How to get a car accident report in Michigan

Where to get the report

• Michigan State Police Traffic Crash Purchasing System (online) $15.00 online, any agency’s UD-10

  The State Police say the UD-10 “must be purchased online” and that the Traffic Crash Purchasing System (TCPS) sells crash reports submitted by all Michigan law enforcement agencies, including city police and sheriffs, for a fee of $15.00. Since April 14, 2026, TCPS runs through MiLogin: accounts from the old TCPS site did not transfer, so create a new MiLogin account (a citizen account is for an individual looking for a report on a crash they were in) at michigan.gov/tcps. To find a report you need the driver license number or the case/incident number, plus a date of birth and the date of the crash; the State Police FOIA FAQ describes the date of birth as that of a driver involved in the crash. If you do not have the case number, get it from the agency that worked the crash; for a State Police crash, from the post for the county where it happened. Reports can be bought through TCPS for up to 10 years after the crash. Receipts are under Purchase History in the same MiLogin account. The Traffic Crash Reporting Unit will not read information from a report over the phone, by mail, email or fax.

  Official page

• Michigan State Police Records Resource Section (FOIA) Written FOIA request; fee varies

  If you lack the search details TCPS needs, or the crash is more than 10 years old, the State Police say to submit a Freedom of Information Act request. MSP takes FOIA requests through its MSP Records Request Portal (sign in through MiLogin), by email to MSPRecords@Michigan.gov, by fax to 517-241-1935, or by mail to Michigan State Police, Records Resource Section, P.O. Box 30634, Lansing, MI 48909; a form (DIR-101) is optional, and you should use only one method. MSP says it responds within 5 business days, which may be a notice of extension, that the fee depends on the type of record and the labor to retrieve and review it and cannot be estimated until the request is received, and that online payments carry a $2.00 processing fee. An individual who files an Affidavit of Indigency (DIR-103) and qualifies gets the first $20 of the fee waived (MCL 15.234(2)). The Records Resource Section is at MSP Headquarters, 7150 Harris Drive, Dimondale, MI 48821, 517-241-1934; it offers no same-day service.

  Official page

• City police, sheriff or other agency that responded FOIA or the agency’s vendor; varies

  Every Michigan law enforcement agency’s UD-10 is sold through TCPS, but the agency that wrote the report also holds it: it must keep a copy for at least 3 years (MCL 257.622), and a city or county agency is a public body under the Freedom of Information Act (MCL 15.232). Each agency sets its own process and any fee. Example, Muskegon Police Department only: it takes requests for traffic crash reports (and police reports and video) as written FOIA requests in person at its Records Bureau, by mail or by email, using the City Clerk’s FOIA forms and policies, and also lists LexisNexis BuyCrash as an online source for its crash reports; its page states no fee. Ask the responding agency for the case or incident number at the scene or soon after: you need it, or a driver license number, to search TCPS.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Michigan

Injury or $1,000+: report to police now

Report to police: the driver of a motor vehicle involved in an accident that injures or kills any person, or that damages property “to an apparent extent totaling $1,000.00 or more,” must immediately report it at the nearest or most convenient police station or to the nearest or most convenient police officer (MCL 257.622). The Michigan State Police say a crash should be reported to law enforcement immediately, and that a crash not reported immediately is left to the reporting agency’s discretion whether it will file a report at all. Stop and stay: a driver who knows or has reason to believe he or she was involved in an accident on public or private property open to travel by the public must immediately stop at the scene, without obstructing traffic more than necessary, and remain there until the section 619 duties are done; the one exception is a reasonable and honest belief that remaining will result in further harm, in which case the driver must immediately report the accident to the nearest or most convenient police agency or officer to fulfill section 619(a) and (b) (MCL 257.617(1), 257.617a(1), 257.618(1)). Leaving in violation of that rule is a felony of up to 5 years or a fine of up to $5,000.00, or both, if the accident results in serious impairment of a body function or death; up to 15 years or $10,000.00, or both, if the driver caused the accident and another person died (MCL 257.617(2), (3)); a misdemeanor of up to 1 year or $1,000.00, or both, with a license suspension, if anyone was injured (MCL 257.617a(2), (3)); and a misdemeanor of up to 90 days or $100.00, or both, if the accident damaged a vehicle operated or attended by anyone (MCL 257.618(2)). Exchange and help: after an accident with a person or with a vehicle operated or attended by someone, give your name and address, the registration number of the vehicle you are driving, and the owner’s name and address, and show your operator’s or chauffeur’s license, to a police officer, the person struck, or the driver or occupants of the other vehicle; and give any injured person reasonable assistance in securing medical aid or arrange for or provide transportation (MCL 257.619). Unattended vehicle: if you collide with any vehicle, attended or unattended, on public or private property, immediately stop and either locate and notify its operator or owner of your name and address and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle you were driving, or, if the owner cannot be located, report it forthwith to the nearest or most convenient police officer (MCL 257.620). Fixtures: if a crash damages only fixtures legally on or next to a highway (a sign, a pole, a guardrail), take reasonable steps to locate and notify the owner or person in charge with your name, address and plate number, show your license on request, and if the owner cannot be found, report it forthwith to the nearest or most convenient police officer (MCL 257.621(a)). Move the vehicle: unless the operator knows or reasonably should know that the crash caused serious impairment of a bodily function or death, the operator or any other occupant with a valid driver license must move the vehicle off the main traveled portion of the roadway to the shoulder, emergency lane or median or another place off the road (and off any streetcar track) if moving it can be done safely and it can be normally and safely operated under its own power without further damage or hazard; failing to do so is a civil infraction, and moving it before police arrive does not by itself make you prima facie at fault (MCL 257.618a(1) to (3)). Sections 620 to 622 set no penalty of their own; the Vehicle Code’s default rule makes a violation a misdemeanor, punishable by up to $100.00 or 90 days or both, unless the Code or another law provides otherwise (MCL 257.901), and we did not find a separate penalty for those sections.

The driver report you may have to file

No separate driver report to the state

We found no Michigan Vehicle Code section requiring a driver to file a separate crash report with the Secretary of State or the State Police. The duty in MCL 257.622 is to report the crash to a police station or officer; the officer receiving the report, or the officer’s commanding officer, must immediately forward it to the Director of the Department of State Police on the director’s forms, completed in full by the investigating officer (MCL 257.622). The State Police describe the UD-10 as the form that must be completed by law on all reportable crashes, completed by law enforcement agencies and forwarded to the State Police, and say its Traffic Crash Reporting Unit cannot file a report for you: to file one, contact a law enforcement agency in your area or a State Police post. The State Police also say all reported traffic crashes appear on your driving record, regardless of fault, and that the Traffic Crash Reporting Unit cannot remove a crash from it; driving record questions go to the Department of State’s Driving Records Activity Unit at 517-636-6406. Corrections to a UD-10 can only be requested from the agency that wrote it, which decides whether to change it.

What the report costs

$15.00 on TCPS; FOIA copies vary

The State Police budget sets the price: the department “shall make individual traffic crash reports available for a fee of $15.00 per incident” (2026 PA 21, Article 14, section 402(5), the State Police appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2027; the prior year’s act, 2025 PA 22, set the same $15.00). The State Police TCPS and Traffic Crash Reporting Unit pages also say $15.00. The House Fiscal Agency reports that the fee was $10 from fiscal year 2016-17 and rose to $15 in the fiscal year 2023-24 budget, so pages that still say $10 are out of date; for example, the City of Kentwood’s crash report page still describes TCPS as charging a $10.00 fee. A copy requested under the Freedom of Information Act generally costs what the agency charges under MCL 15.234: actual mailing costs and the actual incremental cost of duplication, including limited labor at the hourly wage of the lowest-paid employee capable of the work, and no more than 10 cents a sheet for standard paper copies. That section does not apply where another statute specifically sets the fee (MCL 15.234(10)), and the State Police say their FOIA fee varies by record. An individual who files an affidavit of indigency gets the first $20.00 of the fee waived, subject to limits (MCL 15.234(2)). The State Police add a $2.00 processing fee to online FOIA payments. A vendor an agency uses, such as LexisNexis BuyCrash, sets its own price; check the agency’s page.

When the report is ready

Usually 3 to 30 days, set by the agency

The State Police say there is no mandatory deadline for a law enforcement agency to submit the completed UD-10 to the State Police; typical processing is 3 to 30 days, depending on the reporting agency. The statute says the officer receiving the report, or the commanding officer, must “immediately” forward it to the State Police (MCL 257.622), but sets no number of days. Once the report is in TCPS you can buy and download it right away, and the State Police FOIA FAQ calls TCPS the way to get a copy “instantly.” TCPS sells reports up to 10 years after the crash; older reports require a FOIA request. The local police department, sheriff’s department or State Police post that made a report must keep a copy for at least 3 years (MCL 257.622). A FOIA request gets a response within 5 business days of receipt, or up to 10 more business days with one extension notice (MCL 15.235(2)); an emailed or faxed request is not received until 1 business day after it is sent (MCL 15.235(1)).

Who can get a copy

TCPS: anyone with the search details

The State Police TCPS pages do not limit purchases to people in the crash: citizen accounts are for individuals (their example is someone looking for a report on a crash they were in) and business accounts are for organizations such as an insurance company buying many reports. In practice the search details limit access, since you need a driver license number or the case/incident number, plus a date of birth and the crash date. We found no official statement of whether a TCPS copy is redacted. Under the Freedom of Information Act, any person may request public records except an individual serving a sentence of imprisonment in a state, county or federal correctional facility (MCL 15.231(2), 15.232(g)), but an agency may withhold information of a personal nature whose disclosure would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy (MCL 15.243(1)(a)); the Attorney General’s FOIA Handbook summarizes Baker, PC v City of Westland, 245 Mich App 90 (2001), which held that accident reports with the names, addresses, injury codes and accident dates of injured and deceased victims did not have to be released to a requester. Two limits on use: a report required by this chapter of the Vehicle Code “shall not be available for use in a court action” and is for furnishing statistical information on the number and cause of accidents (MCL 257.624(1)); ask a lawyer how that affects a claim. The State Police also sell bulk crash data only with names, addresses and other personal identifying information removed (2026 PA 21, Article 14, section 402(5)).

What to do now

1. 1

   Report to police and move the car if you can

   Call police at once for any injury, death or apparent damage of $1,000 or more. If no one is seriously hurt and the car drives safely, move it off the traveled lanes first.

2. 2

   Get the case or incident number

   Ask the officer or the agency that responded. For a State Police crash, call the post for that county. You need it, or a driver license number, to find the report.

3. 3

   Buy the UD-10 on TCPS

   Create a MiLogin account at michigan.gov/tcps, search with the case number or license number, a date of birth and the crash date, and pay $15.00. Check back if it is not there yet.

4. 4

   Request police and camera video separately

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

Frequently asked questions