Vermont Car Accident Reporting Requirements: Police, Driver, and Motor.

Short answer

If you were operating a motor vehicle in a Vermont car accident that caused an injury or death or $3,000 or more in total property damage, Vermont law requires a written report to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles within 72 hours after the car accident. Vermont DMV supplies form VC-004, Car accident Report, Motor Vehicle, and says it may be sent by email or mail. The $3,000 figure is the total damage to all property, not just one vehicle. The form says the duty applies even when the vehicle was parked. 1 2 3

That DMV filing is different from police notification, an officer report, insurer notice, a copy request, a public-entity claim, or a lawsuit. The cited sources do not identify an officer investigation as a substitute for the operator’s report.

Immediate checklist

Stop in a location that does not impede traffic or jeopardize safety, give reasonable assistance, and exchange the identifying information Vermont law requires. 4
Write down the car accident date, time, town, road, vehicles, people involved, visible damage, and the responding officer or agency, if any. Preserve photos, contact details, and repair information. The car-accident evidence checklist can help organize what you have.
Decide whether there was an injury, death, or $3,000 or more total property damage. If so, complete VC-004 promptly and submit it within 72 hours. 1 3
If you are an owner or operator with liability coverage, give an injured person or property owner the names and addresses of potentially applicable liability insurers and policy numbers within five days. 1
Report the car accident to your own insurer according to your policy. VC-004 says the car accident should also be reported directly to the insurer and warns that a failure to report may jeopardize automobile liability; the form does not provide a universal insurer-notice deadline. 3
If you need a car accident-report copy, use the DMV record-request route rather than the Vermont State Police public-record portal for a Vermont State Police car accident. 5 6

For a practical first-hours sequence, see what to do after a car accident.

Who reports what in Vermont

Task	Who and when	Destination or purpose
Stop, aid, and exchange identity	An operator involved in a car accident causing injury to someone other than the operator or damage to property other than the controlled vehicle must immediately stop, render reasonably necessary assistance, and give listed identity information to the injured/damaged person and an enforcement officer. 4	At the scene; this is not a DMV report.
Driver/operator DMV car accident report	The operator must make a written report within 72 hours after a car accident involving injury or at least $3,000 total property damage. 1	Commissioner of Motor Vehicles; use VC-004. 2
Police/officer car accident report	Law enforcement officers who investigate non-commercial/non-placarded-vehicle car accidents must forward a report to the Agency of Transportation within 30 days after the car accident is investigated. Commercial-motor-vehicle or hazardous-materials-placarded car accidents are reported by appropriate law enforcement in the manner the Transportation Secretary prescribes. 7	Agency of Transportation; this is an officer duty.
Insurance-information disclosure to the other side	The owner and operator of a liability-insured vehicle must notify the injured person or damaged-property owner of all potentially covering liability insurers’ names, addresses, and policy numbers within five days after injury or damage. 1	Injured person and/or property owner at the last known address.
Notice to your own insurer	VC-004 says the car accident should also be reported directly to the insurer. 3	Your insurer; policy terms may set its own notice requirements.
Public-entity claim	The State’s official auto-liability claim process asks a claimant to complete the form and attach supporting documents, then email it to Risk Management. 8	A claim-handling process, not the DMV report and not a stated lawsuit deadline.
Civil lawsuit	Section 512 states a three-year period for listed personal-injury and personal-property-damage actions, subject to its text and other law. 9	Court filing; it is separate from every report above.

Police notification is not the 72-hour DMV deadline

The current statutes and agency pages cited here distinguish a driver’s duties at the scene and the DMV report from an officer’s investigative report. Section 1128 requires an immediate stop, reasonably necessary aid, and specified identifying information in the situations it describes. It refers to information given to an enforcement officer, but this section does not state a general operator deadline for calling police. 4

This does not turn the 72-hour DMV deadline into a police-notification rule or diminish the need for emergency help and a safe scene.

An officer report and an operator report have separate roles

Section 1603a places the 30-day forwarding obligation on investigating officers, not on drivers. 7 VC-004, meanwhile, asks the operator whether an officer investigated and asks for the officer and department, while separately directing the operator to make the report within 72 hours when the threshold is met. 3 Keep the agency name and any case or car accident number; they can help later with a copy request.

The two official sources use different timing language for records: the officer statute measures 30 days after the car accident is investigated, while the Vermont State Police records page says a car accident report is available 30 days from the date of car accident. 5 Treat that difference as a reason to check with DMV rather than as a promise that a particular report will be ready on a particular date.

How to file the operator’s DMV car accident report

Download VC-004, Car accident Report, Motor Vehicle, from the Vermont DMV car accident page. 2
Complete the form for the car accident. It requests, among other items, the car accident time/date/location; operators and occupants; vehicle, license, plate, and VIN information; damage amounts; property-owner information; injury and hospital information; a narrative; investigating-officer details; and insurance information. For more than two vehicles, the form says to use as many forms as needed. 3
Sign the certification. The form requires the operator to affirm under penalty of perjury that the information is true and correct to the best of the operator’s knowledge. 3
Submit the completed report by email to DMV.DriverControl@Vermont.gov or mail it to Driver Control, Vermont DMV, 120 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05603. DMV publishes those two routes. 2
Keep a dated copy of the completed form and the submission confirmation or mailing record with the car accident materials.

The form includes a separate insurance section and says insurance information is required. 3

Getting a Vermont car accident-report copy

For a police or individual car accident report, DMV identifies VG-116, Vermont DMV Record Request, as the form for requesting records and documents including certified police and individual car accident reports. 6 The form lists a $22 fee for a certified police car accident report and $15 for a certified individual car accident report. It requires all applicable sections, proof of identification, a signature, and payment by check or money order payable to the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles. 10

Give DMV as much identifying information as you have. VG-116 provides fields for the VIN, vehicle make/year, Vermont plate, name, license number, dates to be covered, the requested record, and a detailed intended use. 10 It also says DMV will review whether the request conforms to Driver Privacy Protection Act protocol and requirements; inadequate information or qualifications can lead to denial. The form lists permitted-use categories, including use by government agencies, in court or agency proceedings and anticipated litigation, by insurers for specified work, with written consent, and for uses specifically authorized by law. 10

For Vermont State Police-investigated motor-vehicle car accidents, the State Police says to complete the DMV record request and mail it to the DMV Driver Improvement Unit at 120 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05603. It says the car accident report includes the police report and is available 30 days from the car accident date. 5

If the normal report route is unavailable

Do not order a VSP motor-vehicle car accident report through the State Police police-record portal: the portal expressly directs those reports to DMV. 11 Conversely, the portal says State Police can release only cases it is the custodian of and directs reports from other agencies to the respective agency. 11 This creates a limited, source-based fallback: start with DMV for the motor-vehicle car accident report; if you are seeking a different record held by another responding agency, contact that originating agency about its own record and request process. The cited sources do not establish that every originating agency holds or will release a duplicate car accident report.

DMV’s online Public Records Request form is also not the car accident-report route; DMV says it is for statistical information and not personal driving records or car accident reports. 12 If a public agency receives a proper public-record request, Vermont’s Public Records Act generally requires a prompt response—defined as no more than three business days unless another provision applies—with specified written notice for records in storage, exemptions, nonexistence, or a permitted extension. 13 That general process does not override DMV’s record-specific form, fee, or privacy review.

Public-entity claims and lawsuit timing are different tasks

If a car accident may involve a State of Vermont vehicle or employee, the Administration’s official page provides an Auto Liability Claim Form and says to attach backup documentation and email the claim to sov.riskhelp@vermont.gov. It says an adjuster may request photos, police reports, medical reports, witness statements, or appraisals. 8 The page does not state a filing deadline, so none is supplied here.

State claims and municipal claims should not be merged into one rule. The State Tort Claims Act describes State liability, exceptions, monetary limits, and Superior Court jurisdiction. 14 The municipal-employee statute directs a within-scope claim to the employing municipality, subject to its terms and exceptions. 15 Neither source states a universal public-entity notice deadline.

For ordinary civil claims, 12 V.S.A. § 512 says the listed injury and personal-property-damage actions must be commenced within three years after accrual, with its injury discovery language and an “except as otherwise provided” qualification. 9 It is not a filing extension for the 72-hour DMV report, a deadline for an insurer claim, or a substitute for public-entity analysis.

What changes for a car accident

Use this version when a private passenger car is involved. The official reporting or record-request procedure still depends on the event location, investigating agency, and facts.
For insurance, start with the applicable personal auto policy and the crash-state rules. Keep the declarations page, insurance cards, claim number, estimates, and insurer communications.