How to get a car accident report in Tennessee

Where to get the report

• Department of Safety, Purchase TN Crash (online) $10.00 per report by credit card

  Every officer who investigates a crash must forward the report to the Department of Safety within seven calendar days after completing the investigation, in the Department’s electronic format (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 55-10-108(b)(1), 55-10-111(b)), and the Department’s online store, Purchase TN Crash, sells those reports. Search by the last name, the date of the crash, the reporting agency and the driver license number, plus one of the VIN, the license plate, or the case or tracking number. The cost is $10.00 per report by Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover; prepaid cards are not accepted, and the report comes as a PDF; the help page says the transaction is complete once you buy, and you have 48 hours to download the report. You must select your involvement (driver or passenger, property owner, legal representative, licensed insurance agent or that agent’s representative, or someone else) and acknowledge the solicitation and false-statement penalties in § 55-10-108. Search results do not display your address. A crash you self-reported to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department through its online minor-crash portal (a crash no officer investigated) is not there; get it from Metro Nashville Police. Help: 1-866-468-4587 or purchase.tncrash@tn.gov.

  Official page

• Tennessee Highway Patrol district office or mail $4.00 for a THP report, by mail or desk

  For a crash the Department investigated (the Tennessee Highway Patrol), the driver or owner of a vehicle involved, or their agent or legal representative, may get a copy by written request to the commissioner of safety in Nashville with four dollars ($4.00), or from the THP district office where copies are kept, for the same fee (Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-108(d)). THP’s page says any driver, owner or passenger, or their agent or legal representative, may buy it for $4.00, and that reports are available approximately 7 days after the crash at the district office. By mail: complete the Traffic Crash Report Request (form SF-1595), sign it, and send it with a $4.00 cashier’s check, money order, or personal or business check and a self-addressed stamped envelope to Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Financial Responsibility Division, PO Box 945, Nashville, TN 37202-0945; the state portal says to allow two to three weeks from the mailing date. Give the crash date, county, the drivers’ names and the agency tracking number. THP has eight district offices, each covering listed counties (Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, Fall Branch, Cookeville, Lawrenceburg and Jackson), open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time; the addresses and county lists are on THP’s crash report page.

  Official page

• City police or sheriff that responded Ask the agency; fees vary

  THP says that if a county sheriff or city police department investigated, you can also buy a copy from that agency’s office, and the state portal adds that if you are unsure which agency investigated, contact the police of the city or town where the crash happened, or outside a city the sheriff or the Highway Patrol. Each local agency sets its copy fees in the public records policy that every county and city must adopt (Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(g)(1)). Example, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department only: it sells crash reports by mail, at its records counter or online through its records request portal, requires a photo ID for all records requests, and its Central Records Division is at 811 Anderson Ln, Suite 100, Madison, TN 37115, (615) 862-7631.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Tennessee

Call police at once; $1,500+: 20 days

Tell police right away: the driver of a vehicle in a crash that injures or kills anyone, or causes property damage to an apparent extent of fifty dollars ($50.00) or more, must immediately, by the quickest means of communication, notify the local police department if the crash happened inside a city or town, or otherwise the county sheriff’s office or the nearest office of the Tennessee Highway Patrol (Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-106(a)). If the driver is physically unable to give that notice, another occupant who can must give it (§ 55-10-109(b)). Report to the state within 20 days: the driver of a vehicle in a crash that injures or kills anyone, or in which the property of any one person, including the driver, is damaged in excess of $1,500, must forward a written report to the Department of Safety within twenty days (§ 55-10-107(a)(1)); the financial responsibility law sets the same duty for the operator, and a report made under it satisfies both (§§ 55-12-104(a)(1), 55-10-107(a)(1)). The same report is required when a crash damages state or local government property in excess of $400 (§§ 55-10-107(a)(2), 55-12-104(a)(2)). See the driver report section below. Stop and stay: after a crash that injures or kills anyone, stop at the scene or as close to it as possible, return if necessary, and remain until you have met the information and aid duties below, without obstructing traffic more than necessary; failing to do so is a Class A misdemeanor, and a Class E felony if you knew or should reasonably have known that someone died, and a conviction means the commissioner revokes your license (§ 55-10-101(a) to (c)); for offenses on or after July 1, 2026, that felony also carries at least one year of confinement, served at 100 percent, and a fine of five thousand dollars ($5,000) to ten thousand dollars ($10,000) (§ 55-10-101(b)(2)(A), as amended by Public Chapter 1072 of 2026). After any crash, stop or return and remain at the scene; once all parties have agreed there is only vehicle damage and no suspected injury, everyone must stay until the information has been exchanged; failing to stop or comply is a Class B misdemeanor when the damage to property not yours does not exceed, or would appear to a reasonable person not to exceed, $1,500, and a Class A misdemeanor above that, and a driver who is also not in compliance with the Financial Responsibility Law faces a license suspension of at least one year (§ 55-10-102). Exchange and help: after a crash that injures or kills anyone or damages a vehicle someone is driving or attending, give your name, address and the registration number of the vehicle you are driving, show your license on request if available, and give any injured person reasonable assistance, including carrying or arranging to carry them to a physician, surgeon or hospital if treatment is apparently necessary or they ask (§ 55-10-103(a)). Unattended vehicle: stop immediately and either find and tell its operator or owner the name and address of the driver and owner of the vehicle that hit it, or leave a written notice in a conspicuous place in the struck vehicle with those names and addresses, a statement of the circumstances, and the name of the insurer of the driver and owner (§ 55-10-104(a)). Fixtures or roadside property: take reasonable steps to locate and notify the owner or person in charge, with your name, address and vehicle registration number, and report the crash as § 55-10-107 requires (§ 55-10-105(a)). These duties apply on highways and on the premises of any shopping center, trailer park, apartment complex or other premises generally frequented by the public (§§ 55-10-101(a), 55-10-106(b)). Moving the car: on a divided, controlled access highway or interstate, if no one appears seriously hurt or killed and the vehicle can be driven normally and safely, the driver (or another licensed occupant) should move it off the roadway to the shoulder, emergency lane, median or another safe place, and moving it does not by itself make you liable or at fault; it does not excuse any written report the law requires (§ 55-10-117(b) to (e)). Giving information in a required report that you know or have reason to believe is false is a Class C misdemeanor (§ 55-10-110).

The driver report you may have to file

Owner / Driver Report, within 20 days

Tennessee requires your own report even when an officer also writes one. The operator of a vehicle in a crash in Tennessee in which anyone is killed or injured, or the property of any one person, including the operator, is damaged in excess of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500), must report it in writing to the commissioner of safety within twenty days; if the operator fails or is physically unable to, the owner must report on learning of the crash, and the same duty applies when a crash damages state or local government property in excess of four hundred dollars ($400) (Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-12-104(a)). The Department of Safety calls this the Owner Operator Report and says it is required regardless of who was at fault and in addition to any report filed by an investigating officer. The form is the Owner / Driver Report, SF-0395 (Rev. 12/18); it asks for the crash date and place, both drivers, the damage amounts and your liability insurance, and says the insurance information will be forwarded to your insurer for verification. File it online through the Department’s e-Services (Submit an Owner Operator Report), or mail it to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, P.O. Box 945, Nashville, TN 37202-0945; questions go to (866) 903-7357. Who is exempt: vehicles owned by the United States, the state or a local government and their operators; a vehicle that had no physical contact with another vehicle, object or person; and the owner of a vehicle that was legally parked (§ 55-12-104(d)). Penalty: if the report is not received within 20 days, the commissioner may issue a notice suspending the operator’s license, and the commissioner of revenue then suspends the vehicle’s registration, with at least 20 days’ mailed notice and a right to an administrative hearing; the commissioner shall suspend the license of anyone who willfully fails, refuses or neglects to file, and you restore it by filing the report and paying a $25.00 restoration fee (§ 55-12-104(c)). The traffic chapter separately lets the commissioner suspend the license of anyone who fails to report until the report is filed, extended up to 30 days, and makes failing to make a required report a Class C misdemeanor (§ 55-10-111(c)). Reports made by drivers are for the confidential use of the Department and other state agencies for accident prevention and financial responsibility, and cannot be used as evidence in any civil or criminal trial arising from the crash, although the Department must give a party or a court, on demand, a certificate showing whether a report was made (§ 55-10-114). If the driver cannot make the report and is not the owner, the owner must make it within 20 days of learning of the crash (§ 55-10-109(c)).

What the report costs

$10 online; $4 THP; local fees vary

The statute sets one fee: four dollars ($4.00) for a copy of a report of a crash investigated by the Department of Safety, by written request or from a THP district office (Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-108(d)). The Department’s online Purchase TN Crash portal charges $10.00 per report; we found no statute that sets that figure, so treat it as the Department’s price for online copies. The Department’s public records rule lists four dollars ($4.00) for unredacted crash reports and fifteen cents ($0.15) a page for paper copies of redacted crash reports, and makes paper copies of the investigating trooper’s crash photos fifteen cents ($0.15) a page (Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1340-08-01-.08(6)(c), (f)). A city or county agency charges what its adopted public records policy says (Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(g)(1)(C)). Separately, a party to a reported crash may get from the Department a copy of any proof of financial responsibility another party filed, by written request on the Department’s form, for five dollars ($5.00) per document, without policy limits (§ 55-12-104(f)).

When the report is ready

About 7 days after the crash

The officer must forward the report to the Department within seven calendar days after completing the investigation, and the Department must notify agencies that consistently miss that deadline (Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-108(b)(1), (e)). THP says its reports are available approximately 7 days after the date of the crash at the district office. The Purchase TN Crash help page says agencies have 7 days from the date of the crash to submit reports, that some investigations take longer, and that a report you cannot find may not yet be completed and submitted, or your search terms may not match the agency’s; call 1-866-468-4587 for help. A mailed request may take two to three weeks from the mailing date. We found no official statement of how long the Department keeps crash reports.

Who can get a copy

Named parties: full; others: redacted

A crash report written by an officer is open to public inspection under the public records law, except personally identifying information (Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-108(d), (f)(1)). That information, meaning street addresses and zip codes, telephone numbers, driver license numbers and insurance information, is confidential, but on written request a report containing it may be given to any person named in the report; an agent, legal representative or attorney of a person or property owner named in it, with certification of that person’s permission; the owner of any real property listed in it; and anyone authorized to obtain motor vehicle records under § 55-25-107(b)(1), (b)(6) or (b)(9) (§ 10-7-504(a)(31)(A), (B), (E)). Law enforcement may still release a crash participant’s name, age and county or city of residence when it decides that serves the public (§ 10-7-504(a)(31)(D)). This confidentiality was due to expire June 30, 2026; Public Chapter 672 of 2026, effective April 7, 2026, deleted the expiration, so it continues. The Department’s mail form, SF-1595, limits its $4.00 copies to a driver, a property owner or lessee, a licensed insurance agent or insurer of a party, or a legal representative of a driver or owner, and requires you to swear the confidential information will not be used for solicitation. Knowingly using a report for solicitation that a licensed profession’s standards prohibit, or lying on a request for personal information, is a Class B misdemeanor punishable only by a fine of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per occurrence (§ 55-10-108(f)(2), (g)). Residency: the public records law opens records to Tennessee citizens (§ 10-7-503(a)(2)(A)), but since July 1, 2026 a person who is not a Tennessee citizen may get a crash report pertaining solely to that person with a written request, a copy of a government photo ID and a signed affidavit, though that law opens nothing otherwise confidential (§ 10-7-503(i), Public Chapter 711 of 2026).

What to do now

1. 1

   Call police from the scene

   Any injury, death or apparent damage of $50.00 or more must be reported at once to city police, or outside a city to the sheriff or the Highway Patrol.

2. 2

   File your Owner / Driver Report

   If anyone was hurt or damage to one person’s property is over $1,500, file form SF-0395 with the Department of Safety within 20 days, online through e-Services or by mail.

3. 3

   Buy the police report

   After about a week, search Purchase TN Crash and pay $10.00, or, for a THP crash, mail form SF-1595 with a $4.00 check.

4. 4

   Request video separately, now

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

Frequently asked questions