You are driving your UK-registered car to your house in the Dordogne when a French driver runs into the back of you at a roundabout. Nobody is badly hurt, but your bumper is hanging off, the other driver speaks no English, and someone is waving a carbon-copy form under your nose. What you do in the next thirty minutes — and the letters you send in the next five days — will decide whether your insurer pays quickly or argues for months. This guide explains, for British motorists in France after Brexit, exactly how to handle a road accident: the roadside steps and the famous constat amiable, the five-working-day declaration to your insurer, the reasoned compensation offer your insurer owes you within three months, the criminal risk if you leave the scene, and how French courts assess the evidence when each driver blames the other. Brexit changed your residence papers and your licence paperwork, which our guide to driving in France on a UK licence covers, but it did not change French road liability: the same French rules apply to a car with UK number plates as to a car registered in Paris. Read this once before you travel, and keep a pen, a charged phone and a high-visibility vest within reach of the driver’s seat.

I. At the roadside in France: what a British driver must do in the minutes after the crash

A. Secure the scene, call the right number and fill in the constat amiable without giving your case away

Your first duty is safety, and French law expects three reflexes. Switch on your hazard lights, put on the high-visibility vest that must be kept inside the passenger compartment rather than in the boot, and place the warning triangle a good distance behind your vehicle so that approaching traffic has time to react. If anyone is injured, call the European emergency number 112, or 15 for the ambulance service known as the SAMU, 17 for the police or the gendarmerie, and 18 for the fire brigade known as the pompiers. Move the vehicles only if they create an immediate danger, for example on a blind bend or in a tunnel, because the final resting positions are themselves evidence. Photograph everything before anything moves: the position of both cars in the road, both number plates, the damage from several angles, skid marks and debris, the road signs and markings, the weather and light conditions, and the faces of any witnesses alongside a note of their telephone numbers.

The second reflex is paperwork, and this is where British drivers lose cases they should win. The European accident statement, called in France the constat amiable, is a single carbon-copy form with two columns, one for vehicle A and one for vehicle B. You should carry a blank one in the glove box, and most insurers now also accept the electronic version known as the e-constat, completed on a smartphone. Fill it in jointly with the other driver, calmly and factually: names and addresses, driving licence numbers, vehicle registrations, insurers and policy numbers, the place, date and time, the circumstances ticked in the middle boxes, and a clear sketch with arrows showing the direction of each vehicle. Each driver signs the form, and each keeps one copy. Understand precisely what your signature means. A signed constat records the facts as both drivers agreed them at the roadside, and French courts treat it as the agreed account of the accident. That is exactly why you must never sign a constat whose boxes, sketch or wording you dispute. If the other driver has already ticked boxes that do not match what happened, do not sign, write down your own version, note the other vehicle’s registration and insurance details visible through the windscreen, and let the insurers and if necessary the court sort it out. A polite refusal to sign costs you nothing; a signature on a false version can cost you the whole claim.

When the other driver refuses to cooperate, has no insurance documents, or simply drives away, your priorities change. Memorise or photograph the registration number immediately, call 17 so that the police or gendarmerie can intercept the vehicle, and collect the names of every witness while they are still standing on the pavement. If you are injured, say so, ask any attending officer to record it, and go to a doctor or the urgences department of the nearest hospital the same day so that an initial medical certificate describes your injuries from the start. Keep your passport, your UK driving licence and your certificate of motor insurance accessible when you travel, because officers at the roadside are entitled to check them, and keep a translation application on your phone for the vocabulary of the constat: véhicule A and véhicule B, conducteur for driver, assuré for policyholder, circonstances for circumstances, croquis for sketch, and blessé for injured. None of this depends on nationality. French compulsory motor insurance covers liability for any vehicle travelling on French roads, and article L211-1 of the Insurance Code states the rule in these terms: any person whose civil liability may be engaged because of damage suffered by third parties in which a vehicle is involved “doit, pour faire circuler celui-ci, être couverte par une assurance garantissant cette responsabilité”, with vehicle meaning any self-propelled machine that travels on the ground otherwise than on rails, trailers included (article L211-1 of the Insurance Code in force on 8 September 2026). Your UK plates change nothing about the protection of your victims or about your own duties at the scene.

B. Never leave the scene: fleeing an accident is a criminal offence punished by three years in prison and a 75,000 euro fine

Whatever your shock, whatever your English, whatever your fear of French paperwork, one rule is absolute: as the driver, you stop. Leaving the scene of an accident to escape the criminal or civil responsibility you may have incurred is a standalone criminal offence called the délit de fuite, literally the offence of fleeing. Article L231-1 of the Highway Code refers to articles 434-10 and 434-45 of the Criminal Code reproduced within it, and the penalty for a driver who knows he has just caused or occasioned an accident and fails to stop is “trois ans d’emprisonnement et de 75 000 € d’amende” (article L231-1 of the Highway Code in force on 8 September 2026). The offence applies even to a minor collision with only paint damage, even if you believe the accident was not your fault, and even if you stop a few streets further on once the shock passes, because the law punishes the failure to stop at the scene itself. A British driver who drives back to the gîte and reports the accident the next morning has still committed the offence the evening before. If drink, excessive speed or injury is involved, the sentence can be far heavier, and a conviction also means a criminal record in France, an endorsement of the French driving record, and a civil claim for damages on top.

Two very recent decisions of the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation, the highest French court for criminal matters, show precisely where the boundaries of this offence lie, and both are worth knowing because they cut in opposite directions. In the first case, a driver had deliberately used his car as a weapon to ram the civil party, then left the scene, and the court of appeal convicted him both of aggravated violence and of hit-and-run. On 1 October 2025 the Court of Cassation quashed the hit-and-run conviction while keeping the violence conviction (Court of Cassation, criminal chamber, 1 October 2025, appeal no. 24-86.411, full decision on courdecassation.fr). Its reasoning deserves quotation word for word: “L’incrimination d’un tel comportement n’est pas compatible avec une déclaration de culpabilité qui caractérise l’usage intentionnel d’un véhicule, par la personne poursuivie, en vue de commettre un dommage matériel ou corporel, le dommage ainsi causé ne présentant pas le caractère d’un événement fortuit et ne pouvant donc être qualifié d’accident.” In plain terms, hit-and-run presupposes an accident, meaning a fortuitous event, so a deliberate ramming followed by flight is punished as intentional violence rather than as flight. That is no comfort to anyone tempted to leave an ordinary collision: for a genuine accident, the offence applies in full.

The second decision narrows the offence from the other side, and it matters for families travelling together. A back-seat passenger fled the scene with the driver after a crash and asked the two passengers who stayed behind to conceal his presence, fearing trouble because of his record. The court of appeal convicted him of hit-and-run as well. On 24 March 2026 the Court of Cassation quashed that conviction too (Court of Cassation, criminal chamber, 24 March 2026, appeal no. 25-82.140, full decision on courdecassation.fr), holding word for word: “En statuant ainsi, alors que le délit de fuite ne peut être retenu qu’à l’encontre du conducteur d’un véhicule ou engin, la cour d’appel a méconnu le texte susvisé.” Only the driver can commit hit-and-run; a passenger who runs away commits no délit de fuite, even if his behaviour looks suspicious. The practical lesson for a British family is therefore simple and strict: the person behind the wheel must stop, switch off, and face the constat, while passengers should stay, give their names as witnesses, and never ask anyone to lie, because false testimony is itself an offence. And if you are the victim of a driver who flees, dial 17 at once, shout the registration number to a witness so it is memorised twice, look for dashcam and CCTV cameras on nearby houses and shops before the footage is overwritten, and file a complaint at the gendarmerie. France has a guarantee fund that can compensate the victims of unknown or uninsured drivers, so a fleeing driver does not necessarily mean an unpaid claim: raise the fund with your insurer or your lawyer at the very first appointment rather than discovering it a year later.

II. Getting compensated in France: declaration, insurer offer and court remedy when the file stalls

A. Declare the crash within five working days and force your insurer to send a reasoned offer within three months

Once the vehicles are recovered and the shock has passed, the file moves from the roadside to the mailbox, and deadlines now govern everything. Article L113-2 of the Insurance Code obliges the policyholder to notify the insurer of any loss likely to trigger cover as soon as he knows of it and at the latest within the period fixed by the policy, adding in terms you should memorise: “Ce délai ne peut être inférieur à cinq jours ouvrés.” (article L113-2 of the Insurance Code in force on 8 September 2026). Five working days is therefore the absolute legal floor: your own policy may allow longer, but it can never allow shorter, and only working days count, so a Saturday and Sunday buy you time. Notify both insurers if you carry separate policies, for example a UK motor policy and a French top-up, and notify in writing with proof of sending and receipt: registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, or email where your contract expressly accepts it, keeping screenshots and transmission receipts. A telephone call alone is never enough, because a year later nobody will remember what was said. If you declare late, all is not automatically lost. The same article provides that where the policy imposes loss of cover for late declaration, that penalty “ne peut être opposée à l’assuré que si l’assureur établit que le retard dans la déclaration lui a causé un préjudice”, and it can never be used “dans tous les cas où le retard est dû à un cas fortuit ou de force majeure”. A hospital stay after the crash is the classic example: the insurer must prove it actually suffered from the delay, and it cannot punish you for days spent unconscious in hospital.

Your declaration file should be complete on day one, because the clock for the insurer’s own duty starts when your claim reaches it. Send the signed constat or your unsigned version with explanations, your photographs, the reference of any police or gendarmerie report, the names and numbers of witnesses, the repair estimate from a garage of your choice, and for bodily injury every medical document: the initial certificate, prescriptions, sick-leave notes, and every receipt. Then article L211-9 of the Insurance Code turns the tables on the insurer. Whatever the nature of the damage, where liability is not disputed and the loss is fully quantified, the insurer covering motor third-party liability “est tenu de présenter à la victime une offre d’indemnité motivée dans le délai de trois mois à compter de la demande d’indemnisation qui lui est présentée” (article L211-9 of the Insurance Code in force on 8 September 2026). A reasoned offer within three months of your quantified claim is therefore your statutory right, not a favour, and where liability is rejected or unclear, or the loss is not yet fully known, the insurer must still send a reasoned reply addressing your arguments within the same three months. Two consequences follow for British claimants dealing with a UK insurer from France. First, quantify early and in euros: gather the garage estimate, the medical bills and the proof of lost earnings now, because an incomplete file lets the insurer lawfully answer that the loss is not yet quantified. Second, conduct everything in writing and in French wherever possible, asking your UK insurer at the first call for its French claims correspondent or a handler who works in French, since the file will be assessed under French heads of loss and French scales. The foundation of that liability is the Civil Code: “Tout fait quelconque de l’homme, qui cause à autrui un dommage, oblige celui par la faute duquel il est arrivé à le réparer” (article 1240 of the Civil Code in force on 8 September 2026), extended to damage caused by things in your keeping, since a person is liable “non seulement du dommage que l’on cause par son propre fait, mais encore de celui qui est causé par le fait des personnes dont on doit répondre, ou des choses que l’on a sous sa garde” (article 1242 of the Civil Code in force on 8 September 2026). Your own bodily injury as a driver, by contrast, is only covered if your policy includes driver protection known as the garantie du conducteur, so read that clause the day you insure, not the day you crash. When the insurer appoints its own vehicle expert, you are entitled to be present at the inspection, to comment on the report, and for significant disputes to commission a counter-expertise at your own initial expense, which often unlocks a negotiation that a bare complaint never would.

B. When the insurer stalls or blames you: evidence that counts, the two-year deadline and the French courts

Many files stall at the same point: the insurer offers too little, or replies that you were partly or wholly at fault, and each driver tells a different story. This is where the hierarchy of evidence decides the outcome, and a June 2025 decision of the second civil chamber of the Court of Cassation should reshape what British drivers keep in their files. A motorcyclist blamed for changing lanes challenged the police findings, and the court of appeal preferred the police plan and statements. The Court of Cassation quashed the decision (Court of Cassation, second civil chamber, 19 June 2025, appeal no. 23-22.911, full decision on courdecassation.fr), ruling word for word: “En statuant ainsi, alors que l’agent de police judiciaire n’ayant pas été présent lors de l’accident, le procès-verbal qu’il avait rédigé ne faisait pas foi jusqu’à preuve contraire, la cour d’appel a violé le texte susvisé.” A police report drawn up by an officer who was not present at the crash does not prove the facts it records; it is only one account among others. The lesson is direct: your signed constat, your time-stamped photographs, your dashcam footage and your independent witnesses will usually weigh more than a report written afterwards at the station from one driver’s story. So build that file from the first hour. Photograph the scene before the vehicles move, keep the constat your copy, save the original of every medical certificate, keep every pharmacy and taxi receipt, note every day of missed work with payslips, and write a short dated diary of pain, sleep, anxiety and the things you can no longer do, because months later a judge compensates documented suffering far more readily than remembered suffering. Never sign a medical discharge or a final settlement, called a transaction, while treatment continues or while the doctors have not yet fixed a consolidation date, since settling early means selling the future cheaply.

The second protection is time, but time runs against the inactive. Article L114-1 of the Insurance Code provides: “Toutes actions dérivant d’un contrat d’assurance sont prescrites par deux ans à compter de l’événement qui y donne naissance.” (article L114-1 of the Insurance Code in force on 8 September 2026). Two years from the accident is the headline limit for actions under the policy, so a file left sleeping in a drawer can die on its own, and the insurer knows it. Before that point, move the file yourself: a formal demand by registered letter, called a mise en demeure, quantifying each head of loss with documents attached, then a complaint to the insurer’s mediator, whose details must appear in your policy, and finally the court. Claims arising from a crash in France are in practice dealt with by the French courts, and for a British claimant that is usually good news, because French judges apply the French compensation scales year after year and are used to foreign-registered vehicles. Repair-only disputes of modest value can use the simplified declaration to the court registry, while bodily injury claims belong before the tribunal judiciaire, where judges expect a structured claim listing each head of loss: vehicle repairs and loss of use, medical expenses before and after consolidation, assistance by a third person, lost earnings, pain and suffering, aesthetic harm, and loss of amenity, each supported by its own exhibit. If the other driver was uninsured or is never found, mention the guarantee fund route at once rather than abandoning the claim, and if your UK insurer refuses to handle the French file, put that refusal in writing and seek advice quickly, because an unjustified refusal can itself engage the insurer’s liability. British drivers should also close two specifically British files after a crash. First, if you live in France, check that your licence position is regular, since an accident often triggers administrative checks: our guide to the UK licence exchange when the ANTS refuses on medical grounds explains the appeal route, and visitors should read whether a UK licence alone lets you drive in France. Second, keep later driving impeccable while the claim runs: a fresh speed-camera fine or an unpaid parking penalty never helps a claimant’s credibility. The UK government’s driving-abroad pages (gov.uk driving abroad guidance) and the French public-service portal (service-public.fr) are the two official starting points for the British and French sides of any cross-Channel motoring question.

Conclusion

A car crash in France rewards the methodical and punishes the hurried. Stop and sign nothing false at the roadside, photograph and witness everything, declare in writing within five working days, quantify your claim so the three-month offer duty bites, and never let the file sleep past the two-year limit. The criminal courts have just spent 2025 and 2026 redrawing the edges of hit-and-run, and the civil courts remind us that only contemporaneous evidence truly counts. For a British driver, the French system is neither hostile nor mysterious once its timetable is respected: the same rules protect you on a Devon lane transferred to a Dordogne road. Keep this guide in the car, and after any serious crash, take advice before you accept any final offer.

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