How to get a car accident report in Indiana

Where to get the report

• Indiana State Police crash repository, sold through BuyCrash (online) Online at BuyCrash.com, statewide

  The State Police say they maintain “the central repository of all crash reports for the State of Indiana” and make electronic crash reports available “for a nominal fee” through the BuyCrash website at www.BuyCrash.com. Officers file the Indiana Officer’s Standard Crash Report electronically through ARIES, the Automated Reporting Information Exchange System, which the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute says LexisNexis Risk Solutions provides under its contract with the State Police. The State Police page does not state the price, and the BuyCrash site blocked our automated request, so we could not read its price page. Example, Steuben County Sheriff’s Office only: its page calls BuyCrash a statewide database where reports can be immediately viewed, downloaded and printed, at a cost of $12.00 by credit card. Example, Stilesville Police Department only: it says to have your crash report number on hand, to pick the agency that actually took the report (its example is a Hendricks County deputy), and that fees for downloading a crash report are implemented by the State Police and ARIES. The State Police direct government agencies needing a report for official business to their public records request process instead.

  Official page

• City police, sheriff or other agency that responded From the agency; fee set locally

  The agency that investigated also holds its report, and the officer’s report “is not a confidential record and shall be made available for inspection and copying” under the Access to Public Records Act (Ind. Code § 9-26-2-3). A city, county or other local agency may charge a fee for each report that is fixed by ordinance of its fiscal body and is at least $5 (§ 9-26-9-3(a)); sheriff and county police fees go to an accident report account, and city and town police fees to the local law enforcement continuing education fund (§ 9-26-9-3(b)). Ask the agency for its process and price. Example, Steuben County Sheriff’s Office only: in person at its administrative office Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, for $8.00 by cash or money order; or by mail with the driver or party names, crash date and location, a self-addressed stamped envelope and a business check or money order for $8.00 payable to the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office, sent to Steuben Co Sheriff’s Office, Attn: Records Clerk, 206 E Gale St, Angola, IN 46703. A local agency may not charge anyone involved in a crash an “accident response service fee” for responding to or investigating it (§ 9-26-9-4).

  Official page

• Indiana State Police public records portal Written APRA request; for other records

  For records other than the crash report itself (and for government agencies needing a report for official business, as the State Police crash page says), the State Police take Access to Public Records Act requests through their online ISP APRA Portal, linked from the Contact ISP page. The State Police say some records, such as investigatory information, are excepted from disclosure under Ind. Code § 5-14-3-4, and that all requests are reviewed and acted on in a timely manner. A request must identify the record with reasonable particularity, and the agency may not deny it because you will not say why you want it (§ 5-14-3-3(a)). Under the Act a state agency may charge no more than the uniform copying fee set by the Indiana Department of Administration, which may not exceed the greater of the agency average or ten cents a page (§ 5-14-3-8(c)), and no fee to inspect a record or to search for and review it (§ 5-14-3-8(b)). General ISP inquiries: Indiana Government Center North, 100 N. Senate Avenue, Suite N340, Indianapolis, IN 46204, 317-232-8248.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Indiana

Injury or death: call police right away

Stop and stay: the operator of a motor vehicle involved in an accident must immediately stop at the scene or as close to it as possible, without obstructing traffic more than necessary, and remain until giving his or her name and address and the registration number of the vehicle to any person involved, and showing a driver’s license to any person involved or any occupant of or person attending any vehicle involved (Ind. Code § 9-26-1-1.1(a)(1), (2)). Injury or death: if the accident injures or kills another person, the operator must also give reasonable assistance to each person injured in or entrapped by the accident, as directed by a law enforcement officer, medical personnel or a 911 operator, and, as soon as possible, give notice of the accident, or make sure someone else does, by the quickest means of communication to the local police department (inside a city or town), the county sheriff or the nearest State Police post (outside a city or town), or a 911 operator (§ 9-26-1-1.1(a)(3)). Unattended vehicle or other property: if you hit an unattended vehicle or damage property other than a vehicle, take reasonable steps to find and notify the owner or person in charge; if you cannot find them after reasonable inquiry, contact a law enforcement officer or agency and give the required information (§ 9-26-1-1.1(a)(4)). We found no statute requiring you to call police for a crash that damages only property when the other driver is there to exchange information, but an officer must investigate every crash that causes injury or death or total property damage “to an apparent extent of at least two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500)” (§ 9-26-2-1(a)), and on commercial or other private property open to the public officers enforce the traffic and insurance laws when there is injury, death, or apparent damage greater than $2,500 (§ 9-26-2-4). Move the car: if your vehicle stops in the traveled part of a highway after a crash, you must move it off the traveled portion, to a spot as close to the crash as possible, as soon as safely possible, unless the crash involves hazardous materials or causes injury, death or entrapment; failing to move it is a Class C infraction, a judgment of up to $500 (§ 9-26-1-1.2(a); § 34-28-5-4(c)). Penalties: knowingly or intentionally failing to do any of the § 9-26-1-1.1(a) duties is leaving the scene of an accident, a Class B misdemeanor (up to 180 days and a fine of up to $1,000); a Class A misdemeanor (up to 1 year and up to $5,000) if anyone suffers bodily injury; a Level 6 felony if anyone suffers moderate or serious bodily injury or the driver had a listed prior conviction within 5 years; a Level 4 felony if anyone dies or suffers catastrophic injury; and a Level 3 felony if the driver fails to stop or comply during or after operating while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury, death or catastrophic injury (§ 9-26-1-1.1(b); §§ 35-50-3-2, 35-50-3-3). Passengers: if the driver is physically unable to help, an occupant who is at least 18, or at least 15 with a learner’s permit or license, and who knows the driver cannot help, must determine the need for and give reasonable assistance to injured or entrapped people; a knowing violation is a Class C misdemeanor (§ 9-26-1-1.5). The State Police may also require witnesses to submit reports (§ 9-26-1-5).

The driver report you may have to file

None; answer the BMV insurance letter

We found no Indiana statute requiring a driver to file a crash report with the State Police or the BMV: the older sections Ind. Code §§ 9-26-1-1, 9-26-1-2, 9-26-1-3 and 9-26-1-4 were repealed in 2014 (P.L.217-2014), and the written report now comes from the investigating officer (§ 9-26-2-2). A city or town may by ordinance require drivers to file a report with a designated city or town department; that report is for the department’s confidential use (§ 9-26-1-7). What every driver does receive is the Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ insurance check. The State Police send each accident report to the BMV (§ 9-26-3-3), and not more than 45 days after the BMV receives a copy of an accident report it must send each operator named in it, regardless of fault, a request for evidence of financial responsibility, unless that evidence is already on file; it may send the request only if the crash happened not more than 5 years before the BMV got the report (§ 9-25-5-2). The request goes by first class mail to your address in BMV records, or electronically if you chose that (§ 9-25-5-3(b)). You must make sure your insurance company files a certificate of compliance showing coverage on the date of the crash (§ 9-25-5-4(a)). The BMV says the insurance information you give the officer is not sent to the BMV, the officer will not give you a form, your insurer must file the certificate electronically, and the BMV must receive and process it within 90 days of mailing its request or your driving privileges will be suspended. The statute calls this the compliance response period, ninety days for requests issued after June 30, 2017 (§ 9-25-2-1.4). If no certificate arrives in time, or it does not show coverage, the BMV must suspend your driving privileges, registration or both until proof of future financial responsibility is filed (§ 9-25-6-3(a), (d)); it will not suspend your driving privileges if you show the vehicle was rented, shared through a peer to peer sharing program, or owned by your employer and driven in the normal course of your work (§ 9-25-6-3(f)). Not getting a certificate on file in time is prima facie evidence in a civil action that you were uninsured (§ 9-25-5-4(b)).

What the report costs

Set by agency; at least $5 by law

No statute sets one statewide price. The law sets a floor, not a cap: a local agency may charge a fee fixed by ordinance of its fiscal body that is at least $5 for each report, and the State Police superintendent may charge a fee of at least $5 for each report and for inspecting and copying other report-related data (Ind. Code § 9-26-9-3(a), (c)). Under the Access to Public Records Act, an agency must collect a copying or search fee that a statute specifies (§ 5-14-3-8(f)). The State Police crash page calls the BuyCrash price “a nominal fee” and names no amount. Examples only, from one agency’s official page: the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office lists $12.00 for a BuyCrash copy and $8.00 for a copy in person or by mail. Other agencies set their own prices, so check the page or records office of the agency that worked your crash. Since July 1, 2026, an agency may add a supplemental fee, reasonably related to the cost of fulfilling the request and no more than $0.25 a page and $25 an hour of staff time, for public records requests from people who are not Indiana residents, from out-of-state entities or from automated systems, and may waive it for a request that serves the public interest (§ 5-14-3-8(n), (o); § 5-14-3-8.1(b)).

When the report is ready

24 hrs after investigation ends

An officer must forward a written report of each crash investigated under Ind. Code § 9-26-2-1 to the State Police within 24 hours after completing the investigation (§ 9-26-2-2(a)); the statute does not set a deadline for finishing the investigation itself. We found no State Police page giving a typical wait before a report appears on BuyCrash. Steuben County’s page says that once a report is on BuyCrash it can be immediately viewed, downloaded and printed. Separately, every police agency must keep a daily log of suspected or investigated crimes, accidents and complaints, created within 24 hours after the accident is reported, that is open to inspection and shows the time, substance and location of each call and the time and nature of the agency’s response (§ 5-14-3-5(c)). We found no official statement of how long the State Police repository keeps crash reports.

Who can get a copy

Anyone: not a confidential record

The officer’s crash report is not confidential: it “shall be made available for inspection and copying” under the Access to Public Records Act (Ind. Code § 9-26-2-3), and under that Act any person may inspect and copy public records, with no requirement to say why (§ 5-14-3-3(a)). We found no Indiana statute that limits officer crash reports to the people involved or restricts them for a period after the crash. Reports that are not written by an officer or coroner, such as a witness report the State Police require or a driver report a city requires by ordinance, are different: they are for the confidential use of the State Police or other state agencies for accident prevention, the State Police may disclose the identity of a person involved when it is not otherwise known or the person denies being present, and those reports may not be used as evidence in a civil or criminal trial arising out of the crash (§ 9-26-3-4; § 9-26-1-7(b)). That evidence bar does not apply to the officer’s report (§ 9-26-3-4(a)); ask a lawyer how any report may be used in a claim.

What to do now

1. 1

   Call police or 911 if anyone is hurt

   Notify police or 911 by the quickest means for any injury or death, and help the injured as directed. If no one is hurt and the car stopped in a travel lane, move it off the road as soon as it is safe.

2. 2

   Get the report number and agency name

   Ask the officer which agency took the report and for its number. You need the right agency, and the number helps, to find the report on BuyCrash.

3. 3

   Buy the report on BuyCrash or from the agency

   Search BuyCrash.com, the State Police channel, or ask the agency’s records office for its in-person or mail option and fee.

4. 4

   Have your insurer file proof with the BMV

   Watch your mail for the BMV request for proof of insurance and have your insurance company file a certificate of compliance within 90 days, or your license can be suspended.

5. 5

   Request police and camera video separately

   Video is not part of the crash report. Send a written public records request to the agency now, and post the crash on the bounty board for dashcam and business camera footage.

Frequently asked questions