs and supporting documents, the electronic logging device data, the engine control module data from the tractor, any forward-facing or driver-facing camera footage, dispatch and routing records, the driver qualification file, drug and alcohol testing records, inspection and maintenance history, and the contracts with any broker or shipper. A vague letter protects little.
Send it to the carrier and to every company that could hold records. The truck usually shows the name of the operating carrier and its USDOT number on both sides, and if another company’s name is also on it, the operating carrier’s name must be preceded by “operated by” (49 CFR 390.21). Write both down in the first minutes. A broker, a shipper or a trailer owner can hold records of their own (who else is liable in a truck crash).
The truck itself can be repaired, sold or returned before any of that. A letter that arrives after the tractor is back on the road asks about records that no longer exist in the same form. That is why the first two weeks matter more than the next six months.
04 What to say
What to say when the trucking company calls
Say who you are and that you are not giving a statement now. Ask for the adjuster’s name, the company and a claim number, and ask that any request be sent in writing. A polite “I’m not giving a recorded statement at this time” is enough.
Do not discuss fault, speed, what you were doing or how you feel. “I’m fine” on the phone on day two is repeated back after the disc injury shows up on an MRI on day nine.
Do not sign a medical authorization, a release or a check. A broad authorization can let the insurer collect records that have nothing to do with the crash. A release ends the claim for good.
Do not accept an early payment as a favor. An early offer is priced before the injury is known (what an early offer is pricing). The offer is also your cue to call a lawyer.
Do tell your own insurer about the crash. Your own PIP is owed whoever was at fault, and its medical benefits apply only if you receive initial care within 14 days of the crash (§ 627.736(1)).
05 The first seven days
What to do in the first seven days after a truck crash
Day one: get care, then write down what the truck says. The name of the carrier, the USDOT number, the trailer number and plate, the driver’s name and any company name on the door. Photograph all of it before the vehicles move if you can, and ask someone else to do it if you cannot.
Days one to three: photographs, witnesses and cameras. The scene, the skid marks, the debris and the positions, plus the names of anyone who saw it. Look for cameras on nearby buildings and ask in writing for the footage, because many systems overwrite quickly.
Days three to seven: the written demand. A lawyer sends the preservation demand to the carrier, the broker and any other company in the chain, and asks the insurer for its coverage under § 627.4137, which it must provide in writing within 30 days of a request.
The deadline for the suit is two years from the crash, but the records do not wait that long. The negligence statute of limitations is two years for crashes after March 24, 2023 (§ 95.11(5)(a)). The logs can be lawfully gone in six months, which is why the first week is spent on records.
06 An example
The same crash, two different letters
A driver stopped at a red light is hit from behind by a tractor-trailer. She is taken to the emergency room, and an adjuster for the trucking company calls her the next morning. She says she is sore but fine and agrees to a recorded statement. She does not get a lawyer for four months. By then the carrier’s hours-of-service records are two months from the end of their six-month retention period, and the tractor has been repaired and returned to service.
In a second version, she says she is not giving a statement, writes down the carrier’s name and USDOT number at the scene, and calls a lawyer in the first week. A preservation demand goes out to the carrier and to the broker that arranged the load. When the case is evaluated, the logs, the dispatch records and the engine’s data have been asked for by name, and the carrier cannot say it did not know a claim was coming.
It is not a promise that either case ends a certain way. It is the difference between asking for records that probably exist and asking for records that may not. It is an illustration of the timing the federal rules create, not a prediction of any result.
A constructed example, written to show how the rule works. It is not a case this firm handled and it is not a promised result.
07 What to do now
- Write down the carrier’s name, the USDOT number and the trailer informationThey are printed on the truck, and the carrier’s name and USDOT number must be marked on both sides. Photograph them, and the plate.
- Get medical care and see a provider within 14 daysPIP pays only if initial care is within 14 days, whoever was at fault.
- Do not give a recorded statement or sign anything from the carrier or its insurerAsk for the adjuster’s name, company and claim number, and ask that requests come in writing.
- Photograph the scene and look for camerasThe positions, the debris, the signs and the sight lines, and every building with a camera facing the road. Ask for footage in writing.
- Get the names and numbers of witnessesPeople who saw the truck before the crash are worth more than anyone involved in it.
- Have a preservation demand sent in the first weekIt should name the logs, the logging-device data, the engine data, camera footage, dispatch records, the driver’s file, testing records, maintenance history and the contracts.
08 What an attorney would look into
- Who the operating carrier is, who owns the tractor and the trailer, and who arranged the load
- The driver’s hours of service in the days before the crash, from the logs and the electronic logging device data
- What the engine and the cameras recorded in the seconds before impact, and how long each system keeps it
- The driver qualification file, the driving record and any earlier crashes or violations
- Whether post-accident drug and alcohol testing was done, and if not, the carrier’s record of why
- Dispatch and routing records, delivery deadlines and any pressure on the schedule
- Inspection and maintenance history on the tractor and the trailer, especially the brakes and tires
- Every insurance policy the carrier, the broker and the owner carry, and the limits
09 The sources
- 49 CFR § 390.15 Assistance in investigations; accident registerA carrier must make accident records available to investigators and keep an accident register for three years.
- 49 CFR § 395.8(k) Records of duty statusA carrier must keep each driver’s record of duty status and supporting documents for not less than six months.
- 49 CFR § 382.303 Post-accident testingRequired only for a fatality, or when the driver is cited within the stated hours after a crash with treated injury or a tow-away.
- 49 CFR § 382.401 Retention of testing recordsNegative results kept one year; results of 0.02 or more and positive results kept five years.
- 49 CFR § 391.51 Driver qualification fileKept as long as the driver is employed and for three years after.
- 49 CFR § 390.21 Marking of vehiclesThe operating carrier’s name and USDOT number must be on both sides of the vehicle.
- 49 CFR part 379, appendix A Schedule of record retentionRetention periods from six months to three years for different classes of records.
- Fla. Stat. § 316.066(4) Crash reportsA report made by a person involved, and statements made to an officer for it, are not evidence in any trial.
- Fla. Stat. § 627.4137 Disclosure of liability coverageSworn statement of the insureds, limits and coverage defenses within 30 days of a written request.
More questions
Do I have to talk to the trucking company’s insurance adjuster?
No. You can decline a recorded statement, and you can ask that every request come in writing. Nothing in the law requires you to give one to the other side’s insurer.
You do have obligations to your own insurer, which is a different relationship with different limits.
How long does a trucking company have to keep the driver’s logs?
A carrier must keep a driver’s record of duty status and the supporting documents for not less than six months (49 CFR 395.8(k)(1)). After that it may lawfully discard them.
Other records have other periods, from six months to three years, depending on the kind of record.
Was the truck driver tested for drugs and alcohol?
Not necessarily. Post-accident testing is required only after a fatality, or when the driver is cited within 8 hours (alcohol) or 32 hours (controlled substances) and the crash involved treated injury or a tow-away (49 CFR 382.303).
Where a required test was not given in time, the carrier must keep a record of why, which is one of the documents a preservation demand asks for.
How do I find out which company owns the truck?
The operating carrier’s name and USDOT number must be marked on both sides of the vehicle (49 CFR 390.21). Photograph it at the scene.
The tractor, the trailer and the load may be owned or arranged by different companies, which is worth finding out before a letter is sent.
How long do I have to sue after a truck crash?
For a negligence claim from a crash after March 24, 2023, the period is two years (§ 95.11(5)(a)). Some claims, including claims against a government body, run on different clocks.
The records issue is more urgent than the lawsuit, because the logs can lawfully be gone in six months.
What does it cost to have this handled?
The first consultation on an injury matter is free. Representation is on a contingency fee, generally payable only on recovery, with case expenses governed by the written agreement.
If a truck crash turns out to be a small claim, Jose A. Dapena will say so before you commit to anything.
Did a truck hit you?
Tell Jose A. Dapena the carrier’s name, the date of the crash and who has called you. He will tell you what to send, to whom and by when. The call is free and there is no obligation.