How to Get a South Carolina Accident Report
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Learning how to get a South Carolina accident report usually starts with SCDMV. The agency takes requests online, at its branch offices, or by mailing Form FR-50. The charge is $10 for each report. SCDMV can release a copy only after it receives and processes the officer's report.
Section 56-9-330 of the South Carolina Code tells SCDMV to furnish a copy of a vehicle accident report. Anyone may ask, as long as they pay the fee. SCDMV's collision reports page lays out the online, branch and mail routes. According to SCDMV, the full report goes into more detail than the papers drivers leave the scene with.
At the Summerville Police Department, Jack C. Frost served as a police officer and a corporal. Deputy, master deputy and detective were his roles at the Charleston County Sheriff's Office. Those fourteen years showed him how officers gather facts at a crash and how those facts end up in a written report. Today he and Tara L. Frost practice together at Frost Law Group, taking on injury claims after car crashes. His background gives him a close eye for a collision report, not any inside access to police records.
To talk through a report you have, or one you cannot find, call Frost Law Group at (843) 419-6653. The consultation is free, and what you share stays confidential.
On this page
What Is the Difference Between an FR-10 and a TR-310
The FR-10 verifies insurance, and the TR-310 records the crash itself. Frost Law Group handles car crash claims in which both papers turn up, each for a different reason. Under Section 56-9-350 of the South Carolina Code, the investigating officer furnishes the insurance form at the crash or soon after. The driver or owner fills it out and verifies the liability coverage. That form must be back at SCDMV within 15 days of the officer handing it over.
The TR-310 is the collision report form, as the Highway Patrol names it, and the Patrol sends people to SCDMV for copies. Section 56-5-1270 gives an investigating officer 24 hours after completing the work to forward that report. The duty applies whenever the crash caused injury or death, or property damage apparently worth $1,000 or more. The officer's report has to list everyone the officer interviewed, drivers and witnesses alike.
Say a trooper works a two-car crash at the I-26 interchange with College Park Road, Exit 203. You leave with the FR-10, while the TR-310 heads to SCDMV after the investigation closes.
Replacing a Lost FR-10 After the Crash
Ask the Highway Patrol troop office for the area where the crash happened, if a trooper worked it. The Patrol's own FAQ points people there for a replacement. Move fast, because the 15-day return period still runs from the day the officer first delivered the form. Returning the FR-10 on time is one of the first steps after a crash, and Frost Law Group can walk a client through it.
Where the FR-50 and FR-309 Belong
Two more form numbers complete the set. The FR-50 is SCDMV's request form for a copy of a collision report, and it has a box for the FR-10 number. The FR-309 is the report a driver or owner files when no officer investigated. It applies to crashes that injured or killed anyone or left damage appearing to reach $1,000. Frost Law Group also handles claims where no officer ever came to the scene, which is where the FR-309 matters most.
How Do You Request a Report From SCDMV
Request it online, visit any SCDMV branch, or mail two signed FR-50 copies with a check or money order for $10. For most drivers, SCDMV's online system is the direct route, if they can use it. Each route leads to the same official copy. None of them produces a copy before the officer's report reaches SCDMV and clears processing. Frost Law Group can help you pick the route that fits your license and paperwork.
Online requests begin with your own personal information, which SCDMV uses to confirm who is asking. Details that identify the collision come next. The online system does not reach crashes from before March 22, 2012.
Out-of-state license holders may have to use a branch or the mail instead. So may anyone who does not know an SCDMV customer number. Picture a visitor with a North Carolina license whose car took a rear-end hit on Dorchester Road. That driver may be unable to order online but can still visit a branch or mail the FR-50.
What the FR-50 Asks You to Provide
The FR-50 runs two pages because SCDMV wants two copies of every request. Typing the first page before printing fills in the second automatically, but your signature does not carry over. Sign both pages.
The form asks for the collision date and county, plus each driver's name and license number. It also has boxes for the FR-10 number and the case number, if you know it. A line for a claim or file number helps when an insurer or law office places the order.
Mailed requests go to the Titles Mail-in Unit FR-50 at SCDMV, PO Box 1498, Blythewood, SC 29016-0050. Never put cash in the envelope, though branch counters take cash, cards, checks and money orders.
When SCDMV Has No Copy on File
A request can reach SCDMV before the officer's report does. The FR-50 carries a check box for that case. It tells you the report is not on file yet and asks you to resubmit the original later for a recheck.
SCDMV publishes no processing time, so nobody can promise a date. Keep your original FR-50, since the agency asks for that same copy back. Timing is the one part of how to get a South Carolina accident report that stays out of your hands.
Can You Get the Report From the Police Agency Instead
Often yes, since several local police departments release copies of their own officers' reports, each with its own fee and rules. The Highway Patrol is the main exception, because it directs TR-310 requests to SCDMV. Section 56-5-1275 governs requests made to any law enforcement agency. People named in the report and law enforcement are exempt from its paperwork.
Everyone else must submit a separate written request for each report, giving a name, an address and the intended use. An agency employee also may not hand over a report sought for commercial solicitation.
Frost Law Group represents people hurt in Goose Creek car crashes, and Berkeley County shows how the work splits among agencies. The SCDPS Fact Book counted 6,536 Berkeley County collisions in 2024, and troopers handled 3,468 of them. Goose Creek's police department worked 1,284 collisions in the county that year. So the agency that worked your crash decides where to ask first.
Records Rules at Goose Creek, Moncks Corner and Charleston Police
The last 14 days of reports sit at the Goose Creek Police Department's office, 519 North Goose Creek Boulevard. A copy is free in person for parties the report marks as not at fault, and everyone else pays $5. Older reports come out under the Freedom of Information Act.
In Moncks Corner, the police department at 118 Carolina Avenue charges $10 a report. It also accepts mailed requests with a self-addressed envelope. The Charleston Police Department's Records Office at 180 Lockwood Boulevard charges $5 and asks for a state-issued ID.
Third-Party Portals for Summerville and North Charleston Reports
Some departments send report requests to outside websites. For Summerville Police Department crash reports, the department's site sends requesters to CrashDocs, a private portal rather than a town site. North Charleston's police website links its accident reports menu to a LexisNexis portal. Neither is a government page, so confirm the date, location and names match your crash before you order a copy. Frost Law Group can also request a report for a client through the agency.
What If the Report Has a Mistake
Contact the agency that wrote the report, point out the error and bring proof. No one can promise the officer will change it. Frost Law Group can help you decide which errors are worth raising and which matter less. Simple entries, such as a misspelled name, a wrong license number or a wrong plate, are the easiest errors to prove, because a license or registration card settles them.
Picture a report that lists your car heading north on Bacons Bridge Road when you were driving south. A photo of where the cars stopped, a witness's account or a dashcam clip can back a request to revisit that entry. Whether an agency revises a report is its call, and the answer depends on the evidence you bring.
Wrong Names, Plates or Insurers on the Report
Name, plate and insurer errors all follow the same path. A wrong insurance company on the report can point a claim at the wrong carrier. Bring the document that shows the correct entry, such as a registration or insurance card, and ask the agency how it handles corrections. Section 56-5-1340 also lets SCDMV tell anyone who suffered injury or property damage whether a report shows the other party had insurance.
Why a Report Entry Does Not Decide Fault at Trial
An officer's view of who caused the crash is not a court finding. Section 56-5-1290 speaks to the reports that Sections 56-5-1260, 56-5-1270 and 56-5-1280 require. None of them may be evidence at a damages trial that either driver acted with negligence or with due care. An officer on the witness stand may still glance at the report to jog a memory.
Tara L. Frost weighed evidence and credibility as a Dorchester County Magistrate Judge between 2022 and 2025. In that courtroom, she saw a collision report as one account among several, never the whole case. Fault shares turn on what a jury makes of the whole record, and no one can predict that split in advance.
Talk With a Summerville Car Accident Attorney About Your Report
A collision report is one document in a larger file. Frost Law Group can read yours next to the photos, medical records and insurance letters. The attorneys can then show you where the report helps and where it falls short. Their office is at 128 Linwood Lane, Summerville, SC 29483.
If you are still working out how to get a South Carolina accident report, bring whatever the officer handed you. The name of the responding agency helps too. A free, confidential consultation gives you room to ask about a missing report or an error without any commitment. Tara L. Frost and Jack C. Frost can tell you which agency to ask and what a correction request should include.
Describe the report you have, or the one still missing, by calling (843) 419-6653 or writing to Frost Law Group online.
The attorneys at Frost Law Group
Tara L. FrostAttorney at Law · Personal injuryTara L. Frost focuses on personal injury, car accident and truck accident claims. A lifelong resident of the tri-county area, she meets clients at the Linwood Lane office in Summerville.
Jack C. FrostAttorney at Law · Former Summerville police officer and Charleston County Sheriff's Office detectiveJack C. Frost spent fourteen years in law enforcement with the Summerville Police Department and the Charleston County Sheriff's Office before he practiced law.