You’ve had a crash in a country whose forms you can’t read. Here’s what Swedish law makes you do at the scene, when the police need to know, what to sign and what not to, and who ends up paying.
When you need this
You’ve just hit another car, a cyclist, a pedestrian or a post. Someone is hurt, or the other driver is holding out a form in Swedish. You scraped a parked car and nobody is around. Or someone hit you and drove off, or turned out to have no insurance.
If the car simply broke down, or you need the triangle and barrier rules in detail, start with our car breakdown and roadside safety guide. If you hit a moose, deer, wild boar or reindeer, there’s a separate legal duty covered in our wildlife collision guide.
The first ten minutes, step by step
- Stop and secure. Hazard lights on. On a fast road, put the warning triangle at least 100 meters back and get everyone off the road, behind the barrier.
- Call 112 if anyone is injured, trapped, or the scene is dangerous. Help the injured as far as you can until help arrives. Give the road number, the direction and the nearest exit or sign.
- Move the cars only if they block or endanger traffic. If someone is seriously hurt, leave everything as it is unless it endangers traffic.
- Exchange details: names, addresses, phone numbers, registration numbers, insurers and policy numbers.
- Document: photos of both cars, their positions, road markings, signs and damage. Take witnesses’ names and numbers.
- Fill in an accident statement (skadeanmälan) together with the other driver: facts, a sketch, both signatures. Sign only what you understand.
- If police attend, follow their directions and expect a breath test.
- Notify the police if anyone was more than slightly hurt, or if you damaged unattended property and can’t reach the owner.
- Hit a listed animal or a reindeer? Mark the spot and call 112, even if it ran off.
- Call your insurer or the rental company the same day, with the photos, the statement and any police reference number.
Your legal duties at the scene
The rules sit in one paragraph of the Road Traffic Ordinance (trafikförordningen), and they apply to everyone involved, whoever caused the crash.
| Duty | What the law says |
|---|---|
| Stay | Everyone involved must remain at the scene |
| Help | Help injured people as far as you are able |
| Identify yourself | Give your name and address, and what happened, when asked |
| Clear the road | Move a vehicle that blocks or endangers traffic at once |
| Preserve traces | After a death or serious injury, move vehicles only if they endanger traffic |
Leaving to dodge these duties is smitning, leaving the scene of an accident. It carries fines or up to six months in prison, and up to a year if the offence is gross. That applies to a tiny bump in a car park too.
When the police must be told
This is where visitors most often over- or under-react. The law requires you to notify the police as soon as possible in two situations: someone is injured, other than trivially, or you damaged property whose owner isn’t there.
A two-car collision where nobody is hurt and both drivers swap details is not a police matter. The Swedish police say so directly: if you have the contact details of the person who caused the damage, go to your insurer instead of filing a police report.
How you report depends on urgency:
| Situation | Number |
|---|---|
| Injury, danger, fire, trapped people | 112 |
| Non-urgent report, from a Swedish phone | 114 14 |
| Non-urgent report, from a foreign phone | +46 77 114 14 00 |
The police’s online report form needs a Swedish personal or coordination number, so as a visitor you report by phone or at a police station. Keep the case reference number (diarienummer); your insurer will ask for it.
The accident statement: sign only what you understand
Insurers give out a claim form that both drivers fill in at the scene, and some insurers’ associations use a common European Accident Statement. Swedish consumer insurance advisers call a report signed by both parties important, because insurers often require either that or a police report.
The European Commission’s advice for accidents in another EU country is blunt: don’t admit liability, and only sign the accident report if you fully understand it. Your signature isn’t needed to settle a claim. If you and the other driver disagree, the insurers settle it between themselves from police reports and damage assessments.
So if the other driver’s version is on the form and you can’t read it, don’t sign. Photograph everything and take witness details instead.
The breath test
Expect one if the police come. Swedish law lets police breath-test any driver of a motor vehicle without suspicion, on the spot. If you’re too badly hurt to blow, a blood test can be taken instead.
Testing every driver involved in an accident has been described by the police as routine, though a 2012 Riksdag motion noted it didn’t always happen. Sweden’s limit is 0.2 per mille, and alcohol drunk after the drive still counts. The full rules are in our guide to Sweden’s drink-driving limit.
Who pays
Swedish accident money runs through trafikförsäkring, the compulsory traffic insurance every Swedish car carries. The key is that it treats people and cars differently.
Injuries barely depend on fault. Drivers and passengers are paid from their own vehicle’s traffic insurance. Pedestrians, cyclists and anyone else are paid from the insurance of the vehicle that hit them. Compensation is reduced only for intent, gross negligence, or a drunk driver’s negligence.
Car damage depends entirely on fault. Your car’s damage is paid by the other car’s traffic insurance only if the other driver was at fault. Traffic insurance never pays for the car it insures. That’s why the statement, the photos and the witnesses matter.
| Situation | Who you claim from |
|---|---|
| Anyone injured | The traffic insurance of the car they were in, or that hit them |
| Your car damaged, other driver at fault | The other car’s traffic insurer |
| Your car damaged, you at fault | Your own damage cover, or the rental contract up to the excess |
| Other car foreign-registered | That car’s insurer, usually via its claims representative in Sweden |
| Other car uninsured, or drove off unidentified | Trafikförsäkringsföreningen (TFF), in writing |
TFF, the traffic insurers’ association, is also Sweden’s Green Card bureau. It can tell you who insures a vehicle from its registration number. For property damage from a vehicle that was never identified, a deduction of one twentieth of the year’s price base amount applies. TFF’s claim form is in Swedish only, and it takes no claims by phone. Report the hit-and-run to the police too; see our guide to reporting a crime as a tourist.
In a rental car, the car’s traffic insurance covers your injuries and the other party’s losses, but the rental car’s own damage falls under your contract. Rental terms commonly require a police report for theft, hit-and-run and animal collisions. Car rental insurance in Sweden explains the excess.
In your own foreign car, your home insurer stands in for Swedish traffic insurance. Cars from the EU/EEA, Switzerland, the UK and a few other European countries need no extra document; cars from other Green Card countries carry the Green Card; anything else needs Swedish border insurance from Customs. How your home insurer treats your own injuries as the driver is something to ask it; we could not verify a general rule.
Mistakes to avoid
- Leaving with only a phone number. The law entitles you to a name and address; the insurer needs the registration and the insurer too.
- Signing the other driver’s version to end an awkward scene. Don’t admit liability; don’t sign what you can’t read.
- Thinking a pedestrian or passenger must prove fault. Traffic insurance pays injuries without it.
- Driving off after a car-park scrape. Tell the owner or the police.
- Forgetting the rental company. Its contract decides what you pay for the car.
Practical information
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Emergency | 112, free |
| Police, non-urgent | 114 14; +46 77 114 14 00 from a foreign phone; your operator’s rate |
| Unknown-vehicle deduction, accidents in 2026 | 2,960 kr on property damage (one twentieth of the 2026 price base amount, 59,200 kr) |
| Border insurance, car from outside the Green Card system | 900 kr for a month, 5,200 kr for a year; Swedish Customs only |
| Drink-driving limit | 0.2 per mille blood, 0.10 mg/l breath |
| Claims for foreign, uninsured and unknown vehicles | Trafikförsäkringsföreningen (TFF), in writing |
FAQ
What should I do after a car accident in Sweden?
Stop, turn on the hazard lights and make the scene safe. Call 112 if anyone is hurt and help them as far as you can. Swap names, addresses, registrations and insurers with the other driver, photograph everything, and fill in an accident statement together. Notify the police if anyone was injured, then tell your insurer or rental company the same day.
Do I have to call the police after a minor accident in Sweden?
Not if nobody was hurt and both drivers exchanged details: the Swedish police call that an insurance matter. You must notify the police if anyone was more than slightly injured, or if you damaged property whose owner is not there. Visitors report by phone on 114 14, or +46 77 114 14 00 from a foreign phone, or at a police station.
Should I sign an accident report I can’t read?
No. The EU’s advice for accidents in another member state is not to admit liability and to sign the accident report only if you fully understand it. Your signature is not required to settle a claim: if you disagree with the other driver’s account, the insurers settle it between themselves from police reports and damage assessments. Take photos and witness details instead.
Who pays for injuries after a car accident in Sweden?
Traffic insurance. Drivers and passengers are paid from their own vehicle’s traffic insurance; pedestrians, cyclists and others from the insurance of the vehicle that hit them. Fault barely matters: compensation for injury is reduced only for intent, gross negligence, or a drunk driver’s negligence. If the vehicle was unknown or uninsured, Swedish insurers pay jointly through TFF.
What if the other driver was foreign or uninsured, or drove off?
For a foreign vehicle, claim from its insurer, usually through a claims representative in Sweden; TFF, Sweden’s Green Card bureau, tells you who that is. If the vehicle was uninsured or never identified, claim from TFF in writing. For property damage by an unknown vehicle, a small deduction applies. Report a hit-and-run to the police as well.
Will the police breathalyze me after an accident in Sweden?
Expect it. Swedish police may breath-test any driver without suspicion, and testing every driver involved in an accident has been described as police routine. If you are too hurt to blow, a blood test can be taken instead. The limit is 0.2 per mille, and alcohol drunk after the crash still counts.
I crashed a rental car in Sweden. What now?
Follow the same duties at the scene, then call the rental company’s damage or assistance number the same day. The car’s traffic insurance covers your injuries and the other party’s losses, but damage to the rental falls under your contract, up to the excess. Rental terms commonly require a police report for theft, hit-and-run and animal collisions.
Related guides
- Car breakdown and roadside assistance in Sweden — the triangle, the barrier and who to call when the car stops.
- Wildlife collisions in Sweden — the statutory 112 duty after hitting a moose, deer or reindeer.
- Sweden’s emergency numbers — what to say when 112 answers.
- Car rental insurance in Sweden — the excess and what damage cover leaves out.
- Sweden’s drink-driving limit — what a positive breath test means for a foreign licence.
Facts verified 2026-09-24. Sources: Trafikförordningen (1998:1276), the Traffic Offences Act (1951:649), the Traffic Damage Act (1975:1410), the Breath Test Act (1976:1090), Trafikförsäkringsföreningen, Konsumenternas Försäkringsbyrå, Your Europe, Polismyndigheten, SOS Alarm and Trafikverket — full register in this topic’s source file. No insurer, rental company or repair price is named here. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.