How to get a car accident report in Texas

Step by step

1. 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).
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

Texas agencies (85)

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

• Abilene Police Department
• Austin Police Department
• Bedford Police Department
• Big Spring Pd
• Breckenridge Police Department
• Brenham Police Department
• Brownfield Police Department
• Brownwood Police Department
• Bruceville-Eddy Police Department
• Canyon Police Department
• Carrollton Police Department
• Cedar Hill Police Department
• City of Del Rio Police Department
• City of Justin Police Department
• College Station Police Department
• Colleyville Police Department
• Decatur Police Dept. Tx
• Desoto Police Department
• Dumas Police Department
• Duncanville Police Department
• Electra Police Department
• Euless Police Department
• Flower Mound Police Department
• Friendswood Police Department
• Frisco Police Department
• Graham Police Department
• Grand Prairie Police Department
• Greenville Police Department
• Haltom City Police Department
• Harris County Precinct 5
• Hollywood Park Police Department
• Houston Metro Transit Police Department
• Houston Pd
• Humble Independent School District Police
• Hurst Police Department
• Iowa Park Police Department
• Kerrville Police Department
• Killeen Police Department
• Krum Police Department
• Kyle Police Department
• La Vernia Police Department
• Lancaster Police Department
• Laredo Police Department
• Lewisville Police Department
• Little Elm Police Department
• Livingston Police Department
• Magnolia Police Department
• Marshall Police Department
• Merkel Police Department
• Mesquite Police Department
• Midland Police Department
• Missouri City Pd
• Mount Pleasant Police Department
• Nacogdoches Police Department
• Palmer Police Department
• Pleasanton Police Department
• Port Arthur Police Department
• Port Lavaca Police Department
• Portland Police Department
• Red Oak Police Department
• Roanoke Police Department
• Round Rock Police Department
• Rowlett Police Department
• Rusk Police Department
• Saginaw Police Department
• San Angelo Police Department
• San Marcos Police Department
• Santa Fe Police Department
• Seagoville Police Department
• Seguin Police Department
• Seven Points Police Department
• Silsbee Police Department
• Somerset Police Department
• Stephenville Police Department
• Talty Police Department
• Texas Police Department
• The Colony Police Department
• Troy Police Department
• Vernon Police Department
• Victoria Police Department
• Waco Police Department
• Waxahachie Police Department
• Weatherford Police Department
• Wichita Falls Police Department
• Willow Park Police Department

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.