How to get a car accident report in West Virginia

Step by step

1. Identify the investigating agency. Determine who worked your crash — the West Virginia State Police or a local city police department / county sheriff. West Virginia has no single statewide online portal, so this decides where the request goes.
2. Complete WVSP Form 141 (state-police crashes). On the 'Criminal and Crash Report Request Form,' fill in the Vehicle Crash Report section: your contact info, date of crash, crash location, driver name(s), and the crash report number if you have it.
3. Enclose the fee and payment. $20.00 per crash report by money order, certified check, or business check payable to 'Superintendent, West Virginia State Police,' or by credit card (no AMEX). Add $25 for a certified copy or a photo set. No cash or personal checks. Include a self-addressed envelope.
4. Submit to the Traffic Records Section. Mail, email, or fax to WV State Police, Traffic Records Section, 701 Jefferson Road, South Charleston, WV 25309 — email wvsp.crashreports@wvsp.gov, fax (304) 746-2206, phone (304) 746-2128.
5. Request from the local agency instead (local crashes). If a city PD or county sheriff investigated, contact that agency's records division directly (e.g., Charleston PD Records Division), or use its online vendor — LexisNexis BuyCrash or CrashDocs.org — if it offers one. Confirm that agency's own fee first.
6. Review the report and use it. When the report arrives, check it for accuracy and use it for your insurance claim; West Virginia has a 2-year statute of limitations on injury claims.

State police / highway patrol crashes

Complete WVSP Form 141 (Criminal & Crash Report Request), Vehicle Crash Report section. Enclose the $20.00 fee — money order, certified check, or business check payable to 'Superintendent, West Virginia State Police,' or credit card (no AMEX) — plus a self-addressed envelope. Mail, email, or fax it to the WV State Police Traffic Records Section, 701 Jefferson Road, South Charleston, WV 25309 (email wvsp.crashreports@wvsp.gov; fax (304) 746-2206; phone (304) 746-2128). Certified copies and photo sets are $25 each; add $1/page over 50 pages. Officer crash reports are released as public records under the WV Freedom of Information Act (§29B-1).

Crashes handled by local police or sheriffs

West Virginia is agency-by-agency (bucket C) — no statewide portal serves local crashes. For a crash worked by a city police department or county sheriff, request directly from that agency: many (e.g., Charleston PD's Records Division, 501 Virginia St E, Charleston) release reports in person or by mail from their records unit, while some larger departments post reports through an online vendor — LexisNexis BuyCrash (buycrash.lexisnexisrisk.com) or CrashDocs.org. Confirm the specific agency's method and fee before paying; online-vendor fees differ from the WVSP $20 mail/email fee. (Note: the two vendor portals could not be read live to enumerate exactly which WV agencies use each — verify per agency.)

West Virginia agencies (4)

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

• Berkeley County Sheriff'S Office
• Kanawha County Sheriff'S Office
• Morgan County Sheriff'S Office
• Wheeling Bureau of Police

After you get the report

Use the report to file your auto-insurance claim — it documents the date, location, drivers, vehicles, and the officer's fault/contributing-factor findings — and to support any injury claim within West Virginia's 2-year statute of limitations. Read it as soon as it arrives and check for errors: misspelled names, wrong plate/VIN, incorrect insurance info, or an inaccurate crash diagram. Ask the investigating agency to correct factual mistakes, since insurers and courts rely on the report.