Record an accident

What it's about

After an accident, patchio helps you record everything on the spot – as a European accident report, built for your phone. At the end, you get a clean report you can print, save as a PDF, and forward to your insurer or repair shop.

How to record an accident

Open the vehicle and tap the red “Record accident” button on the detail page. The assistant guides you through seven steps:

1. When & where – date, time, place and country. “Use current location” has patchio fill in the GPS coordinates. In the finished report, Open in Maps then appears under the location – so the recovery service can find the spot too.
2. Consequences & witnesses – injuries, damage to other vehicles or property, witnesses.
3. My vehicle (A) – pre-filled from the vehicle and its insurance, everything editable.
4. Other party (B) – keeper, driver, number plate, make, insurer and policy.
5. What happened – the 17 standard accident circumstances, ticked separately for you and the other party.
6. Sketch & photos – draw the sketch directly with your finger, or upload photos (a photographed hand-drawn sketch works too).
7. Signatures – both drivers sign directly on the screen.

Sharing the report

“Create report” saves the accident and takes you to the report view. Via “Print / PDF”, you open the print dialogue – choose “Save as PDF” there. On your phone, the native share sheet appears.

Finding & changing it again later

Recorded accidents sit on the detail page under “Accidents”. Tap one to reopen the report. Anyone who can see the vehicle can record one; only the person who recorded it and vehicle managers can change or delete it.

Deleting a report

In the report view, next to “Edit”, sits the “Delete” button. It only appears if you recorded the report yourself, or if you're allowed to manage vehicles.

Before deleting, patchio tells you how many files will disappear from storage – photos, the sketch and both signatures go with it and can't be restored. So do whatever you still need with the report first: save it as a PDF, send it to your insurer.

What stays: repair and workshop costs are expenses in your household finances. They're attached to the vehicle, not the accident report – so your insights look exactly the same after deletion as before.

Good to know

The report is a self-recorded aid for the claim and doesn't replace an official form – but it does gather all the important details in one place.

Replaced images

If you redraw the sketch or the signature while editing, the new version replaces the old one – the old file is then removed from storage. The same applies to photos you take out of the report. Clean-up only happens after the report is actually saved: if saving fails (because you're not allowed to change the report), everything stays as it was.