How to get a car accident report in Texas

Texas provides crash reports statewide through TxDOT Crash Report Online Purchase System (CRIS) — including crashes handled by local police and county sheriffs.

Official source

TxDOT Crash Report Online Purchase System (CRIS)

Official Texas crash-report source — $6.00 per regular (uncertified) copy; $8.00 per certified copy (plus a small card/processing surcharge). CRIS also returns whether a report is on file at no charge before you buy.. Covers agencies statewide.

Open the official portal→

Source: Texas — TxDOT Crash Report Online Purchase System (CRIS). Checked 2026-07-24. Details can change — always confirm with the official source.

Step by step

Gather your crash details. Locate the CRIS Crash ID (report/incident number) the officer gave you. If you don't have it, note the crash date, the county and city/street where it happened, and a driver's name or driver license number. A CR-3 is typically available in CRIS after the investigating agency files it (usually within about 10 days of the crash).
Open the CRIS Crash Report Online Purchase System. Go to the TxDOT purchase portal at https://cris.txdot.gov/public/Purchase (it resolves to cris.dot.state.tx.us). This one statewide portal serves crashes written by Texas DPS troopers AND by local city police and county sheriffs.
Create/log in and search for your report. Log in through the PayIt account prompt, then search by Crash ID, or by crash date plus name/driver license and location. CRIS confirms free of charge whether a matching report is on file before you pay.
Confirm you are an eligible party. Because CR-3 reports are confidential under Transportation Code Sec. 550.065, you must attest that you are an eligible requester (a person involved, their representative, an insurer, etc.) to buy the full unredacted report.
Pay the fee and download/receive the report. Pay $6 for a regular copy or $8 for a certified copy (small processing surcharge added). The CR-3 is delivered electronically (emailed/downloadable) after payment.

State police / highway patrol crashes

Texas DPS Highway Patrol crashes use the same one-stop system - troopers file the CR-3 into TxDOT's CRIS, so you obtain a DPS/state-trooper crash report by purchasing it through the CRIS Crash Report Online Purchase System (https://cris.txdot.gov/public/Purchase), $6 regular / $8 certified. There is no separate DPS-only crash-report store; DPS directs the public to TxDOT CRIS. (DPS itself sells driver records, not the CR-3 crash report.)

Crashes handled by local police or sheriffs

Local matters little in Texas: by law every investigating agency (city police departments and county sheriff's offices included) files its CR-3 crash reports into TxDOT's statewide CRIS database, and the public buys them through the SAME CRIS Crash Report Online Purchase System at $6/$8 - you do not have to go agency-by-agency. Practical notes: allow ~10 days after the crash for the agency to file it; a few large municipal departments also sell their own copies over the counter or through a third-party vendor (e.g., LexisNexis), but the statewide TxDOT CRIS portal is the primary one-stop route for local-agency crashes.

Who can get the report: Texas peace-officer crash reports (Form CR-3) are NOT open public record. Under Sec. 550.065(b) the report is privileged and for the confidential use of the department and government agencies; Sec. 550.065(c) releases it only to persons directly concerned in or with a proper interest in the crash (a person involved, their authorized representative, drivers/occupants, vehicle or damaged-property owners, insurers, employers/parents/guardians, licensed news media, and investigating law enforcement / courts on subpoena). Requesters attest to eligibility at purchase. Sec. 550.065(c-1) does allow a REDACTED report (personal identifiers removed) to be sold to any person. Practical effect: the site must treat the full CR-3 as interested-parties/proper-interest only, not a freely public record.

Texas counties (139)

Pick the county where your crash happened for every local agency and its exact request process:

Plus 26 statewide or specialty agencies: Alton Police Department, Bartonville Police Department, Big Spring Pd, Bruceville-Eddy Police Department, Decatur Police Dept. Tx, Elm Ridge Police Department, Granite Shoals Police Department, Harris County Precinct 5, Hickory Creek Police Department, Hollywood Park Police Department, Houston Metro Transit Police Department, Houston Pd, and more.

After you get the report

Use the CR-3 to open or support your auto-insurance claim - it carries the crash date/location, involved drivers and their insurance, vehicle info, and the officer's contributing-factor/fault notations that adjusters rely on. Review it for errors (misspelled names, wrong plate/VIN, incorrect date or direction of travel, mistaken fault); TxDOT does not edit report content, so factual corrections must be requested from the investigating officer's own agency, which files a corrected or supplemental CR-3 that then updates CRIS. Buy the $8 certified copy if it's for a court or legal proceeding.