How to get a car accident report in Washington

Where to get the report

• Washington State Patrol WRECR (online) $10.50 per report; search is free

  The State Patrol’s Requests for Electronic Collision Records system (WRECR) lets you search for a collision report from any computer with internet access and an email account: enter the name of an involved party and the date of the collision, and if a matching report appears, complete the transaction; a copy costs $10.50, which WSP says RCW 46.52.085 directs it to collect. The statutes route reports to the State Patrol: the agency that receives a driver’s report must forward the original to the chief of the Washington State Patrol (RCW 46.52.030(2)), and every officer who investigates must report in the same manner required of the parties (RCW 46.52.070(1)); the Seattle Police Department says the State Patrol “is the custodian of all collision reports within the State of Washington.” The King County Sheriff’s Office sends people to the same WSP search and warns that its own case numbers will not work there; search with the driver’s first and last name and the collision date. Entitled parties get an unredacted copy; anyone else gets a redacted copy under the Public Records Act, chapter 42.56 RCW. WSP will not give collision details over the phone.

  Official page

• Washington State Patrol Collision Records Section (mail) Form 3000-345-008, $10.50 check

  Complete the whole Request for Copy of Collision Report (form 3000-345-008), choosing either a Police Traffic Collision Report (officer investigated) or a Motor Vehicle Collision Report (not officer investigated), give the date, county and roadway of the collision and an involved person’s name, and say how you were involved (driver, owner, injured passenger, parent of a minor, insurer, attorney, or an authorized representative with an authorization letter). Send it with a $10.50 check or money order payable to the Washington State Patrol to Washington State Patrol, Collision Records Section, P.O. Box 42628, Olympia, WA 98504-2628. The office takes no cash, by mail or at its kiosk, which accepts credit cards. Its office, at 106 11th Avenue SW, Suite 1300, Olympia, WA 98501, is open by appointment only; staff answer Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 3:30 pm, at (360) 570-2355 or collisionrecords@wsp.wa.gov. WSP also provides certified copies, which it says typically take 5 to 7 business days.

  Official page

• City police, sheriff or other agency that responded Ask the agency; WSP holds the report

  City police departments and sheriff’s offices write their own reports, but the official pages we checked send people to the State Patrol for copies. Example, Seattle Police Department only: it says the State Patrol is the custodian of all collision reports in the state, that you can request a copy of any collision report through WSP, and that for a crash outside Seattle you can contact the local agency or search WSP’s collision report application. Example, King County Sheriff’s Office only: it links to the WSP search and says its case numbers will not work there. A local agency is an agency under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56.010), so you may also send it a public records request; it must respond within five business days (RCW 42.56.520), and its copy fees follow its own published fee schedule under RCW 42.56.120. If WRECR shows no record weeks after the crash, WSP says to contact the officer or department that came to the scene: if the officer judged the damage under $1,000, you may have been directed to file a citizen report instead.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Washington

Injury or $1,000+: report within 4 days

Report: unless a law enforcement officer will report the crash, the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident that injures or kills anyone, or that damages the property of any one person to an apparent extent equal to or greater than the threshold set by the Washington State Patrol chief, must make a written report within four days after the accident: to the chief of police of the city or town if it happened inside an incorporated city or town, or to the county sheriff or the state patrol if it happened outside one (RCW 46.52.030(1)). The State Patrol rule sets that threshold: “Beginning January 1, 2015, the accident-reporting threshold for property damage accidents will be one thousand dollars” (WAC 446-85-010). An officer who investigates a reportable crash must submit an investigator’s report (RCW 46.52.030(3), 46.52.070). If the driver is physically unable to report and another occupant (not a passenger for hire) can, that occupant must make the report, and the driver must report on recovery (RCW 46.52.040). Stop and remain: after a crash that injures or kills anyone, stop at the scene or as close to it as possible and remain there until you have met the duties below, without obstructing traffic more than necessary (RCW 46.52.020(1)). If the crash damaged only a vehicle that is driven or attended, or other property, move the vehicle as soon as possible off the roadway or freeway main lanes, shoulders, medians and adjacent areas to an exit ramp shoulder, the frontage road, the nearest suitable cross street or another suitable place, and remain there until you have met those duties; moving the vehicle does not affect fault (RCW 46.52.020(2)(a)). Exchange and help: give your name, address, insurance company, insurance policy number and vehicle license number, and show your driver’s license, to anyone struck or injured and to the driver, an occupant or the attendant of any vehicle you hit, and give any injured person reasonable assistance, including taking or arranging to take them to a physician or hospital if treatment is apparently necessary or they ask (RCW 46.52.020(3)). If none of those people can receive the information and no officer is present, report the crash forthwith to the nearest office of the police authority with that information (RCW 46.52.020(7)). Failing to stop or to meet those duties is a class B felony if someone died, a class C felony if someone was injured, a gross misdemeanor after a crash striking the body of a deceased person, and a gross misdemeanor after a crash that damaged only an attended vehicle or other property; a conviction for failing to stop and give information or render aid after a crash with an attended vehicle means the Department of Licensing revokes your license (RCW 46.52.020(4) to (6)). Unattended vehicle or roadside property: if you hit an unattended vehicle, stop immediately and either find and tell its operator or owner the name and address of the driver and of the owner of the vehicle that hit it, or leave a written notice with those names and addresses in a conspicuous place in the vehicle you hit; if you damage only property fixed or placed on or next to a highway, take reasonable steps to notify its owner or the person in charge, or leave a written notice on it, and report the crash as with other crashes; a violation is a misdemeanor (RCW 46.52.010). Giving information in a required report that you know is false is prohibited (RCW 46.52.088).

The driver report you may have to file

MVCR within 4 days if no officer reports

Washington does require a driver’s own report when no officer reports the crash: the written report under RCW 46.52.030(1), due within four days, for any crash with an injury, a death, or apparent damage of $1,000 or more to any one person’s property (WAC 446-85-010). The Department of Licensing says that if a law enforcement officer investigates, the officer files the report and you do not need to, and if no officer investigates, each driver involved must submit a report within 4 days. The State Patrol’s form is the Motor Vehicle Collision Report (MVCR, form 3000-345-161, revised 3/26); its instructions say any driver, pedestrian, pedalcyclist or property owner in a collision in Washington with $1,000.00 or more in damage to any one unit or injury to any person must complete one, unless an officer is present and says the officer will submit a report, and that the report will not be investigated by law enforcement. File it online through the State Patrol’s Online Motor Vehicle Collision Reporting system (OMVCR), which emails you a copy with a report number at once, or mail the signed paper form to Washington State Patrol, Collision Records Section, PO Box 42628, Olympia, WA 98504-2628, or email it to collisionrecords@wsp.wa.gov; WSP says paper processing may take up to 7 business days and asks you not to send photos, estimates or statements. The statute names the city police chief, county sheriff or state patrol as the recipient, and requires the receiving authority to forward the original to the State Patrol (RCW 46.52.030(1), (2)); the State Patrol’s form instructions send it to the State Patrol’s Collision Records Section, and the Department of Licensing points to online filing and says forms are also available from local police, the county sheriff or a State Patrol district office. The report form must let you keep a copy (RCW 46.52.030(4)), so keep the emailed copy or a photocopy of what you file. The State Patrol may require supplemental reports from drivers and witnesses (RCW 46.52.030(4)). Penalty: RCW 46.52.030 sets none of its own. Under RCW 46.63.020, failing to do an act Title 46 requires is a traffic infraction and may not be classified as a crime, unless the section is on that statute’s list of exceptions; RCW 46.52.010 and 46.52.020 are on that list, and RCW 46.52.030 is not, so read together those statutes make a missed driver report a traffic infraction, not a crime. We found no official page that states the amount. The Department of Licensing says the crash date, number of vehicles, whether they were moving, any injury or fatality and the report number go on the driving record of every driver in a crash with bodily injury or at least $1,000 in property damage to any one person’s property; it notes this shows involvement, not fault. Separately, if an uninsured driver does not pay your damages, the Department of Licensing accepts a Motor Vehicle Claim for Damages within 180 days of the collision, with estimates and receipts, for a crash with at least $1,000 in property damage or an injury, and may suspend the uninsured driver’s license.

What the report costs

$10.50 from WSP; local copies vary

The statute lets the information be furnished in writing “for a fee sufficient to meet, but not exceed, the costs incurred,” with the State Patrol’s fees deposited in the motor vehicle fund (RCW 46.52.085); it sets no dollar amount. The State Patrol charges $10.50 per report, whether bought through WRECR or by mail, and WSP says the fee is charged when you obtain a copy of a report the WRECR search finds. A copy a city or county agency provides under the Public Records Act costs what that agency charges under its published fee schedule, which may not exceed actual costs; an agency that has not calculated its actual costs may charge no more than 15 cents a page for photocopies, 10 cents a page for scanning, 5 cents for each four electronic files, and 10 cents a gigabyte for electronic delivery, plus media and postage, or a flat fee of up to two dollars (RCW 42.56.120(2)).

When the report is ready

Up to 2 to 4 weeks; kept 10 years

The State Patrol says it may take up to a total of 2 to 4 weeks before a report is available: officers have 2 to 4 weeks to finish the investigation and have the report approved by a supervisor, and reports are typically available much sooner. A driver’s report filed online through OMVCR gets a report number and a copy by email right away; a paper report may take up to 7 business days to process. WSP says its retention schedule for collision records is 10 years, and a certified copy typically takes 5 to 7 business days. Corrections can only be made by the officer who completed the report.

Who can get a copy

Parties: full copy; others: redacted

Required accident reports are for the confidential use of the prosecutor, police or sheriff, the Director of Licensing and the State Patrol chief, but those officers must disclose the names and addresses of the people involved and the witnesses, plate numbers and descriptions of the vehicles, and the date, time and location of the crash to anyone with a proper interest, “including the driver or drivers involved, or the legal guardian thereof, the parent of a minor driver, any person injured therein, the owner of vehicles or property damaged thereby, or any authorized representative of such an interested party, or the attorney or insurer thereof” (RCW 46.52.080). The officers’ factual data and the signed statements of all witnesses, but not the reports signed by the drivers, must be made available on request to those interested parties (RCW 46.52.083). The State Patrol says entitled parties receive an unredacted copy and everyone else receives a redacted copy under the Public Records Act. Driver reports: RCW 46.52.083 leaves the reports signed by the drivers out of what must be made available, yet WSP’s request form offers copies of the Motor Vehicle Collision Report (not officer investigated) at the same $10.50; we found no WSP statement explaining how it reconciles the two, so keep your own copy of any report you file. Evidence: no required accident report or copy may be used as evidence in any civil or criminal trial arising out of the crash, except to prosecute a false report under RCW 46.52.088, though the officers must give anyone who made a report, or a court, a certificate showing whether a specified report was made, solely to prove compliance with the reporting duty (RCW 46.52.080); ask a lawyer how that affects a claim. WSP’s request form also cites other statutes that govern what non-entitled parties receive.

What to do now

1. 1

   Call police, or file your own report

   For an injury, a death or $1,000 or more in damage, call police. If no officer reports it, file an MVCR within 4 days, fastest online through WSP’s OMVCR system.

2. 2

   Note the names and the date

   WRECR searches by an involved person’s name and the collision date, and the King County Sheriff says its case numbers will not work there, so write down every driver’s full name.

3. 3

   Buy the report from WSP

   Search WRECR and pay $10.50, or mail form 3000-345-008 with a $10.50 check. Allow up to 2 to 4 weeks for the report to appear.

4. 4

   Request video separately, now

   Video is not part of the collision 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