How to get a car accident report in Alabama

Where to get the report

• Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), online or at a driver license office alabamadl.alea.gov or ALEA office, $15

  Every law enforcement officer who investigates a crash, at the scene or later by interviewing the people involved or witnesses, must forward the completed report to ALEA within 24 hours after completing the investigation, on ALEA’s uniform accident report form; local police departments may keep copies (Ala. Code § 32-10-7(a)). ALEA’s fee page lists “Copy of Crash Report - $15” and says crash reports may be bought online at alabamadl.alea.gov or in person at any ALEA Driver License Office, that § 32-10-7 governs who is eligible, and that no personal checks are accepted (money order, cashier’s check, cash or credit card). On ALEA’s online service, choose “Purchase Crash Report”: ALEA says you need a personal email address, a valid credit card and the crash information, that it can take up to 15 business days from the date of the crash for the report to be available online, that crashes 10 or more years old are not available for purchase, and that a purchased report stays available to view and download for up to 5 days. Get the report or case number from the officer before you leave the scene. We could not see past the site’s captcha, so we could not confirm whether the online checkout adds a processing fee or how it confirms that you are eligible.

  Official page

• City police department or county sheriff that worked the crash Agency’s records desk; price varies

  Most crashes on city streets are worked by the city police, and local agencies keep their own copies (Ala. Code § 32-10-7(a)), so you can usually also buy the report from the agency that responded; the same eligibility rules in § 32-10-7(b) apply to every accident report prepared under that section. Each agency sets its own price and channel. Example, Dothan Police Department only: its page says crash reports are $15 each in person at the Records Division, 210 N. Saint Andrews St., by cash, check or credit card, with the case number from the green slip the officer gave you, and links to an online request through LexisNexis BuyCrash. Example, Opelika Police Department only: its Records Division charges $10 for each report copy (credit card, cash or money order, no checks), 501 South 10th Street, 334-705-5295, and says reports of crashes that were not on private property or in a parking lot can be bought online through Carfax (crashdocs.org) a few days after the crash with your report or reference number. Ask the responding agency for its own process.

  Official page

• ALEA public records unit (for anything beyond the crash report) Records portal; $20 minimum per request

  ALEA’s public records portal sends crash report requests to the driver records service above. For other ALEA records, it says a non-refundable minimum fee of $20.00 is due per request, that time-intensive requests may cost more, and that body camera video and other investigative material must be subpoenaed through ALEA’s Legal Division, PO Box 304115, Montgomery, Alabama 36130. Questions: 334-676-6101 or public.records@alea.gov. See our Alabama accident video page for how to view a trooper’s video.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Alabama

Injury or death: call police now

Immediate notice: the driver of any motor vehicle in an accident resulting in injury to or the death of any person must “immediately by the quickest means of communication give notice” to the local police department if the crash happened inside a municipality, and otherwise to the county sheriff’s office or the state highway patrol (Ala. Code § 32-10-5(a)). That section sets no dollar threshold and does not cover crashes with property damage only; we found no other state statute that requires a driver to call police for a damage-only crash, although a city or county may have its own rule, which we did not survey. Stop and stay: the driver of a vehicle in a crash that injures or kills anyone, or damages a vehicle that is driven or attended, must stop at or as close to the scene as possible and stay until meeting the duties in § 32-10-2, without obstructing traffic more than necessary (§ 32-10-1(a)). If no one appears hurt and the driver is not impaired, a drivable vehicle may be moved to the shoulder, emergency lane, median or another nearby spot, and the driver must stay as close to the scene as safely possible (§ 32-10-1(b)); a vehicle in a crash with an injury or death may not be moved until a law enforcement officer directs it (§ 32-10-1(c)). Give information and help: give your name, address and the registration number of the vehicle you are driving, show your license on request, and give reasonable assistance to anyone injured, including arranging transport to a doctor or hospital when treatment is apparently needed or the injured person asks (§ 32-10-2). Unattended vehicle: stop, then find and notify the operator or owner, or leave a written note in a conspicuous place on the vehicle with your name and address, the owner’s, and a statement of what happened (§ 32-10-3). Fixtures on or beside the road (damage only): take reasonable steps to notify the owner, give your name, address and registration number, and show your license on request (§ 32-10-4). Penalties: as amended by Act 2026-64 (SB169), effective October 1, 2026, a violation of §§ 32-10-1 through 32-10-5 is a Class A misdemeanor when only property was damaged, a Class C felony when someone suffered physical injury, and a Class B felony for serious physical injury or death, and anyone who suffers damage or loss in connection with conduct that results in a conviction is a victim for the purposes of the state’s restitution article, Article 4A of Chapter 18 of Title 15 (§ 32-10-6). The ALEA Secretary must revoke the driver license of a person convicted under § 32-10-1 (§ 32-10-1(g)).

The driver report you may have to file

Law: 30-day report; ALEA: uninsured only

The Motor Vehicle Safety-Responsibility Act says the operator of every motor vehicle involved in a crash in Alabama in which anyone is killed or injured, or in which damage to the property of any one person, including the operator, is more than $250, must report the crash in writing to the director (now ALEA) within 30 days, on a form the director prescribes; the report asks only for what ALEA needs to decide whether insurance or another exception applies. If the operator is physically unable, the owner must report within 10 days after learning of the crash (Ala. Code § 32-7-5). Failing to report is punishable by a fine of not more than $25.00, and if another person was injured or another person’s property was damaged, ALEA must suspend the license of the person who failed to report until the report is filed and for up to 30 more days (§ 32-7-37(a)). Giving information in the report while knowing or having reason to believe it is false is punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000.00, up to one year in jail, or both (§ 32-7-37(b)). How ALEA applies this today: its current form, the SR-31 Accident Claim Form (Rev. 11/18/2021), and its online “Submit an Accident Claim” page both say a filing is required ONLY if a crash in Alabama caused death, personal injury, or property damage to any one owner of more than $500 by an uninsured motorist, and only if you have not been compensated; the claim asks for the ALEA accident case number from the crash report and the at-fault driver’s name and license number, and the online version is only for crashes on public property. That $500 figure matches the security and suspension rule in § 32-7-6, which applies to crashes with injury, death or more than $500 damage to one person’s property, unless the driver or owner had liability insurance or another exception applies (§§ 32-7-6(a), (c), 32-7-7). The statute’s $250, 30-day duty and ALEA’s form do not say the same thing, and we found no ALEA page that explains the difference. If you want to be sure you have complied, ask ALEA’s Driver License Division (334-676-6000); mailed claims go to ALEA Safety Responsibility Unit, P.O. Box 1471, Montgomery, AL 36102-1471. Reports that people involved in crashes make to ALEA are confidential, for ALEA and accident prevention use, and may not be used as evidence in any civil or criminal trial arising out of the crash (§ 32-10-11).

What the report costs

$15 from ALEA; local fees vary

When ALEA furnishes a copy of a record or report in its files, the statute lets it set a fee of not more than fifteen dollars ($15) per record or report, unless another law sets a different fee; $10 goes to the State General Fund and $5 to ALEA’s Highway Traffic Safety Fund (Ala. Code § 32-2-8, which still names the Director of Public Safety). ALEA’s fee page lists a crash report copy at $15. That statute covers ALEA only; a city police department or sheriff sets its own price. Example, Dothan Police Department only: $15 per crash report in person. Example, Opelika Police Department only: $10 per report copy, and if you want more than the report, $2.00 per page for an approved case file, $25.00 per disc of photographs, $25.00 per video recording and $50.00 per vehicle for a Crash Data Recorder download. Separately, no law enforcement agency or other government entity may charge you, your insurer or anyone else an “accident response service fee” for responding to or investigating a crash (§ 32-10-13(b)).

When the report is ready

Up to 15 business days online

The investigating officer must forward the report to ALEA within 24 hours after completing the investigation (Ala. Code § 32-10-7(a)); the statute sets no deadline for finishing the investigation itself. ALEA’s purchase page says it can take up to 15 business days from the date of the crash for a report to be available online, that crashes 10 or more years old are not available for purchase, and that a purchased report can be viewed and downloaded for up to 5 days. Example, Opelika Police Department only: it says it may take a few days after the crash for a report to be uploaded to its online vendor. Retention at local agencies: the Local Government Records Commission’s Records Disposition Authority for Local Law Enforcement Agencies (approved April 22, 2026) tells local agencies to keep Alabama uniform traffic accident reports, and private property accident reports, for 5 years. That is a minimum for local agencies; ALEA, a state agency, follows its own schedule, which we did not check.

Who can get a copy

People involved, insurers, lawyers

Alabama crash reports are not open to everyone. Apart from news organizations and ALEA’s vehicle-history contracts, a report may be disclosed only when the identity of a person involved is not otherwise known or the person denies being there, when a properly executed subpoena or court order directs it, or when it is requested by one of these (Ala. Code § 32-10-7(b)): a person involved in the crash, including drivers, passengers and pedestrians; a parent or guardian of a minor who was involved; the personal representative, executor or other legal representative of the estate of a person involved who died, or, if no personal representative has been appointed, an heir, on whose affidavit the agency may rely; an insurer of a person involved, or its written designee, for insurance business purposes; an attorney of a person involved, or the attorney’s employee, who must provide the represented person’s written signed consent; a government entity responsible for the road or bridge, or for law enforcement investigations; and an owner or lienholder of a vehicle in the crash. News-gathering organizations may get reports solely to publish or broadcast the news, and may not use them for any other commercial purpose or give them to third parties. In the same passage the statute says that for 30 days following the accident, ALEA “shall limit any personal identifying information contained in any accident report released pursuant to this subsection to the name and age of the person involved,” and that the complete report is available after that date, excluding juvenile information and personal information as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 2725 (§ 32-10-7(b)). The sentence sits in the news-organization passage but its words reach “any accident report released pursuant to this subsection”; we found no ALEA statement on whether it also applies to people involved in the crash, so if your copy in the first 30 days shows only names and ages, ask ALEA. No disclosure is required of information that federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2721, the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act) prohibits (§ 32-10-7(d)). ALEA’s fee page points buyers to § 32-10-7 for who is eligible. Example, Opelika Police Department only: it says that if the report is for insurance or a lawyer, you may prefer to have them request it for you.

What to do now

1. 1

   Call police now if anyone is hurt

   Injury or death means immediate notice to city police, the sheriff or the state troopers. If no one appears hurt, you are not impaired and the car can be driven, you may move it out of the road; stay as close to the scene as safely possible.

2. 2

   Get the case number before you leave

   Ask the officer which agency is writing the report and for its case or report number. You need it to buy the report.

3. 3

   Buy the report once it is posted

   ALEA charges $15 online at alabamadl.alea.gov or at a driver license office, and says a report can take up to 15 business days to appear online. The responding city or county agency may also sell it, at its own price.

4. 4

   Check the 30-day ALEA report rule

   State law calls for a written report to ALEA within 30 days after a crash with death, injury or over $250 in damage to one person’s property; ALEA’s claim form says a filing is needed only when an uninsured driver caused death, injury or over $500 in damage and you have not been compensated. Ask ALEA if you are unsure.

5. 5

   Request video separately, and fast

   Police video and photos are not part of the crash report. Ask the agency in writing now, and post the crash on the bounty board for dashcam footage.

Frequently asked questions