How to get a car accident report in Colorado
Colorado provides state-police crash reports through Colorado State Patrol - Central Records Unit Portal (Central Records Request Portal). Crashes handled by local police or county sheriffs are requested from the responding agency (listed below).
Official source
Colorado State Patrol - Central Records Unit Portal (Central Records Request Portal)
Official Colorado crash-report source — Basic Crash Report $5.00 (covers first 10 pages), then $0.25/page; free download delivered to the portal account. Certified copy $1.00/page. Small online payment fee retained by SIPA (E-check $1.00 flat, or credit card ~$0.99 per $10). Verified from CSP's official GovQA fee schedule, effective 2026-07-24.. State-police crashes; locals request from the responding agency.
Open the official portal→Source: Colorado — Colorado State Patrol - Central Records Unit Portal (Central Records Request Portal). Checked 2026-07-24. Details can change — always confirm with the official source.
Step by step
- Identify the investigating agency. Determine whether the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) or a local police department / county sheriff worked your crash. The officer gives you an incident/information card at the scene showing the agency and the case (report) number - this tells you where to request the report.
- Gather your crash details. Have ready the driver's name, the date of the crash, the case/report number, and the crash location. These are the fields required to look up and order the report.
- Wait out the processing window. Reports are not available immediately. The full process (submittal, review, corrections, approval) generally takes up to ten (10) working days after the crash before a copy can be released.
- For a CSP-investigated crash, order through the CSP Central Records Unit Portal. Submit online at coloradostatepatrol.govqa.us (create a portal account), or by mail/fax/email to the CSP Central Records Unit, 700 Kipling St., Lakewood, CO 80215 (fax 303-239-4347). Pay $5.00 for the basic crash report (covers 10 pages; $0.25/page after). The report is delivered as a free download to your portal account; you sign the CCJRA no-solicitation affirmation as part of the request.
- For a local police / sheriff crash, go to that agency. Many Colorado agencies (e.g., Denver PD) distribute crash reports through LexisNexis BuyCrash at policereports.lexisnexis.com - search by agency, date, and report number and pay the vendor fee. If the agency is not on BuyCrash, submit a records request directly to that police department or sheriff's office.
- Review the report and use it. Check the report for errors, then give it (or the case/report number) to your insurance company. Have mistakes corrected by the investigating agency - CSP Central Records Unit or the local department/sheriff.
State police / highway patrol crashes
Colorado State Patrol-investigated crashes are ordered from the CSP Central Records Unit (CRU). Use the online Central Records Unit Portal at coloradostatepatrol.govqa.us (\"Order a Crash/Incident Report\" / Submit a Request) - create an account, choose \"Basic Crash Report,\" and enter the driver's name, crash date, case/report number, and location. You may also request by mail, in person, fax (303-239-4347), or email (cdps_csprecords@state.co.us) to the CRU at 700 Kipling St., Lakewood, CO 80215 (303-239-4180). Fee: $5.00 for the basic crash report (up to 10 pages), $0.25/page thereafter, delivered as a free download to the portal account; allow up to 10 working days. Requests are processed under the CCJRA and require the signed no-solicitation affirmation. (Separately, a driver's own online crash report filed as a courtesy through CSP's Online Crash Reporting System goes to the Colorado Dept. of Revenue - 303-205-5600 - not CSP.)
Crashes handled by local police or sheriffs
Local city police and county sheriff crashes are handled by the investigating agency, NOT the CSP portal. Most Colorado local agencies distribute crash reports through LexisNexis BuyCrash (policereports.lexisnexis.com) - the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police named LexisNexis Coplogic / BuyCrash as its statewide crash-report distribution partner, and agencies such as the Denver Police Department use it. Search there by agency, date, and report number and pay the vendor fee. Agencies not enrolled in BuyCrash require a records request submitted directly to that department or sheriff's office (often via the agency's own online records portal, or by mail/in person under the CCJRA).
Colorado agencies (48)
Pick the agency that responded to your crash for its exact request process:
- Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office
- Arvada Police Department
- Auraria Campus Police Department
- Aurora Police Department
- Avon Police Department Co
- Basalt Police Department
- Bent County Sheriff'S Office
- Brighton Police Department
- Broomfield Police Department
- Brush Police Department
- Canon City Police Department
- Cherry Hills Village Police Department
- Cheyenne County Sheriff'S Office
- Commerce City Police Department
- Crested Butte Marshal'S Office
- Cripple Creek Police Department
- Delta Police Department
- Durango Police Department
- Evans Police Department
- Federal Heights Police Department
- Firestone Police Department
- Fort Collins Police Department
- Fraser/Winter Park Police Department
- Fruita Police Department
- Golden Police Department
- Grand Junction Police Department
- Holyoke Police Department
- Kersey Police Department
- Lakewood Police Department - Co
- Lasalle Police Department
- Littleton Police Department
- Meeker Police Department
- Montrose Police Department
- Monument Police Department
- Mountain Village Police Department
- Northglenn Police Department
- Pagosa Springs Police Department
- Palmer Lake Police Department
- Pikes Peak State College Police Department
- Silverthorne Police Department
- Telluride Marshal'S Department
- Thornton Police Depart
- Trinidad Police Department
- Vail Police Department
- Washington County Sheriff'S Office
- Westminster Police Department Co
- Wheat Ridge Police Department
- Yuma Police Department
After you get the report
Give the report - or at least its case/report number - to your insurance company to open or support your claim; the crash report is generally sufficient for insurance purposes. Read it for accuracy first: errors in the driver, vehicle, insurance, location, contributing-factor codes, or the crash diagram can affect fault determinations and your claim, and should be corrected through the investigating agency (CSP Central Records Unit for state-patrol crashes, or the local police department / sheriff for local crashes).