How to Get a Police Report in Charlotte, NC

The fastest way to obtain your Charlotte accident report is online through LexisNexis BuyACrash at buycrash.lexisnexisrisk.com. Select North Carolina as the state and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department as the jurisdiction. You can search by the date of the crash, report number (if you have it), or the name of a driver involved. The fee is $6.00, payable by credit or debit card.

Reports are typically available online 3 to 5 business days after the accident. If the crash is still under active investigation, the report may take longer. If you cannot find your report after 7 business days, contact the CMPD Records Division at (704) 336-2848 to check its status.

CMPD also provides crash and incident reports through the LexisNexis Police Reports portal at policereports.lexisnexis.com. Both portals access the same database — use whichever is easier for you. After purchase, you can download the report as a PDF and print copies for your records, your attorney, and your insurance company.

You can obtain your crash report for free by visiting the CMPD Records Division in person. The Records Division is located at 601 East Trade Street, Charlotte, NC 28202. Bring a valid photo ID (driver's license, state ID, or passport). You will need to complete a Request for Motor Vehicle Crash Report form at the window.

Office hours for the Records Division are Monday through Friday. Expect a short wait during busy periods, especially Monday mornings and after holiday weekends. The Records Division processes a high volume of requests — arriving early in the day improves your chances of a shorter wait.

If you are a party to the accident (driver, passenger, or property owner), you are entitled to a copy of the report. Attorneys representing an involved party can also request the report with proper authorization. Insurance companies frequently request reports directly from CMPD.

North Carolina law enforcement agencies use the standardized DMV-349 crash report form for all motor vehicle accidents. This form is the official record of your crash and contains critical information for your personal injury claim.

The DMV-349 is divided into sections. Boxes 1 through 7 cover general crash information: date, time, location, weather conditions, road surface, and lighting. Boxes 8 through 19 cover the crash dynamics: contributing circumstances, vehicle actions before the crash, first harmful event, and the officer's narrative description. Boxes 21 through 32 cover the people involved: driver names, addresses, license numbers, insurance information, passenger details, injuries, and witness contact information.

Pay close attention to Box 19, the officer's narrative, and any contributing factors checked in the report. These entries heavily influence how insurance companies assign fault. In North Carolina, where contributory negligence can eliminate your entire claim, the fault determination in the police report matters enormously. If you believe the report contains factual errors — wrong location, incorrect vehicle descriptions, or inaccurate fault assessment — you should address this promptly.

Police reports occasionally contain errors — transposed license plate numbers, incorrect street names, wrong insurance information, or inaccurate descriptions of the crash sequence. If you spot an error in your CMPD crash report, you can request a correction.

Contact the CMPD Records Division at (704) 336-2848 or CMPDPoliceRecords@cmpd.org. Explain the specific error and provide any supporting documentation — photos, dashcam footage, witness statements, or medical records. Factual errors (wrong date, wrong vehicle color) are generally corrected without difficulty. Disputed fault determinations are harder to change because they reflect the officer's professional judgment.

If the officer will not amend the report, your attorney can address the discrepancy during the claims process or in court. A police report is evidence, but it is not the final word. Witness testimony, surveillance footage, accident reconstruction, and medical records can all contradict or supplement the police report's conclusions.

If your accident occurred on a state highway, interstate, or outside Charlotte city limits, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol may have investigated instead of CMPD. Highway Patrol reports are not available through the CMPD Records Division or LexisNexis BuyACrash.

To obtain a Highway Patrol crash report, visit the NCDMV Crash Reports page at ncdot.gov/dmv/offices-services/records-reports. You can request the report online or by mail. The fee is $6.25 per report. Processing takes approximately 5 to 10 business days.

If you are unsure which agency investigated your crash, check any paperwork the officer gave you at the scene — it should identify the department. You can also call CMPD Records at (704) 336-2848 to confirm whether they have a report on file. If not, contact the Highway Patrol at (919) 861-3030.

Your police report is the single most important document in the early stages of a personal injury claim. Insurance adjusters review it before anything else. It establishes the basic facts: who was involved, where it happened, what the road conditions were, and the officer's assessment of fault.

In North Carolina, the police report takes on outsized importance because of the pure contributory negligence rule. If the report indicates you were even partially at fault — you were speeding, failed to signal, or were following too closely — the insurance company will use that to argue you are barred from any recovery. Reviewing your report immediately and addressing any inaccuracies is not optional; it is essential.

If you were injured in a Charlotte car accident and have not yet obtained your police report, do it now. Then take our free 2-minute assessment to understand your legal options under North Carolina law.

If you were injured in a Charlotte accident and you have your police report, take the next step. Our free 2-minute assessment asks a few quick questions about your accident and injuries, then gives you a personalized report covering North Carolina's filing deadline for your claim, how contributory negligence might affect your case, and whether connecting with a personal injury attorney makes sense.

Getting your police report is step one. Understanding what it means for your case is step two. We can help with that — free and confidential.