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How Important is a Police Report in a Car Accident?

There are a lot of different types of evidence you can use to try to prove liability after a car accident. But there are few pieces of evidence as important as a police report from officers who tended to the scene of your crash. A police report is important because it creates an official record of your car accident that has been filed away by a government agency, which is not something an insurance company will want to question. It effectively makes your crash “real” to outside parties.

Filing a Claim Without a Police Report

You can still file a car accident claim without a police report, but it is not ideal. Without a police report to accompany your car accident claim, you can expect that the responding insurance company will deny the claim outright and put your case through the wringer just to prove that the crash ever happened. Furthermore, if your case goes to court, then you will have a more difficult time getting the judge on your side if you are missing this basic yet vital piece of evidence.

What If the Police Didn’t Show Up to Your Accident?

The average police officer has a busy schedule each day, to say the least. There is a chance that there will be no available officers to respond to your car accident call, especially if no one has been severely injured. What are you supposed to do if the police didn’t show up at your accident? Go to the police station and report it yourself.

It might not be convenient, but you can report your accident in person at the nearest police station, and you should. A report filed there that originates from you might not be as immediately convincing as a report from an officer, but it is better than nothing. Depending on where you live, your local police or sheriff’s department might even let you report the accident online.

How Do I Get a Copy of My Accident Report in Texas?

Do you need to get a copy of the police’s car accident report? Texas has a convenient online “Crash Reports and Records” retrieval and purchase system from the Department of Transportation. Using this online system, you can get a copy of a crash report as soon as it is filed at the station, which will usually happen the next night or morning after an officer responds to a crash. You will be charged a small amount for using the system, but once the copy is obtained, it is yours to use – and copy or print again – as you wish. The law restricts how much you can be charged for a copy, too, so it should not be much, but it can vary.

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Tijerina Legal Group