How to get a car accident report in Colorado

Where to get the report

• Colorado State Patrol (crashes a trooper investigated) $5 for up to 10 pages, through portal

  Request the report from the Patrol’s Central Records Unit through its online records request portal (coloradostatepatrol.govqa.us); the Patrol says all records requests must be submitted there, and it treats every request, including one labeled CORA or FOIA, as a request under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act. Have the driver’s name, the date of the crash, the case report number and the crash location; if the Patrol called a tow truck, the CSP Incident Report form the trooper gives you at the scene (or mails later) shows the case report number in its upper right-hand corner. Fee: the Patrol’s official fee schedule (effective July 24, 2026) lists a basic crash report at $5 base fee covering the first 10 pages, then $0.25 per page, with a free download through the portal; certified copies are $1.00 per page; and staff time for research, retrieval and redaction is $30.00 an hour. The portal’s payment processor (SIPA, not the Patrol) adds $1.00 for an electronic check, or for a card ((transaction amount + $0.75) × 2.25%) + $0.75, which the Patrol says is about $0.99 per $10 charged. The Patrol’s crash page also accepts a check or money order payable to the Colorado State Patrol, or a credit card, and asks you to submit only one request to avoid duplicate charges. You must sign a statement that you will not use the records for the direct solicitation of business for pecuniary gain (C.R.S. 24-72-305.5). The basic crash report is the trooper’s synopsis and does not include witness statements, digital media or other parts of the investigation; the complete case file, photographs and video are separate requests. Contact: Central Records Unit, 700 Kipling Street, Lakewood, CO 80215; 303-239-4180; cdps_csprecords@state.co.us; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. The Patrol cannot give you a counter report you filed online; those are held by the Department of Revenue.

  Official page

• City police department or county sheriff Process and fee vary by agency

  Most crashes inside cities are worked by city police or a sheriff’s office, and that agency holds its report. Colorado sets no statewide crash report price for local agencies: under the Criminal Justice Records Act an agency may charge reasonable fees not exceeding actual costs, including personnel and equipment, for search, retrieval and redaction, up to 25 cents per standard page for copies, may waive fees, and for a county or city the governing body sets the fees (C.R.S. 24-72-306 (1)). Example, Denver Police Department, from its own page: the Records Unit provides a six-page crash report that is typically needed for insurance, ordered online through the linked ordering system (crashdocs.org) or by mail; the page does not state the online price, and the mail-in form (DPD 241B, dated 10/17) asks for a $10.00 check or money order payable to Manager of Revenue, sent to the Records Unit, 1331 Cherokee Street, Room 420, Denver, CO 80204-2787, and notes fee exemptions for crime victims (C.R.S. 24-4.1-303). Denver says crash reports typically become available 5 to 7 days after they are closed, that the fee is a non-refundable search fee kept even if the report does not exist or is not releasable, and that crashes involving a fatality or serious bodily injury, a juvenile, an active investigation, a city vehicle or a sealed record must be requested from its Civil Liability Section as an “Investigation Report,” at $20 for research and up to 50 electronic pages plus $41.37 an hour after that. Denver also says a crash report you submitted online is not available through the Denver Police Department and must be obtained through the state’s online crash reporting system (the Department of Revenue). Ask the agency that responded for its own process and price.

  Official page

• Colorado Department of Revenue, Division of Motor Vehicles Form DR 2559 or DR2489, plus fee

  Police agencies submit their crash reports to the Department of Revenue (42-4-1606 (4)(a)(I)), which also holds online counter reports. The Department says a request is subject to the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act and C.R.S. 24-72-204 (7)(a) and (b). For your own crash report, submit form DR 2559 (Permission to Release Driver Records to Self or Another Person) with the required fee. For someone else’s report, you need either that person’s signed permission on DR 2559, or form DR2489 (Requestor Release and Affidavit of Intended Use), plus the fee. A counter report is released only with the written consent of the driver who submitted it, on DR 2559. Mail the form or make an appointment at the Westgate Office in Lakewood (choose Driver Records); the Department says crash records are available only at that office, not at driver license offices. Allow 90 days for the law enforcement agency’s report to reach the Department and be entered into the driver license system; the Department keeps crash information for seven years. Fee: the crash records page links “the required fee” to the Department’s fee page, which lists a Driving Record at $9.25 and a Certified Driving Record at $10.25 and no separate crash report fee, and form DR 2559 (07/16/26) lists a Non-Certified Search Fee of $9.25 and a Certified Search Fee of $10.25. Confirm the fee for a crash report with the Department. Conflicting addresses: the crash records page gives P.O. Box 173350, Denver, CO 80217-3350 and the Westgate Office at 3265 S. Wadsworth Blvd. #3A, Lakewood, CO 80027; form DR 2559 gives PO Box 173345, Denver CO 80217-3345 and 3265 S. Wadsworth Blvd. #31, Lakewood, CO 80027.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Colorado

Call police now: injury or any damage

The reporting duty is C.R.S. 42-4-1606 (1), as amended by HB26-1237 effective August 12, 2026: “The driver of a vehicle involved in a traffic crash resulting in injury to, serious bodily injury to, or death of any person or any property damage shall, after fulfilling the requirements of sections 42-4-1602 and 42-4-1603 (1), give immediate notice of the location of such crash and such other information as is specified in section 42-4-1603 (2) to the nearest office of the duly authorized police authority and, if so directed by the police authority, shall immediately return to and remain at the scene of the crash until said police have arrived at the scene and completed their investigation thereat.” In plain terms: after you stop, exchange information and, where practical, help anyone hurt, you must notify the nearest police office at once. There is no dollar threshold: “any property damage” is enough. A violation is a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense (42-4-1606 (6)), which carries a sentence of 10 days to 90 days in jail, a $150 to $300 fine, or both (42-4-1701 (3)(a)(II)(A)). If the driver is physically incapable of giving the notice, another occupant who is capable must give it (42-4-1607 (1)). At the scene: in a crash with injury, serious bodily injury or death, you must stop at or as close to the scene as possible (or immediately return) and remain until you have given your information and rendered aid (42-4-1601 (1)); leaving is a class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense if anyone was injured, a class 4 felony for serious bodily injury and a class 3 felony for a death, and the Department of Revenue must revoke the license of a person convicted (42-4-1601 (2), (3)). In a crash that damages only a vehicle that is driven or attended, you must stop and remain until you have given your information (a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense if you do not), and if the crash is on the traveled portion, median or ramp of a divided highway and every vehicle can be driven safely, each driver must move as soon as practicable to a frontage road, the nearest suitable cross street or another suitable location (42-4-1602). The information you must give the person struck or the other driver, occupant or attendant is your name, your address and the registration number of the vehicle you are driving, and on request you must show your driver’s license; where practical you must render reasonable assistance to anyone injured, including taking or arranging to take them for medical treatment if it is apparent that treatment is necessary or they ask (42-4-1603 (1)). If none of those people can receive the information and no officer is present, you must report the crash immediately to the nearest police office and give it the same information (42-4-1603 (2)); leaving the scene to make that report is not an offense once you have met the other duties (42-4-1601 (1.5)). Unattended vehicle or other property: stop immediately and either find and notify the owner or operator, giving your name, address and registration number, or securely attach a written notice with that information in a conspicuous place on the vehicle or property, and also report the crash as 42-4-1606 requires; a violation is a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense (42-4-1604). Highway fixtures or traffic control devices: notify the road authority in charge with your name, address and registration number, and report as 42-4-1606 requires (42-4-1605). The officer’s report: every officer who is notified of or investigates a crash must submit a report to the Department of Revenue on the form provided, including insurance information from any driver, within five days after receiving the information or completing the investigation, and, since August 12, 2026, if a participant dies within 30 days after the crash as a result of an injury sustained in it, an amended report within five days after receiving notification of the death (42-4-1606 (4)(a)(I), as amended by HB26-1127, approved May 4, 2026). An officer is not required to investigate or file a report for a motor vehicle crash with no injury or death if the officer reasonably believes damage to any one person’s property does not exceed $1,000, except that the officer must do so if a participant specifically requests it or a participant cannot show proof of insurance (42-4-1606 (4)(b)(I)). So if you want a report, ask the officer for one. Bad-weather exception in practice: the Colorado State Patrol says that during “Accident Alert,” declared when weather is so severe that officers cannot respond to the volume of crashes, troopers and police respond only if a vehicle is disabled by damage, someone is killed or injured and needs medical attention, alcohol or drugs are involved, it is an alleged hit and run, or public property other than wildlife (such as a guardrail) is damaged; otherwise the drivers must exchange information and file a report online as soon as possible, or at a troop office where the crash occurred. Local rules: the Model Traffic Code for Colorado that CDOT publishes for cities and counties to adopt omits Part 16 (accidents and accident reports) entirely, so adopting it adds no local reporting duty; home-rule cities can write their own ordinances, and we did not survey them. HB26-1237 replaced “accident” with “crash” throughout these sections effective August 12, 2026; the duties are unchanged.

The driver report you may have to file

No required report; online if no officer

Colorado no longer requires drivers to file their own crash report. The written driver report that used to sit in 42-4-1606 (2) and the financial responsibility act’s accident report in 42-7-202 were both repealed effective August 4, 2004 (the 2024 statute shows each as “Repealed”). Your duty is the immediate notice to police in 42-4-1606 (1). The Department of Revenue says that if an officer was called to the scene to obtain all the needed information, you do not need to provide any forms unless the Department sends you a letter, which will tell you what to do. If no officer came, you may file a crash report online through myDMV (the Department’s page says “may”); the Department calls it a “counter report,” says no law enforcement agency investigates it and that it is kept for record purposes only, and tells you to give the other driver your name, telephone number and insurance information. The Colorado State Patrol’s pages link to the same online system and say the Patrol cannot access or copy those reports; ask the Department at 303-205-5600. Reports that a driver, owner or other involved person is required by law to make are for the Department’s confidential use, are without prejudice to the person reporting, and may not be used as evidence in a civil or criminal trial arising from the crash (except as 42-7-504 (2) provides); the Department must on demand give a certificate showing whether a report was made (42-4-1610). The Department releases a counter report only with the written consent of the driver who submitted it, on form DR 2559, which cites 42-4-1610. Insurance: an operator or owner named in a crash report filed under 42-4-1606 must file security (no more than $35,000) and proof of financial responsibility with the Department unless exempt, and the exemptions include an operator or owner where the owner had an automobile liability policy in effect on the vehicle at the time of the crash; the Department must notify those required to file within 15 days after receiving the report, a written notice follows within 60 days, and the license is suspended unless the person complies or shows the requirement does not apply within 20 days after that notice is mailed (42-7-301, 42-7-302). Conflict: the Colorado State Patrol’s crash page says that if you did not give the trooper current insurance information, you will need to fill out a financial responsibility form within ten days of the crash. We found no statute that sets that ten-day form; the driver report statutes that once did were repealed in 2004. If the Department or the Patrol sends you a form, answer it by the date it gives.

What the report costs

CSP $5 up to 10 pages; local varies

Colorado State Patrol: $5 base fee for a basic crash report covering the first 10 pages, $0.25 per page after that, free download through the records portal, $1.00 per page for certified copies, and $30.00 an hour for staff research, retrieval and redaction time; the portal’s processor adds $1.00 for an electronic check or about $0.99 per $10 on a card (CSP fee schedule effective July 24, 2026; the Patrol’s older posted PDF schedule, form CSP 402A dated 1/13/2023, shows the same $5 for up to 10 pages and $.25 per page). Local agencies: the Criminal Justice Records Act lets an agency charge reasonable fees not exceeding actual costs for search, retrieval and redaction and up to 25 cents per standard page, and lets a county or city governing body set them (C.R.S. 24-72-306 (1)); where a statute sets a specific fee, that fee applies. Example: Denver’s mail-in form asks $10.00, its online price is not stated on its page, and Denver’s Civil Liability Section charges $20 plus $41.37 an hour for investigation reports. The $41.37 figure is the maximum hourly research and retrieval fee under the Colorado Open Records Act since July 1, 2024, according to the Legislative Council Staff, which raised it from $33.58 (C.R.S. 24-72-205 (6)); that cap is written into CORA, not into the Criminal Justice Records Act. Department of Revenue: its fee page lists $9.25 for a driving record and $10.25 certified, matching the search fees printed on form DR 2559; it does not list a separate crash report fee. Crime victims: Denver’s form notes fee exemptions for crime victims under C.R.S. 24-4.1-303.

When the report is ready

CSP: up to 10 working days

Officers must submit their reports to the Department of Revenue within five days after receiving the information or completing their investigation (C.R.S. 42-4-1606 (4)(a)(I)). The Colorado State Patrol says reports are not available immediately after a crash, that processing times vary, and that once an investigation is complete the whole process (submittal, review, corrections and approval) may take up to ten working days; the report is then delivered through the records portal or mailed after your request and payment are received. The Patrol processes requests in the order received. Denver Police says its crash reports typically take 5 to 7 days to become available after they are closed, that a crash being actively investigated may take longer, and that its Records Unit responds within 5 to 10 business days of an order. The Department of Revenue says to allow 90 days for the agency’s report to reach it and be entered into the driver license system. The Criminal Justice Records Act sets no deadline for releasing a crash report (it is not a “record of official action,” for which a custodian must, if asked, set an inspection time within three working days under 24-72-303 (3)); if access is denied you may ask for a written statement of the grounds, which must be provided within 72 hours (24-72-305 (6)). Retention: the Department of Revenue keeps crash information for seven years. For city police, the State Archives’ Colorado Municipal Records Retention Schedule No. 100 sets a minimum retention for case records, including accident reports, of 10 years for fatal traffic accidents and 3 years for non-fatal ones.

Who can get a copy

Public record; no-solicitation pledge

Reports of investigation made by sheriffs, police officers, coroners and other peace officers are not confidential: “the same are public records” subject to 42-1-206 (C.R.S. 42-4-1610). Police agencies release them as criminal justice records under the Criminal Justice Records Act, which makes everything other than records of official action (arrests, charges, dispositions and the like) open for inspection “at the discretion of the official custodian” (C.R.S. 24-72-304 (1)); a custodian may not allow inspection where it would be contrary to a state statute or is prohibited by a Supreme Court rule or a court order (24-72-305 (1)) and, on the ground that disclosure would be contrary to the public interest, may deny access to records of investigations and investigatory files (24-72-305 (5)). Every requester must sign a statement that the records will not be used for the direct solicitation of business for pecuniary gain, and the custodian must deny access without it (24-72-305.5 (1)). Agencies redact some content: Denver says some reports may not be releasable and others may have information redacted as required by law, and the Criminal Justice Records Act requires the name and identifying information of a sexual assault victim to be deleted from records so marked, and restricts identifying information of a child victim or child witness except in records that solely involve traffic offenses (24-72-304 (4), (4.5)). From the Department of Revenue, copies are limited by the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act and 24-72-204 (7): you may get your own crash report on form DR 2559, and someone else’s only with their signed DR 2559 permission or by filing form DR2489 (Requestor Release and Affidavit of Intended Use) for a use the law permits; a driver’s online counter report is released only with that driver’s written consent. We found no statute that limits crash reports to the people involved or that sets a waiting period before they may be released.

What to do now

1. 1

   Call the police from the scene

   Any crash with injury, death or any property damage must be reported to the nearest police agency right away (42-4-1606). If no officer comes, you may file the DMV’s online counter report.

2. 2

   Ask the officer to write a report

   For damage of $1,000 or less and no injury, an officer may skip the report unless a participant asks for one or cannot show insurance (42-4-1606 (4)(b)). Ask, and get the case report number.

3. 3

   Request the report from the agency

   For a State Patrol crash, use the Central Records Unit portal ($5 for up to 10 pages). For city police or a sheriff, follow that agency’s records page.

4. 4

   Answer any DMV letter by its deadline

   If you were uninsured or did not show insurance, the Department of Revenue may require security and proof of insurance and can suspend your license (42-7-301).

Frequently asked questions