How to get a car accident report in Pennsylvania

Step by step

1. Wait 15 days and confirm eligibility. PA State Police crash reports become available 15 days after the crash date. Confirm you qualify to receive one — you must be a person involved in the crash, their attorney or insurer, or an involved government agency. These reports are not public, so uninvolved parties cannot obtain them.
2. Choose online or mail. Request online through the PA State Police Online Crash Report Requests portal (pa.gov/psp/crash-reports), or download mail-in Form SP 7-0015. The online portal is fastest; the mail form is for those who prefer to pay by check/money order.
3. Provide the crash details. Enter the CAD/Case number if you have it, or search by the involved party's last name plus the date of the crash. The mail form also asks for county, municipality, route/location, time of crash, and your reason for the request.
4. Pay the $22 fee. Each report costs $22. Pay online during checkout in the portal, or for mail requests enclose a money order or certified check for $22 payable to 'Commonwealth of Pennsylvania' with Form SP 7-0015.
5. Submit and receive the report. Mail requests go to PA State Police, Crash Reports Unit, 1800 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110. PSP reviews and approves or denies requests within about 7 business days; approved reports are then released to you.

State police / highway patrol crashes

For a crash investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP): use the PSP Online Crash Report Requests portal at pa.gov/psp/crash-reports, or mail Form SP 7-0015 with a $22 money order/certified check (payable to 'Commonwealth of Pennsylvania') to PA State Police, Crash Reports Unit, 1800 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110. Search by CAD/Case number or by last name + crash date. Reports are available 15 days after the crash; PSP approves or denies the request within about 7 business days. Questions: 717-783-3380 or RA-pspcrashreports@pa.gov.

Crashes handled by local police or sheriffs

Pennsylvania does NOT have one statewide portal for local crashes. The PSP Online Crash Report Requests site covers ONLY crashes investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police. If a city/municipal police department, borough/township police, or county handled the crash, you must request the report directly from that investigating agency's records unit — by mail, in person, or through that department's own online system (large departments like the Philadelphia Police Department and Pittsburgh Bureau of Police run their own request processes and set their own fees). Some PA local departments use third-party portals (e.g., CarFax/crashdocs or LexisNexis-based systems), but adoption is department-by-department, not statewide. PennDOT compiles statewide crash DATA but does not sell copies of police crash reports to the public. Bottom line: identify which agency wrote the report (it is on the driver-exchange slip) and follow that specific agency's process.

Pennsylvania agencies (54)

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

• Benton Borough Police Department
• Brecknock Township Police Department
• Brentwood Borough Police
• Brookhaven Boro Police Department
• Bryn Athyn Police Department
• Cleona Borough Police Department
• Cochranton Police Department
• Collegeville Police Department
• Collier Township Pa Police Department
• Columbia Borough Police Department
• Conemaugh Township (Cambria County) Police Department
• Conemaugh Township (Somerset County) Police Department
• Conyngham Boro Police Department
• Coplay Borough Police Department
• Coraopolis Borough Police Department
• Covington Township Pa Police Department
• Crescent Township Police Department
• Delaware River Port Authority
• Dunmore Boro Police Department
• East Lansdowne Police Department
• Eastern Regional Mon Valley Police Department
• Easttown Twp Police Department
• Forty Fort Boro Police Department
• Gettysburg Police Department
• Greenfield Township (Lackawanna County) Police Department
• Hazleton Police Department
• Honesdale Boro Police Department
• Liberty Twp Police Department
• Loretto Police Department
• Lower Merion Township Police Department
• Manheim Borough Police Department
• Middleburg Borough Police Department
• Mifflinburg Borough Police Department
• Millersville Borough Police Department
• Mount Carmel Township Police Department
• Muhlenberg Township Police Department
• Nesquehoning Borough Police Department
• Old Forge Police Department
• Orwigsburg Boro Police Department
• Parkside Borough Police Department
• Pequea Township Police Department
• Schuylkill Haven Borough Police Department
• Selinsgrove Borough Police Department
• Solebury Twp Police Department
• Sunbury Police Department
• Swoyersville Police Department
• Tarentum Borough Police Department
• Telford Borough Police Department
• Throop Boro Police Department
• Upper Macungie Township Police Department
• West Hempfield Twp Police Department
• Whitehall Borough Police Department
• York City Police Department
• Zelienople Police Department

After you get the report

Give the report (and its CAD/Case number) to your insurer to support your claim — it documents the date, location, involved parties, vehicles, insurance info, and the officer's account of what happened. Read it carefully for errors: check spelling of names, license-plate/VIN and insurance details, the crash date/location, and the officer's diagram or narrative. If something is wrong, contact the investigating PSP station or officer (or the local department that wrote it) to request a correction, since insurers and attorneys rely on this document to assign fault.