How to Get Your Florida Crash Report

The crash report is the first document every insurer and every lawyer asks for. In Florida it is called the Florida Traffic Crash Report, and getting it is simple once you know which agency wrote it and where it is stored.

Written by the Florida Injury Team Legal Content Team · Reviewed for accuracy by our network of licensed Florida attorneys · Learn about our editorial process

Which agency has your report

The report is written by the officer who responded to the crash, and it lives with that agency first. In Miami-Dade that usually means one of three:

• Florida Highway Patrol (Troop E) for crashes on I-95, the Palmetto, the Dolphin, the Turnpike and most state roads
• Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (formerly Miami-Dade Police) for unincorporated areas and the cities it serves under contract
• City police departments such as the City of Miami, Hialeah, Miami Beach or Coral Gables for crashes inside their limits

The officer gives you a card or slip with the report number and the agency name. Keep it. Without it you can still search by name, date and county.

The fastest way: the FLHSMV Crash Portal

All Florida agencies upload their reports to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The Florida Crash Portal at flhsmv.gov lets you buy the report online. The state fee is $10 per report and the portal adds a small convenience fee. Most reports appear within about ten days of the crash, though complex crashes can take longer.

You can also request the report in person or by mail from the agency that wrote it, which is useful if the portal does not show it yet.

Who can see it in the first 60 days

Under Florida Statute 316.066, crash reports are confidential for 60 days after the crash except to the people involved, their attorneys and insurers, and a few others named in the statute. That is why the portal asks you to certify that you are a party to the crash. After 60 days the report becomes a public record.

If the police did not come

If no officer responded and the crash involved injury or property damage of $500 or more, Florida law requires the driver to file a Driver Report of Traffic Crash (form HSMV 90011S) with the FLHSMV within 10 days. Without a police report, this self-report and your photographs become the record of what happened.

What to check when the report arrives

• The narrative and diagram. Does it match what happened? Officers work from what they see and hear at the scene, and errors are common.
• The contributing causes. Codes for speed, failure to yield, distraction and impairment.
• Insurance information for every driver, including the policy number.
• Witnesses. Names and phone numbers, if the officer recorded them.
• Citations. Whether anyone was cited, and for what.

A crash report is not the final word on fault. It is one piece of evidence. If it contains an error, the firm we refer you to can request a supplement or correction from the agency and gather the evidence that shows what actually happened.