How to get a car accident report in Minnesota

Step by step

1. Confirm you're an authorized requestor. Minnesota crash reports are confidential under Minn. Stat. 169.09 subd. 13. Only a person involved in the crash (driver, passenger, vehicle/property owner, pedestrian) named on the report — or their attorney, insurer, or legal/estate representative — may obtain a copy. If you're not one of these, you cannot get the report.
2. Wait about three weeks. Reports are available roughly three weeks after the crash, once the responding agency has filed it into the state crash system. Requesting earlier will usually come back as 'not found.'
3. Complete Crash Record Request Form PS2503. Download and fill in Form PS2503 from the DVS site. Provide the driver's name, date of crash, crash location/county, the agency report/incident number if you have it, and the vehicle license plate number. Sign as the authorized requestor — an unsigned form is rejected.
4. Attach ID and the $5 fee. Include a legible copy of your driver's license or government-issued photo ID (or a notarized signature) and $5 per report copy. In person you present the ID; by mail you enclose a copy.
5. Submit by mail or in person. Mail to: Driver and Vehicle Services, Attn: Records Unit, 445 Minnesota St., Suite 161, St. Paul, MN 55101-5161 — or deliver in person at DVS Central Office, Town Square Building, 445 Minnesota St., St. Paul. Questions: (651) 296-2940. There is no online portal.

State police / highway patrol crashes

Minnesota State Patrol (a division of DPS) crashes are obtained through the very same central path: complete Form PS2503 and submit it by mail or in person to DVS Driver and Vehicle Services, Attn: Records Unit, 445 Minnesota St., Suite 161, St. Paul, MN 55101-5161 (phone (651) 296-2940). State Patrol files its crash reports into the state crash system, so there is no separate State Patrol crash-report portal — same $5 fee, same authorized-requestor and photo-ID requirements, same ~3-week availability.

Crashes handled by local police or sheriffs

Minnesota runs a central repository. Crashes worked by local city police departments and county sheriffs are filed into the statewide DPS crash system, so the primary path for ANY Minnesota crash report — local or state — is the same DVS Crash Record Request (Form PS2503), submitted by mail or in person to the DVS Records Unit. There is no statewide online/BuyCrash/crashdocs portal. Alternatively, you may request the report directly from the responding agency's own records unit (some larger city PDs and sheriff's offices provide copies faster or through their own/third-party online portals), but the same confidentiality rule applies at every door — you must be an involved/interested party under Minn. Stat. 169.09 subd. 13.

Minnesota agencies (12)

Pick the agency that responded to your crash for its exact request process:

• Adrian Police Department
• Arlington Police Department
• Battle Lake Police Department
• Braham Police Department
• Brownton Police Department
• Cloquet Police Department
• Douglas County Sheriffs Office
• Parkers Prairie Mn Pd - Hq
• Renville Police Department
• Steele County Mn So - Hq
• Virginia Police Department
• Zumbrota Police Department

After you get the report

Use the report to open or support your insurance claim — it carries the crash date/location, drivers and vehicles, insurance and plate details, the officer's diagram, and any fault/contributing-factor coding that insurers rely on. Read it carefully and check for errors: misspelled names, wrong plate or policy numbers, an inaccurate diagram, or an incorrect fault/citation code. If something is wrong, contact the reporting agency (the department whose officer wrote it) to request a correction or supplemental report. Note that under Minn. Stat. 169.09 the report itself is not admissible as evidence in a civil or criminal trial, though it's fully usable for the insurance/claims process.