How to get a car accident report in Pennsylvania

Where to get the report

• Pennsylvania State Police $22, online or by mail, after 15 days

  For a crash a trooper investigated, request the report through PSP’s Online Crash Report Requests site: search by the CAD or case number (the incident number at the top left of the paper report, if you have it) or by last name and crash date, then fill out the Application To Obtain Copy of Police Report web form and select a reason. PSP says it will approve or deny the request by email within 7 business days of receipt, and an approval email links to the payment form; the report arrives in a separate email after you pay. By mail, use form SP 7-0015 (6-2018), Application to Obtain Copy of Police Crash Report, signed, with a money order or certified check for $22, payable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to PA State Police, Crash Reports Unit, 1800 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110; you can ask for the copy by email as a PDF, except for crashes before January 2004. PSP posts the fee as $22, the amount 75 Pa.C.S. §1956(b) sets for each copy of a State Police full report of investigation. The form says the certified copy excludes appended documents and photographs, and that a person involved (not a witness), their attorney, insurer and certain government officials may view or photograph the report with their own equipment only at the investigating station. Crash Reports Unit: 717-783-3380, RA-pspcrashreports@pa.gov, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

  Official page

• City, borough, township or regional police From the department; $15 cap by law

  If local police investigated, request the report from that department. 75 Pa.C.S. §3751(b)(1) requires police departments, on request, to furnish a certified copy of the full report of the police investigation of a vehicle crash to any person involved, their attorney or insurer, and to listed government agencies, and §3751(b)(2) caps the cost at $15 everywhere except a city of the first class (Philadelphia), where §3751(b)(3) caps it at $25. Each department sets its own request process and form within those limits, so check its website or call its records unit. The officer’s signed statement that the crash was reported (§3746(c)) or the card you were given names the department and the incident number. PennDOT will not supply the report: it says that by law only police departments are authorized to provide copies of crash reports, and only to a defined group of parties.

  Official page

• Philadelphia (Department of Records) $25, allow 2 to 3 weeks

  Example, Philadelphia only. Crash reports from the Philadelphia Police Department are issued by the city’s Department of Records, whose fee schedule lists $25 for a police accident report and whose crash report application (form 82-23, rev. 5/2024) says $25.00 each, fee not refundable, and asks you to allow 2 to 3 weeks from the date of the crash before applying. The city offers an online public safety reports application for crash reports, or you can mail or drop off the application at Department of Records, Public Safety Records Unit, City Hall, Room 170, 1400 John F. Kennedy Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19107 (Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.), paying by cash, money order, business check or certified check payable to “City of Philadelphia” (no personal checks, credit or debit cards for mail or in-person requests). Include the crash date, the drivers’ names, the location and the District Control Number (available from the police district where the crash occurred), plus the city’s affidavit and a government-issued photo ID; the city says the driver’s name must be on the report to receive a copy. Phone (215) 686-2266.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Pennsylvania

Injury or tow: call police immediately

Pennsylvania has no dollar threshold. Under 75 Pa.C.S. §3746(a), the driver of a vehicle involved in a crash must immediately, by the quickest means of communication, notify the nearest office of a duly authorized police department if the crash involves (1) injury to or death of any person, or (2) damage to any vehicle involved to the extent that it cannot be driven under its own power in its customary manner without further damage or hazard to the vehicle, other traffic or the roadway, and therefore requires towing. If the driver is physically unable, another occupant who is able must give the notice (§3746(b)), and every crash reported this way must be investigated by a police officer, who must give each driver a signed statement that the crash was reported (§3746(c)). Section 3746 sets no penalty of its own; §6502(a) makes a violation of a Vehicle Code provision that carries no other penalty a summary offense with a $25 fine. Separate duties apply at the scene whatever the damage. A driver in a crash that injures or kills anyone must stop and remain until the §3744 duties are done (§3742(a)); leaving is a first-degree misdemeanor, a third-degree felony with a 90-day minimum and a $1,000 minimum fine if the victim suffers serious bodily injury, and a second-degree felony with a three-year minimum and a $2,500 minimum fine if the victim dies (§3742(b)). A driver in a crash that damages only a vehicle or property that is driven or attended by someone must also stop and remain (§3743(a)); leaving is a third-degree misdemeanor punishable by a $2,500 fine, up to one year in prison, or both (§3743(b)). Under §3744(a), every driver in a crash with injury, death or damage to an attended vehicle or property must give their name, address and the registration number of the vehicle, show their license and financial responsibility (insurance) information on request to the other people involved and to any police officer at the scene or investigating, and give reasonable help to anyone injured, including arranging transport for medical treatment; if no one is able to receive that information and no officer is present, the driver must report the crash to the nearest police department (§3744(b)). If you hit an unattended vehicle or other property and cause any damage, you must stop, either find and notify the owner or securely attach a written notice with your name, address, insurance information and registration number in a conspicuous place, and notify the nearest police department without unnecessary delay (§3745(a)); a violation is a summary offense punishable by a $300 fine, up to 90 days in jail, or both (§3745(b)). In a crash without apparent serious bodily injury or death, if in your judgment your vehicle does not need towing, can be driven normally and safely under its own power, and can be moved safely, you must immediately move it off the roadway to the shoulder, emergency lane, median or another safe place (§3745.1(a)); a violation is a summary offense with a fine of up to $50 (§3745.1(g)); doing so does not change your other duties (§3745.1(e)) and does not by itself make you liable for the crash (§3745.1(d)).

The driver report you may have to file

AA-600 to PennDOT in 5 days if no police

If a police officer does not investigate a crash that §3746 requires to be reported (injury, death or a vehicle that had to be towed), every driver involved must, within five days of the crash, send a written report to PennDOT (75 Pa.C.S. §3747(a)). The form is the AA-600, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Driver’s Accident Report (current version AA-600 (5-23)), which says it is to be completed only when the crash was not investigated by a police agency. If the driver is physically unable to report and is not the owner, the owner must file within five days (§3747(d)); a person physically incapable of reporting is excused during the incapacity (§3747(c)). The form must be signed and must include the tow and injury information, a diagram and a description of the crash; PennDOT says it will not accept a form missing those, a form for a crash in which your vehicle was parked, a crash outside Pennsylvania, or a form submitted by a non-driver such as a passenger, pedestrian or property owner. There is no fee to file. Mail it to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, BOO - Crash Unit, P.O. Box 2047, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2047. PennDOT does not investigate crashes and does not confirm receipt, so it recommends certified mail, or sending a $5.00 check or money order with the report to receive a date-stamped copy; only the driver who submitted the form may request a copy, at $5.00 each. Driver reports are confidential and for accident prevention use, except that PennDOT must disclose a person’s identity when it is not otherwise known or when the person denies being at the crash, and whether any person or vehicle was insured and by whom (§3747(e)); they cannot be used as evidence in a civil or criminal trial, although PennDOT will certify whether a report was filed (§3747(f)). Section 3747 sets no penalty of its own, so a failure to file falls under §6502(a), a summary offense with a $25 fine; knowingly giving false information in a required report is a summary offense with a $200 fine (§3748).

What the report costs

$22 PSP; local up to $15 ($25 Phila.)

A State Police crash report costs $22, set by 75 Pa.C.S. §1956(b) for each copy of a State Police full report of investigation and posted by PSP for online and mail requests. For any other police department, §3751(b)(2) says the cost of furnishing a copy shall not exceed $15, and in a city of the first class (Philadelphia) §3751(b)(3) allows up to $25; Philadelphia charges $25. Because the cap is a maximum, a local department may charge less, so the actual price varies by department. The Office of Open Records’ fee schedule still quotes §1956(b) as $5 per State Police report; the current statute (as amended by Act 89 of 2013, effective April 1, 2014) and PSP both say $22. Filing your own AA-600 driver report with PennDOT is free; a date-stamped copy of the AA-600 you filed costs $5.00 from PennDOT.

When the report is ready

PSP: 15 days; Philadelphia: 2 to 3 weeks

The State Police say crash reports are available 15 days after the date of the crash, and form SP 7-0015 asks you not to apply until 15 days have passed; once you apply online, PSP says it approves or denies the request within 7 business days. Philadelphia asks you to allow 2 to 3 weeks from the crash before applying. By law, every police department that investigates a reportable crash must send an initial written report to PennDOT within 15 days of the crash, with a supplemental report later if the first is incomplete (75 Pa.C.S. §3751(a)); other departments’ timing varies. We found no official statement of how long police departments or PennDOT keep crash reports; PSP’s form shows its emailed PDF copies reach back to January 2004.

Who can get a copy

People involved, lawyers, insurers

Under 75 Pa.C.S. §3751(b)(1), police must furnish the full report to any person involved in the crash, that person’s attorney or insurer, the federal government, branches of the military, Commonwealth agencies, officials of political subdivisions, and agencies of other states and nations and their political subdivisions. Witnesses and the general public are not on that list; PSP’s form says viewing at the station is limited to persons involved (not witnesses), their attorney, insurer and certain government officials, and Philadelphia requires an affidavit stating your relationship to the crash and a photo ID. A department may refuse to furnish the complete report while criminal charges are pending against anyone involved, unless the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure require its production (§3751(b)(5)). The copy is not admissible as evidence in a damages action or criminal case arising from the crash (§3751(b)(4)). PennDOT does not release police crash reports under the Right-to-Know Law, and only the driver who filed an AA-600 may get a copy of it.

What to do now

1. 1

   Call police now if anyone is hurt or a car is towed

   Pennsylvania law requires immediate notice to police for any crash with injury, death or a vehicle that has to be towed. Get the officer’s signed statement that the crash was reported and the incident number.

2. 2

   File the AA-600 within five days if no officer came

   If the crash was reportable but no police officer investigated, each driver must mail PennDOT a signed AA-600 with a diagram within five days. Send it certified mail or include $5 for a date-stamped copy.

3. 3

   Order the report after 15 days

   For a State Police crash, request it online or on form SP 7-0015 ($22). For a local crash, ask the department that investigated; it cannot charge more than $15, or $25 in Philadelphia.

4. 4

   Ask for police video within 60 days

   The crash report does not include video. Body camera and dashcam requests go under Act 22, not the Right-to-Know Law, and must reach the agency’s open-records officer by hand or certified mail within 60 days of the recording.

Frequently asked questions