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
Identifying and Locating Accident Witnesses in Tennessee
Delator Claims Division identifies and locates people who saw an accident or loss anywhere in Tennessee. Licensed private investigators do the work for carriers, attorneys, fleet operators and individuals who need to know who was there and how to reach them.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
Most witnesses leave before anyone writes down a name. A police report may list one or two, sometimes with a transposed phone number or an address that is no longer current, and bystanders who stopped to help are often not listed at all. Within a few weeks the employee who was working the counter has changed jobs and the driver who pulled over has no reason to remember the date.
This service answers two questions: who saw it, and where that person can be reached now. Field personnel return to the location at the same hour and day of the week, speak with people who are routinely there, and follow partial leads through public records and open-source research. The work is neutral. A witness is reported whether or not the account helps the party who requested the search.
Situations that call for a witness search
- A crash report names a witness, but the listed phone number is disconnected and mail to the address has been returned.
- The only description of a bystander is a first name, a work uniform, or the vehicle the person was driving that day.
- A loss occurred outside a business, and the employees on shift at that hour have never been asked what they saw.
- A 911 caller or passing motorist is mentioned in a report narrative without any identifying or contact information recorded.
- Months have passed, a claim is now contested, and a witness who once cooperated has moved out of the county or state.
What the witness search produces
- Return visits at the matching hour
- Field personnel revisit the location on the same weekday and time as the loss, when commuters, delivery drivers and regular customers are most likely to be present again.
- Door and counter contacts
- Each residence and business with a view of the location is approached, and the report lists who was spoken to, who declined, and where nobody answered.
- Vantage point of each person
- For every person identified, the report notes where that person says they were standing or driving, with a photograph of the view from that position.
- Current contact details
- Present address, phone number and preferred contact method are confirmed with the witness directly where possible, instead of being copied from an older report.
- Public-records and open-source leads
- Partial names, employer references and vehicle descriptions are followed through lawful public-records and open-source research to reach the right individual.
- Contact log
- Every attempt is logged with date, time, method and outcome, so the requesting party can show what was done to find each person.
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.
Why witnesses become harder to find each week
A person who watched a collision from a bus stop or a drive-through lane has no connection to the claim and no reason to stay in touch. Retail and restaurant staff turn over quickly, and a manager may not know where a former employee went. Rental tenants move. Phone numbers change. The longer the gap between the loss and the first attempt to find someone, the more the search depends on records instead of a simple conversation at the scene.
Memory fades on the same schedule. A witness contacted in the first days can usually say which lane a vehicle was in or which way a person was walking. The same witness contacted a year later may recall only that something happened. Locating people early does not require taking a full statement on the spot. It establishes who exists, what they were positioned to see, and how to reach them later.
How the search is run and what is reported
An assignment starts with whatever the requester has: a report number, a location, a date and time, and any partial descriptions. Field personnel work outward from the point of the loss, noting which doorways, windows, parking spaces and driveways have a line of sight. People are approached openly. The investigator states who they are and why they are asking, and nobody is pressured to talk or to give contact details.
The deliverable is a list, not an argument. It names each person identified, summarizes in a sentence what they say they were in a position to observe, and gives verified contact information where the person agreed to share it. People who saw nothing or declined are listed too. Delator does not rank witnesses by credibility, decide whose account is correct, or advise on what to do with the list. Taking the statement itself is a separate step that can be scheduled afterward.
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
Can you find a witness when all we have is a first name or a description?
Often, yes, though it depends on what else is known. A first name with an employer, a regular route, or a vehicle description gives field personnel a starting point for return visits and lawful public-records research. If the leads run out, the report says so and lists each step that was taken.
Do you tell the witness who hired you?
Field personnel identify themselves as licensed private investigators and explain that they are gathering information about a specific incident. No false identity or pretext is used. Whether the requesting party is named is discussed at intake, and a witness who asks is not misled about the nature of the inquiry.
What if the witness does not want to be involved?
Participation is voluntary. If a person declines to speak or asks not to be contacted again, that is recorded in the contact log and respected by field personnel. The report still notes that the person was identified and where they were positioned, so the requesting party and its counsel can decide on any next step.
Is locating a witness the same as taking a statement?
No. This assignment establishes who the witnesses are and how to reach them. A verbatim statement is a separate task that can be added once the requester has reviewed the list. Many requesters order the search first and then schedule statements with selected individuals through the same dispatch network.
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.