What to Do After a Minor Car Accident in Saudi Arabia

Even careful drivers eventually deal with a minor fender-bender, and knowing the correct process in Saudi Arabia — rather than guessing under stress in the moment — makes a genuinely stressful situation far more manageable. Here's what Saudi traffic authorities actually want you to do.

When You Can (and Can't) Move Your Car

Saudi Arabia's General Directorate of Traffic (Muroor) has clarified the specific situations where drivers are permitted to move their vehicles after an accident, rather than leaving them exactly in place. As a general rule: for minor accidents with no injuries and only cosmetic vehicle damage, drivers are generally expected to move vehicles out of the flow of traffic to a safe location once basic documentation (photos, exchanged details) is done — leaving damaged cars blocking live traffic lanes creates real safety risk and isn't the correct default response for minor incidents.

Understanding the Najm System

Najm is Saudi Arabia's dedicated traffic accident reporting and assessment system, and it's central to how minor accidents get formally documented and processed for insurance purposes without necessarily requiring police attendance at the scene for every single case. For accidents that qualify as minor (no injuries, no major dispute about fault, no significant road blockage), Najm allows both drivers to report the incident and get an official assessment without waiting for an officer to physically arrive — a genuinely useful system that speeds up an otherwise stressful process considerably.

Step-by-Step: What to Actually Do

1. Check for injuries first, before anything else — if anyone is hurt, this changes the entire process (see below).
2. If it's minor and no one's hurt, take clear photos of both vehicles, the damage, and the overall scene before moving anything, if it's safe to do so.
3. Move vehicles out of active traffic lanes once documented, to a safe nearby spot — this is specifically what recent Muroor guidance clarifies is expected for minor incidents.
4. Exchange details with the other driver — Iqama/ID, contact information, insurance details, and vehicle registration (Istimara).
5. File through Najm, either via the app or with assistance if you're unfamiliar with the process — this creates the official record your insurance will need.

If Anyone Is Injured

If there's any injury, however minor it seems, the process is different: do not move the vehicles, call emergency services immediately (997 for ambulance), and wait for police and medical response to arrive and formally handle the scene. This is a firm exception to the "move your car" guidance above — injury cases require police documentation at the scene, not a self-service Najm report.

Dealing With Insurance Afterward

Once your incident is properly documented through Najm (or through police attendance for a more serious case), your insurance provider uses that official report to process your claim. Contact your insurer promptly after the incident, provide your Najm reference number, and follow their specific claims process from there. Keeping your own copies of the photos and any reference numbers is a smart habit, even though the official record exists digitally.

Staying Calm and Avoiding Common Mistakes

• Don't argue about fault at the scene — the assessment process exists precisely to determine this properly; a roadside argument doesn't help and only adds stress.
• Don't leave the scene before getting the other driver's details and completing your report, even if the damage looks extremely minor.
• Keep basic accident-response information saved in your phone (emergency numbers, your insurance provider's contact, the Najm app) so you're not searching for it under stress if something happens.
• If you're ever unsure whether an incident qualifies as "minor," err on the side of caution and don't move your vehicle until you're sure — it's easier to explain a stationary car than to have moved one you shouldn't have.

Prepared Beats Panicked

Nobody plans for a car accident, but knowing the correct process ahead of time — when to move your car, how Najm works, and what changes if anyone's hurt — turns a stressful, confusing moment into a straightforward checklist. A few minutes reading this now could save you real stress on a day you really don't need any more of it.