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Document a loss
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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
Vehicle Positioning and Final Rest Documentation
Measured documentation of where each vehicle, rider or separated component came to rest after a collision, and how it was oriented. For claims and cases where post-impact travel, direction of force or the order of impacts is in question.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
Where a vehicle stops after a collision is a product of how it was moving at impact. The distance and direction from the area of impact to final rest, and the heading the vehicle ended up on, are facts an analyst relies on to examine post-impact travel and rotation. Those facts exist only briefly. Once a tow operator hooks up, the position survives in photographs, paint marks and whatever measurements someone took.
This assignment takes two forms. If investigators reach the scene while vehicles are still in place, each is located by measuring to at least two points on the vehicle, usually wheel centers or corners, so both position and heading are fixed. If the vehicles are gone, final rest is established from police paint marks, fluid pools, debris concentrations, tire impressions in soft ground and time-stamped photographs supplied by the parties or responders.
Cases where final rest is contested
- Drivers disagree about which lane the impact occurred in, and rest positions help bound where it could have been.
- A vehicle was moved to the shoulder before police arrived and its original stopping point must be worked out from physical traces.
- An occupant or motorcycle rider was thrown clear, and the separation between person and vehicle is relevant to the analysis.
- A vehicle left the pavement and came to rest in a ditch, yard or tree line where furrows and ground damage remain.
- Counsel has bystander phone photographs showing the vehicles at rest and needs them tied to measured points on the roadway.
How rest positions are fixed and recorded
- Two-point vehicle location
- Each vehicle still on scene is fixed by measurements to two identified points on its body, which establishes heading as well as position.
- Police paint and crayon marks
- Tire and corner marks painted by responders are photographed, measured and described by color and shape before weather and traffic wear them away.
- Fluid pooling and trails
- Coolant, oil and fuel pools indicate where a damaged vehicle sat, and trails leading to them show the path it took to get there.
- Off-road rest evidence
- Furrows, flattened vegetation, struck fences, bark damage and tire impressions in soil are measured where a vehicle left the paved surface.
- Separated parts and occupants
- Rest locations of detached wheels, bumpers, cargo and, where known, ejected persons or riders are recorded individually with the source of each position noted.
- Matching third-party photographs
- Fixed features visible in supplied scene photographs are identified on site, allowing vehicle positions in those images to be related to measured reference points.
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.
What rest positions tell an analyst
Taken with the area of impact, a measured rest position gives the distance and direction a vehicle traveled after the collision and how far it rotated. An analyst uses those values, with vehicle weights and surface conditions, to examine how each vehicle was moving when it separated from the other. In a multi-vehicle crash, the pattern of rest positions also helps order the impacts. A rest position recorded only as near the median cannot support that work.
Controlled rest and uncontrolled rest are different things, and the record needs to show which is which. A driver who steers to the shoulder after impact has not left the vehicle where the collision put it. Investigators therefore record signs that bear on this, such as rolling tire tracks leading to the vehicle, steered front wheels and a tidy parking position on the shoulder. The notes report these observations and leave their weight to the analyst.
Working from a cleared scene
Most requests arrive after the tow trucks have left. The work then starts with whatever fixed the positions at the time: police paint, responder and bystander photographs, body-camera or dash-camera frames obtained by the requesting party, and tow records. On site, the investigator finds the fixed features visible in those images, such as lane lines, poles, signs and driveway edges, and measures them so the vehicle outlines can be placed on a scale diagram.
Physical traces fill in the rest. A vehicle with a ruptured radiator or oil pan leaves a pool where it sat. Glass and plastic concentrate near where a vehicle stopped as well as where it was struck. Each source is labeled in the deliverable, so a reader can see whether a position rests on direct measurement, on paint marks, or on photographs. The documentation records positions. It does not decide which driver was legally at fault.
Delator personnel have accident reconstruction experience. The work product is physical evidence and technical findings; it does not determine legal fault, which remains with the parties, the court or a jury.
Delator Claims Division is not an engineering firm. Whether any analysis is accepted in a proceeding is decided by the court.
Common questions about this service
The vehicles were towed days ago. What can still be documented?
Police paint marks, fluid stains, gouges, off-road ground damage and debris pushed to the roadside commonly remain for days or weeks. Combined with photographs taken before the tow, these often allow rest positions to be placed with reasonable confidence. The field notes state the basis for each position and how firm it is.
Can you use photographs taken by a driver or witness?
Yes. Send them with the request. The investigator identifies fixed features in each image, locates and measures those features on site, and records the camera's apparent vantage point. The original files are preferred over screenshots because they may retain time data. The photographs are treated as supplied material and labeled as such.
Do you inspect the vehicles themselves at a tow yard?
Vehicle inspection can be requested alongside this assignment where the yard or owner permits access. Investigators do not enter private lots without permission. Damage location and direction help an analyst relate each vehicle to its rest heading, and the crush and damage profile service covers that work in detail.
Will the report state where the impact happened?
The report records physical indicators of the area of impact, such as gouges, collision scuffs and the start of fluid trails, alongside the rest positions. Where findings are requested, personnel with accident reconstruction experience describe what those indicators show. Lane-of-impact disputes and legal fault remain for the adjuster or the court.
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.