Services
Document a loss
Support a claim
For carriers and employers
Service areas
Middle Tennessee
- Nashville
- Clarksville
- Murfreesboro
- Franklin
- Hendersonville
- Smyrna
- Spring Hill
- Gallatin
- Lebanon
- Columbia
- Brentwood
- Mount Juliet
- La Vergne
- Cookeville
East Tennessee
West Tennessee
Multi-Vehicle Accident Documentation for Tennessee Claims
When three or more vehicles are involved, each impact is its own event with its own evidence. DCD documents every vehicle, every contact and the layout of the scene for carriers, attorneys, fleet managers and drivers who need a neutral record of a pileup or chain collision.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
A multi-vehicle collision produces several claims at once. Each driver may be both a striking and a struck party, each carrier sees only its own insured's vehicle, and the crash report has to compress many impacts into one diagram. Accounts conflict on the order of impacts, on which contact caused which damage, and on whether a vehicle had already stopped before being pushed into another.
DCD approaches these scenes by treating every vehicle and every contact separately. Our investigators assign each vehicle an identifier, record its rest position and document each damaged area as its own item, then match damage between vehicles. Scene evidence is mapped across the whole length of the event, which on an interstate can extend a considerable distance. The record is neutral and makes no finding on sequence or fault.
Where a single record of the whole event helps
- Several carriers are involved and each has photographs of only its own insured's vehicle, with no single record of the whole scene.
- A driver in the middle of a pileup needs each separate impact to their vehicle documented, front, rear and side.
- Vehicles have been towed to different yards across more than one county and need to be located and photographed.
- A motor carrier's tractor-trailer was one of many vehicles involved and its risk manager wants an independent record of all of them.
- Reduced visibility or a sudden slowdown preceded the collision and the drivers disagree about which impact started the chain.
How each vehicle and contact is recorded
- Vehicle roster and identifiers
- A numbered list of every vehicle with plate, VIN where visible, make, model, color and current storage location, used consistently across all photographs.
- Rest positions across the scene
- Where each vehicle came to rest, taken from scene photographs, markings left by responders or the vehicles themselves if still in place.
- Contact-by-contact damage
- Each damaged area on each vehicle photographed as a separate item, with height, width and direction, so that multiple impacts are not merged.
- Transfer matching between vehicles
- Paint, plastic and rubber transfer recorded on each surface with color and height, allowing contact pairs between specific vehicles to be compared.
- Extent of the debris field
- The start and end of debris, fluid and marks along the roadway, showing how far the event extended and where concentrations occur.
- Tow and storage tracking
- Which tow operator removed each vehicle, where it was taken and any release or sale date the yard reports.
From request to delivered record
- RequestCall dispatch or submit the request form with the location, loss type and urgency.
- DeployDispatch assigns the nearest available licensed field investigator through the statewide network.
- DocumentPhotographs, video, measurements and factual notes are captured once the scene is safe to work.
- PreserveFiles are timestamped, organized and kept in their original form with a record of who captured them.
- ReportThe package is delivered securely to the requesting party, typically the same day.
Each vehicle is evidence for every other party
In a two-car collision each side needs two vehicles documented. In a six-car collision, a single unexamined vehicle can leave a gap in the sequence for everyone. A bumper with two distinct contact heights, or rear damage more severe than front damage, tells a reader something about order and direction. Those details are only available while the vehicles are intact, and the vehicles are spread among tow yards controlled by different owners and insurers.
Our first task on these assignments is frequently to find the vehicles. The DFS dispatch network covers all 95 Tennessee counties, so vehicles taken to yards in different counties can be visited without subcontracting to unaffiliated third parties. Access depends on the yard and on the vehicle's owner or insurer. We request it, document each vehicle we are permitted to inspect, and list in the report any vehicle we could not reach and why.
How one record serves many parties
Multi-vehicle claims are slowed by incomplete and inconsistent records. One file has close-up photographs with no context, another has a tow receipt and nothing else. A single set of documentation using one numbering scheme, one set of reference points and consistent photographic stations lets adjusters, counsel and any reconstruction analyst refer to the same material. It also reduces the number of separate site visits. The requesting party controls who receives it and when.
Tennessee's modified comparative fault system allows fault to be divided among several parties, so the sequence of impacts carries real weight in these claims. DCD does not determine that sequence on a neutral assignment. Where an analysis of impact order is needed, Delator's personnel have accident reconstruction experience and that work is scoped separately. The neutral record is prepared so that it can serve as the starting data for such an analysis.
On this assignment Delator field personnel record what is physically present: photographs, video, measurements and factual notes. They do not adjust, appraise or value the loss, do not determine coverage, cause or fault, and do not represent any party to the claim.
Delator Claims Division is not a law firm, an insurer or an engineering firm, and nothing on this page is legal advice.
Common questions about this service
How many vehicles can one assignment cover?
There is no fixed limit. Larger scenes take longer and may involve more than one investigator or more than one day, particularly when vehicles are stored in several locations. Tell the dispatcher how many vehicles were involved and where they are, if known, so the assignment can be scoped before deployment.
Can several parties share the documentation?
The documentation is delivered to the party that requested it, and that party decides whether to share it. Carriers or attorneys sometimes agree to commission a joint record. We can deliver to multiple recipients when the requesting party instructs us to in writing.
The interstate was cleared within hours. What is left to document?
The vehicles themselves are the main body of evidence and remain available until they are repaired or sold. At the scene, gouges, some tire marks, barrier and guardrail damage and the roadway layout can still be recorded. The report identifies the date of each inspection and what transient evidence had already been removed.
Will you tell us which impact happened first?
Not on a neutral documentation assignment. We record the damage and transfer evidence that an analyst would use to work that out, and we present it without interpretation. DCD does not determine fault. A reconstruction engagement, which provides technical findings, can be discussed separately.
Available statewide, including
Every Tennessee county is covered. See the deployment map for typical response tiers by county.
Request documentation anywhere in Tennessee
Dispatch is staffed around the clock. For time-sensitive scenes, calling is fastest; the request form works for routine and scheduled assignments.