How to get a car accident report in Virginia

Where to get the report

• Virginia DMV Customer Records Work Center $8 by mail, fax or in person

  DMV maintains the official record of all reportable crashes in Virginia and releases the complete report to the people § 46.2-380 lists. Send either a written request or form CRD 93, Information Request (07/01/2026), with payment. A written request must state your involvement (driver, injured person, owner of a vehicle or property, and so on), the crash date and time, the location (street and city, town or county), the driver’s name if you were not the driver, and your driver’s license number if you were involved. On CRD 93, fill in the requester section, check Police Crash Report, check your involvement, give as much crash information as you can, and sign the certification, which you make under penalty of perjury. Mail it to Customer Records Work Center, Room 514, Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Post Office Box 27412, Richmond, VA 23269; fax it to (804) 367-0390 with form DMS 004, License, ID Card and Records Payment Authorization; or take it to any DMV customer service center by appointment or walk-in. The fee is $8 per crash report, which DMV returns if it finds no report. By mail DMV takes only a check or money order; in person it takes cash, check, money order or credit card. DMV sends the report by U.S. Postal Service first class mail. CRD 93 lists a separate additional record certification fee of $5.00 if you need a certified copy. DMV’s page lists no online ordering option for individuals.

  Official page

• Virginia State Police (sends you to DMV) VSP does not release; ask DMV

  The State Police say that if you were involved in a reportable crash you should request the report from DMV, which maintains the official record, and that FOIA requests for accident or crash reports must also go to DMV. Its FOIA page says accident reports and accident information are governed by Va. Code §§ 46.2-379 and 46.2-380 and that the accident report (FR300) may be obtained through DMV. For other State Police records, such as video, use its FOIA process (see the accident video page).

  Official page

• City or county police that responded Reportable: DMV; other reports vary

  Local police and sheriffs send their reports of reportable crashes to DMV (§ 46.2-373(A)), and DMV is then the source of the FR300P. An agency may use a contracted service provider to send reports to DMV and to manage or disseminate copies to the people § 46.2-380 lists (§ 46.2-373(A)), and a county, city or town may by ordinance make its own reports and police photographs available to people involved, their attorneys and insurers and set fees for copies (§ 46.2-381), so ask the agency that responded about crashes below the reporting threshold. Example, Fairfax County Police only: reportable crash reports (FR300P) after May 1, 2017 are available only through DMV. For a non-reportable crash (Fairfax lists hit and run crashes on public property under $3,000 and private-property crashes involving death, personal injury or hit and run), its Central Records Office gives the report in person or by written request marked “non-reportable crash report” on the envelope, allow about three to four weeks by mail, at no fee for drivers, passengers, property owners or injured persons and a $5 fee for everyone else. Fairfax says officers do not photograph every crash; where they did, prints cost $2 each for owners, drivers, passengers, injured persons, property owners and their attorneys or insurers.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Virginia

Injury: call police now; always stop

Stop and identify yourself in every crash that hurts or kills anyone or damages an attended vehicle or other attended property. The driver must immediately stop as close to the scene as possible without obstructing traffic and report his name, address, driver’s license number and vehicle registration number forthwith; the statute lists as recipients the State Police or local law-enforcement agency, the person struck and injured if that person appears able to understand and retain the information, or the driver or another occupant of the vehicle collided with or the custodian of the damaged property. The driver must also render reasonable assistance to anyone injured, including taking the person to a physician, surgeon or hospital if treatment is apparently necessary or is requested. A driver too injured to do this at the scene must do it as soon as reasonably possible. A violation is a Class 5 felony if anyone is injured or killed or property damage is more than $1000, and a Class 1 misdemeanor if property damage is $1000 or less (Va. Code § 46.2-894). Police notice for injury or death: the driver of any vehicle in a crash that injures or kills anyone, or someone acting for the driver, must immediately give notice of the crash to a law-enforcement officer; a willful failure is a Class 4 misdemeanor (§ 46.2-371). Apart from the § 46.2-888(B) duty, below, to report a moved vehicle’s location to the nearest officer, we found no Virginia statute that requires calling police for a crash that damages only property once the § 46.2-894 information has been exchanged, but an officer must send a written report to DMV within 24 hours after completing the investigation of any crash the officer investigates that causes injury, death or total property damage to an apparent extent of $3,000 or more (§ 46.2-373(A)); a 2025 act (Acts 2025, c. 255, H 2256, approved March 21, 2025, in effect since July 1, 2025 under § 1-214(A)) raised that figure from $1,500. Unattended vehicle or property: if no one is hurt but you damage an unattended vehicle or other unattended property, make a reasonable effort to find the owner or custodian and give the same information; if you cannot find the owner, leave a note or other sufficient information, including your identification and contact information, in a conspicuous place at the scene, and report the crash in writing within 24 hours to the State Police or the local law-enforcement agency, stating the date, time and place and your description of the damage (§ 46.2-896). Passengers: if the driver fails to stop and report, every person 16 or older in the vehicle who knows of the crash must make sure a report is made within 24 hours to the State Police or, in a city or town, to the local police (§§ 46.2-895, 46.2-897). A violation of §§ 46.2-895 through 46.2-897 is a Class 6 felony if anyone was injured or killed and otherwise a Class 1 misdemeanor, except a Class 4 misdemeanor (with three demerit points) when the property struck is unattended and the damage is less than $250 (§ 46.2-900); for any violation of §§ 46.2-894 through 46.2-897 in a crash that damaged only property, with damage over $500, the court may also suspend the license for up to six months (§ 46.2-901). These duties apply whatever the amount of damage (§ 46.2-898) and on private property as well as public roads (§ 46.2-899). Move the vehicle: after a crash, turn on your emergency flashers; if you can do so safely, the vehicle is movable and no one was injured or killed, you must move it off the roadway so it does not obstruct traffic, report its location to the nearest law-enforcement officer as soon as practicable, and get it off the shoulder without unnecessary delay; an officer may order a hazardous vehicle removed at the owner’s expense (§ 46.2-888(B)).

The driver report you may have to file

None required; FR 200 is voluntary

Virginia does not require drivers to file their own crash report with DMV. Any person involved in a crash that causes injury, death or property damage, or who has reason to believe a vehicle involved was uninsured, “may make” a written report to the Commissioner on a DMV form (Va. Code § 46.2-372(A)). DMV’s form for this is FR 200, Voluntary Report of a Crash (revised 07/01/2020), mailed to DMV’s Insurance Verification Division; its reporting reasons are that you believe the other vehicle is uninsured, or that the other vehicle’s owner is unknown under § 38.2-2206(D). The State Police say that if you failed to report a crash, you may voluntarily report it on FR 200. When a report is made under § 46.2-372, the Commissioner must require the owner of a vehicle involved to give information certifying insurance or a bond (§ 46.2-372(D)). For an uninsured motorist claim involving an unknown vehicle that made no contact with you or your vehicle, the crash must be reported promptly to your insurer or to a law-enforcement officer in the county or city where it happened (§ 38.2-2206(D)). Separate from DMV, a county, city or town may by ordinance require drivers to file a crash report with a designated local department (§ 46.2-381), and the 24-hour written police report after hitting unattended property is required by § 46.2-896. A report made under Article 11 of Chapter 3 of Title 46.2 (which includes §§ 46.2-372 and 46.2-381, but not the § 46.2-896 police report) cannot be used as evidence in a civil or criminal trial arising from the crash, though DMV must give, on demand of the person who made it or of a court, a certificate showing whether a specified report was made (§ 46.2-378).

What the report costs

$8 at DMV; local reports vary

DMV charges $8 per police crash report requested, and returns the fee if it does not find a report (DMV crash report page; CRD 93 fee list “Police Crash Report $8.00”). The statute lets the Commissioner set a reasonable fee for copies and decide how payment is made (§ 46.2-380(A)). CRD 93 also lists an additional $5.00 record certification fee. Local agencies set their own charges for reports they release themselves, under any local ordinance (§ 46.2-381). Example, Fairfax County Police only: a non-reportable crash report is free for drivers, passengers, property owners and injured persons and $5 for others, and crash photographs are $2 per print.

When the report is ready

Officer files in 24 hours; DMV mails

The investigating officer must forward the written report to DMV within 24 hours after completing the investigation (§ 46.2-373(A)). Fairfax County Police, for example, says its officers’ reports are reviewed by the department and then go through DMV’s approval process. We found no official DMV statement of how many days after a crash a report becomes available or how long a mail request takes; DMV says it sends reports by first class mail. DMV must keep crash reports for at least 36 months from the crash date (§ 46.2-380(A)), and DMV says it stores crash data in its Traffic Records Electronic Data System (TREDS) for at least 36 months. DMV or the State Police must keep any police photographs of a nonfatal crash for at least 36 months (§ 46.2-380(B)).

Who can get a copy

Parties, owners, lawyers, insurers

The report is open to: anyone involved or injured in the crash or as a result of it, or that person’s attorney; anyone who owned a vehicle or property involved at the time, or that person’s attorney; an authorized representative of an insurer reasonably anticipating civil liability exposure from the crash, or to which the person has applied for auto insurance; the FMCSA; and the personal representative of anyone injured or killed, including a guardian, conservator, executor, next of kin or administrator, or the parent or guardian of an injured or killed person under 18 (§ 46.2-380(A)). A towing and recovery operator that answered a public safety towing request for a vehicle in the crash may see the officer’s report only to get the registered owner and insurance information and may not pass it on (§ 46.2-380(A)). DMV’s page lists drivers, passengers, injured persons, owners, personal representatives, attorneys, insurer representatives and parents or guardians of an injured or killed minor. The general public cannot get the report: officers’ crash reports are for the confidential use of DMV and other state agencies for accident prevention and cannot be used as evidence in a civil or criminal trial arising from the crash; if otherwise authorized by law, DMV may disclose from the reports, on request of any person, the date, time and location and the names and addresses of the drivers, owners, injured persons, witnesses and one investigating officer (§ 46.2-379). On CRD 93 you also agree that the information is privileged and confidential and subject to the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act and Virginia’s data protection laws.

What to do now

1. 1

   Stop, exchange information and call police for any injury

   Give your name, address, license and registration numbers, help anyone hurt, and have someone notify an officer immediately if anyone is injured. If no one is hurt and the car moves, get it out of the travel lanes.

2. 2

   Leave a note and report within 24 hours if you hit an unattended car

   If you cannot find the owner, leave your identification and contact information in plain view and send a written report to the State Police or local police within 24 hours.

3. 3

   Order the FR300P from DMV

   Send a written request or form CRD 93 with $8 to DMV’s Customer Records Work Center, fax it with form DMS 004, or ask at a DMV customer service center.

4. 4

   Ask for police video separately

   The crash report does not include body camera or dashcam video. Send a Virginia FOIA request to the agency that responded now, because recordings are not kept forever.

Frequently asked questions