How to Get a State-Level Crash Report in South Carolina

The short answer

For a state-level copy of a South Carolina traffic collision report, start with the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) collision-report service. SCDMV accepts requests online, in person at a branch with Form FR-50, or by mail with Form FR-50. The current SCDMV form states a $10 fee per report. SCDMV makes an official copy available only after receipt and processing; it states no fixed waiting period.

This is the right state-level path for an officer report that reaches SCDMV. South Carolina law requires an officer who investigates a crash involving injury, death, or apparent total property damage of $1,000 or more to send a written report to SCDMV within 24 hours after completing the investigation. That rule is why a report made by a local police officer or sheriff can still be available through SCDMV when it meets the statutory reporting criteria. If SCDMV has no record, or you need records beyond the collision form, contact the agency that investigated the crash.

Immediate checklist

Write down the crash date, county, location, each driver’s full name, and any report or case number you were given.
Use the SCDMV collision-report page to request online if you can identify yourself and the collision.
If online access is not available, complete Form FR-50, Request for Copy of Collision Report. Take it to an SCDMV branch or mail the two signed copies with payment.
If the crash was not investigated by law enforcement and it meets the injury, death, or $1,000 apparent-damage threshold, use the separate FR-309 Traffic Collision Report process described below. FR-309 is not a request for an officer’s report.
If the record is missing or you need dispatch, photos, video, or another investigative record, identify the investigating agency and request the specific record from that agency. Keep your request to one report and state the intended use when the agency requires it.

Who reports what after a South Carolina crash

Calling or notifying police. When a crash causes injury or death, the driver must immediately give notice by the quickest means: to local police inside a municipality, or otherwise to the county sheriff or nearest South Carolina Highway Patrol office. South Carolina Code § 56-5-1260 sets out that direction.

The investigating officer’s report. For a crash the officer investigates that involves injury, death, or apparent total property damage of $1,000 or more, the officer must forward a written report to SCDMV within 24 hours after the investigation is complete. The statutory rule in § 56-5-1270 applies to the officer’s reporting duty. It does not give a reader a guaranteed date when a copy will appear in SCDMV’s system.

A driver or owner self-report. If no law-enforcement officer investigated the crash, the driver or owner must send a written report and liability-insurance verification to SCDMV within 15 days when the crash resulted in injury, death, or apparent total property damage of $1,000 or more. The South Carolina Highway Patrol identifies FR-309 as the form for an uninvestigated collision, and the form repeats the 15-day requirement. Do not file FR-309 simply to obtain a copy of an officer’s report; it serves a separate DMV reporting function.

Insurance, public-entity, and court matters. The SCDMV and SCDPS sources cited here explain collision reporting and access to agency records. They do not establish an insurer-notice deadline, a notice procedure for a government entity, or a lawsuit deadline. A request for a collision report does not take the place of any separate communication that may be needed for those matters.

Requesting the SCDMV collision report

Online

SCDMV says a person involved in a collision may request a copy online. The request starts with personal information to authenticate the requester, followed by information that identifies the collision. The state’s online-services gateway says users identify themselves with a driver-license number, identification-card number, or vehicle plate number; some transactions require additional identifying details. If you have an out-of-state license or do not know your SCDMV customer number, SCDMV says online access may not be available, but branch-office and mail requests remain available.

In person or by mail

Use Form FR-50 and provide as much information as possible. For a branch request, take the form to an SCDMV branch and pay the research fee. SCDMV accepts cash, card, check, or money order in person.

For a mail request, SCDMV instructs requesters to mail two copies of FR-50 and a check or money order for $10 payable to SCDMV; do not mail cash. The mailing address is:

SCDMV
Titles Mail-in Unit FR-50
PO Box 1498
Blythewood, SC 29016-0050

Who may ask for the record

SCDMV’s public instruction expressly says that a person involved in a collision may request a copy. FR-50 also asks for the requester’s name, mailing address, driver-license number and licensing state, phone number, and signature; it has fields for a business account number and a claim or file number when applicable.

For a report requested from a law-enforcement agency, South Carolina Code § 56-5-1275 prohibits access for commercial-solicitation purposes. It also says that people other than law-enforcement personnel and people named in the report must make a separate written request for each report, giving their name, address, and intended use in enough detail for the agency to determine that the use is not commercial solicitation. If your connection to a report is not clear from SCDMV’s process, use FR-50 with complete information or ask the investigating agency what its written request requires.

Information and documents to gather

FR-50 is designed to help SCDMV locate a collision. Gather the following before you start:

Date of collision and county;
Each driver’s full name, driver-license number, and licensing state, if known;
The FR-10 number or case number, if you have one;
Your own driver-license number and state, phone number, mailing address, and signature;
A claim or file number, if relevant; and
Your vehicle plate number if using the online identity step.

If the report is unavailable or was held elsewhere

An SCDMV request may not produce an official copy until the agency has received and processed the report. The lack of an immediate result does not establish that no law-enforcement record exists. Check that the date, county, names, and report number are accurate, then use the branch or mail route if the online service cannot authenticate you.

If a city police department, county sheriff, campus police department, tribal police department, or another agency investigated the crash, SCDMV is still the state-level route for the qualifying officer report that the statute requires to be forwarded to SCDMV. But that does not make SCDMV the custodian of every related record. The state law’s report-access provision directs written requests to the relevant law-enforcement agency, and the general FOIA law defines records held by state and local public bodies as public records subject to applicable exemptions. Ask the investigating agency for its records-request process when you need its incident file or a record that SCDMV does not hold.

SCDMV specifically says it does not store accident-related audio, video, or photographs. For South Carolina Department of Public Safety/Highway Patrol materials, use the SCDPS FOIA guidance; it says photos or video may not have been prepared or available. For a Highway Patrol MAIT investigation, SCDPS says to allow a minimum of eight weeks from the crash date for completion and identifies separate MAIT materials that may be requested. That timing is for a MAIT investigation, not a general SCDMV collision-report waiting period.

For a local investigator’s recording, photo, dispatch log, or other local file, start with that agency rather than treating SCDPS as a statewide repository for local evidence. A specific written request should identify the crash, the record sought, and the intended use.

Official resources

For practical next steps after a crash, see the AccidentFiling.ai evidence checklist and the site’s guides.