How to Get a State-Level Truck Accident Report in North Carolina

Short answer

For a certified North Carolina truck accident report, start with the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (NCDMV) truck accident-report service. North Carolina law directs the Division to provide a certified copy of an officer or medical-examiner truck accident report to a member of the public who requests it and pays the statutory fee. The current fee in the statute is $6.50. NCDMV’s current ordering instructions also explain that personal information is protected: a person involved in the truck accident may order a redacted copy, while an unredacted copy requires a qualifying federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) permissible use.

Do not assume that the State Highway Patrol’s online truck accident lookup contains every North Carolina truck accident. It is limited to truck accidents investigated by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. If city police, a sheriff’s office, campus police, tribal police, or another local agency investigated, contact that investigating agency for its local record status and case/report number, then use NCDMV for the certified state copy once the report has been forwarded.

Immediate checklist

Identify the investigating agency. Your scene paperwork, citation, case number, or officer information should show whether the Highway Patrol lookup is relevant.
Gather the details. Have the truck accident date, county, driver name, and involved driver’s license number. Those are requested on NCDMV’s mail/in-person form.
Choose the route. A person involved can seek a redacted copy by mail or in person, not online. Qualifying North Carolina-based or licensed businesses and organizations have additional options, including online ordering.
Use the form and payment method. For mail or in-person requests, use the TR-67A Truck accident Report Request form; mailed requests need a signed check or money order payable to NCDMV, not cash.
Keep your records. The car-accident evidence checklist can help organize photos, contact information, correspondence, and report numbers.

Who reports what after a North Carolina truck accident?

North Carolina’s truck accident rules separate notice to law enforcement from the officer’s written report and a few narrow driver duties. The following steps are not interchangeable.

Category	What the official source says	Why it matters for finding the report
Notify law enforcement	For a reportable accident, the driver must immediately notify the appropriate law-enforcement agency by the quickest means. In a city or town, that is the city or town police department; outside a city or town, it is the State Highway Patrol, sheriff, or other qualified rural police. A reportable accident includes one involving death or injury, or total property damage of $1,000 or more (and a specified seized-vehicle situation).	The agency notified and the agency that investigated may tell you where to ask first.
Officer’s written truck accident report	The investigating law-enforcement agency must investigate a reportable accident. The officer must make a written report within 24 hours. A Highway Patrol officer forwards it to DMV; a non-Highway-Patrol officer forwards it to the local agency, which must forward it to DMV within 10 days after receiving it.	This statutory forwarding rule is why NCDMV is the state-level route for a certified copy, even when a local agency investigated. It does not make the Highway Patrol search portal a statewide portal.
Driver and DMV follow-up	DMV may request proof of financial responsibility from a driver involved in a reportable accident.	A report-copy order does not replace a DMV request.
Parked or unattended vehicle	A driver who collides with a parked or unattended motor vehicle must report to the owner within 48 hours; a written report not delivered at the scene has certified-mail and DMV-copy instructions.	This narrow rule is not a general report-order deadline.

The official sources used for this record-access guide do not supply a general insurer-notice deadline, public-entity claim notice procedure, or lawsuit deadline. Do not infer one from the police-report rules or from NCDMV’s copy-processing times.

How to find and request the record

Use NCDMV for the certified state copy

NCDMV treats truck accident reports as privacy-regulated motor-vehicle records. Its order page says a person personally involved may order a redacted report in person or by mail, not online. It identifies Raleigh and Huntersville in-person locations and says requests for five or fewer records can be issued immediately in person; larger requests must be mailed.

For a mail request, print Form TR-67A, complete it, include payment, and mail it to the listed Traffic Records Branch, Truck accident Reports Unit, 3106 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27697-3106. NCDMV says to allow 10 business days from receipt for mail processing. Check the live form and ordering page before sending payment.

A North Carolina-based or licensed business or organization may seek an unredacted report by mail, in person, or online only with a DPPA permissible use and identity/status documentation; an out-of-state business or organization must use mail. NCDMV’s online route requires the requester’s North Carolina driver license or ID number, a requester identification number (Social Security number, ITIN, or U.S. Visa number), an involved driver’s license number, and the truck accident date. The official myNCDMV service lists accepted payment cards.

Use the Highway Patrol lookup only for Highway Patrol investigations

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol Truck accident Reports search is useful when the Highway Patrol investigated. It searches by report number, name, driver’s license number, or vehicle plate number, and covers Highway Patrol-investigated truck accidents since May 16, 2013. The site labels its result not a certified truck accident report and directs readers to NCDMV for a certified copy.

Official Highway Patrol pages give conflicting portal-entry estimates: the search page says five to seven business days, while the Truck accident Information overview says up to 48 hours. Treat the lookup as a status check, not a guaranteed date; for a certified copy, follow NCDMV’s processing instructions.

Documents and identifiers to gather

Before ordering, assemble as much of the following as you have:

The name of a driver involved, county of truck accident, truck accident date, and driver-license number requested on Form TR-67A.
Your full name, contact phone number, mailing address, signature, and identification details. The form asks for ID type, ID number, and issuing state.
The investigating agency’s name and any local case number, officer name, or DMV-349/report number. The Highway Patrol search can also use a plate number.
For an unredacted request, the DPPA permissible-use basis and documentation. The form warns that incomplete information or insufficient explanation can result in denial.

Before submitting, check NCDMV’s live truck accident-report ordering page for the applicable route and privacy conditions.

If the report is unavailable or held elsewhere

Verify the investigating agency, date, county, driver name, and driver-license number. If the Highway Patrol did not investigate, its lookup is not the right search tool. Ask the local police, sheriff, campus police, tribal agency, or other investigating authority for its local report process and case/report number.

For a reportable truck accident, a local agency receiving the officer’s report must forward it to DMV within 10 days after receipt. That is not a promise of immediate public availability. If NCDMV cannot locate the record, ask the investigating agency whether the officer report has been completed and forwarded, then use NCDMV’s certified-copy process when available.

For other Highway Patrol records, the Highway Patrol public-records page has online and mail routes. It says certified truck accident reports must come from NCDMV under G.S. 20-42.

For more state-by-state help with official paperwork, see the AccidentFiling.ai guides and resources. For practical next steps after the scene, see what to do after a truck accident.

Official resources

NCDMV — Order a Truck accident Report: order routes, privacy conditions, current processing instruction, and in-person locations.
NCDMV Form TR-67A — Request for Motor Vehicle Information (Truck accident Reports): mail/in-person request fields, identification, mailing address, and payment instruction.
North Carolina State Highway Patrol — Truck accident Reports: noncertified lookup for Highway Patrol-investigated truck accidents.
G.S. 20-166.1: notice, investigation, forwarding, and public-record provisions for reportable truck accidents.

What changes when a truck is involved

Use this version when the involved vehicle is a truck. Record whether it was privately used or operated by a business or motor carrier; a pickup used personally is not automatically subject to federal motor-carrier requirements.

If a commercial motor carrier was involved, preserve the carrier name, USDOT or operating-authority number if available, truck and trailer identifiers, cargo information, employer or dispatch contact, and the driver’s insurance information. Commercial coverage and federal filing requirements vary by carrier, authority, cargo, and vehicle type.

Photograph carrier names, USDOT numbers, unit numbers, plates, trailers, and cargo placards when safe.
Use the crash-state agency procedure below for the police or state report.
Use FMCSA carrier and insurance resources only when a covered motor carrier is involved.

Browse the Truck Accident Guides collection for related pages.

Accident-type official sources

Insurance Filing Requirements — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Company Safety Records — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration