How to get a Cary crash report

Cary splits crash reports by the size of the crash. The Cary Police Department sends requests for reportable crash reports to NCDMV, and its own Records Unit handles reports for smaller crashes.

Which Cary crash reports come from NCDMV?

The department's records page draws the line in dollars. It describes a reportable crash as one with total damage of $1,000 or more and directs requests for those reports to the North Carolina DMV, by phone at 919-861-3098 or through NCDMV's crash report webpage.

State law sets the same dollar line and adds injuries and deaths to it. Under G.S. 20-4.01(33b) a crash that kills or injures anyone is reportable whatever the damage.

Cary's page says that DMV charges a fee for crash reports and gives no amount. The state's published figures for that fee do not agree with each other, so this page leaves the number out.

How do you get a smaller crash report from Cary police?

For a crash under the reportable line, Cary points to the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act form, which the town calls the DPPA form. The town also says there is no charge for local reports.

The records page lists these ways to send a request.

• Email. recordsinfo@carync.gov
• Fax. (919) 460-4904
• Text. 919-469-4021, with the case number in the message
• In person. The Records Unit inside the Cary Police Department at 120 Wilkinson Avenue, open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding holidays

The town asks for the report number in every request, along with a phone number and a return email or fax number. A caller without the report number can reach the Records Team at 919-469-4021 for help finding it.

The town says its Records Team usually has an accident report in hand 24 to 48 hours after the officer files it. Staff check emails and faxes on weekdays outside holidays.

The town's Police 2 Citizen website posts some incident reports from 2014 forward. The records page lists that site for incident reports and does not say crash reports are posted there.

What does the NCDMV request need from you?

NCDMV's Form TR-67A, Request for Motor Vehicle Information, is the request document. The revision NCDMV posts is dated July 1, 2024, and it asks for the driver's name and driver license number along with the date and county of the crash.

The county box is where Cary's geography matters. A crash on the Chatham County side of Cary is a Chatham County crash, and a crash anywhere else in town is a Wake County crash.

An individual involved in the crash receives a redacted report from NCDMV. There is no online ordering for individuals. A requester mails the form or carries it to NCDMV's office at 4121 New Bern Ave. in Raleigh. NCDMV fills in-person requests of five records or fewer immediately and asks mail requesters to allow 10 business days from receipt.

An attorney's office or an insurer licensed in North Carolina can ask NCDMV for an unredacted report when the request meets a permissible use under federal law and comes with proof of the requester's profession. NCDMV notes that the form cannot be filled in on screen and has to be printed, and payment goes by check or money order made payable to NCDMV.

The officer's side runs on a different form. NCDMV lists the DMV-349 Crash Report Form among its documents for law enforcement.

How does G.S. 20-166.1 shape a Cary report?

G.S. 20-166.1 gives the investigating officer 24 hours after the crash to write the report. A local agency like the Cary Police Department then has 10 days from receiving it to forward it to NCDMV.

That statute also opens officer reports to the public as public records. A report a driver writes alone is for NCDMV's use, and the statute bars it as evidence.

A trooper's report follows the same path. The Highway Patrol says crash reports from all of North Carolina's law enforcement agencies are forwarded to NCDMV, so a report from I-40 or Toll NC 540 near Cary comes through the same TR-67A request.

Adjusters read the report as well. In North Carolina, they look for any opportunity to raise the doctrine of contributory negligence.

The guide to the first days after a crash covers the steps around the report, and the Cary crash attorney page covers how I work with Cary clients.