How to get your Greenville, SC accident report

Step 1: Which agency worked your crash?

In 2024, these agencies investigated the 16,478 collisions recorded in Greenville County (SCDPS 2024 Fact Book, Greenville County):

In practice, a crash inside the City of Greenville is usually worked by the Greenville Police Department, and most crashes elsewhere in the county are worked by the Highway Patrol. Greenville County is in SCHP Troop Three. The officer typically gives you a report or case number, which tells you the agency.

Greenville Police reports: County Public Records

The Greenville County Department of Public Safety's Records Management Services Division is the centralized records office for both the Greenville County Sheriff's Office and the Greenville City Police Department (Greenville County Public Records). It is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., excluding holidays.

• Fee: a copy of a Greenville City Police Department accident report costs $3.00 for involved parties, without redaction (Accident Report Requests). The fee schedule lists a traffic incident report (up to two pages) at $3.00, with additional pages at $0.25 each (fee schedule).
• How: in person or by mail (Accident Report Requests).
• Where: Greenville County Public Records Law Enforcement Center, 4 McGee Street, Suite 119, Greenville, SC 29601; email publicrecords@greenvillecounty.org (Contact Us).

Any South Carolina crash report: SCDMV

Every officer who investigates a crash involving injury, death, or apparent damage of $1,000 or more must forward the written report to SCDMV within 24 hours of completing the investigation (S.C. Code § 56-5-1270). That makes SCDMV the one place to request a report regardless of which agency worked the crash, and the route the Department of Public Safety points to for Highway Patrol reports (SCDPS FAQ). SCDMV offers three ways (SCDMV Collision Reports):

• Online, after entering your personal information to authenticate. Not available for crashes before March 22, 2012, and you may not be able to use it with an out-of-state license or without your SCDMV customer number.
• In person at any SCDMV branch with Form FR-50, paying by cash, card, check or money order.
• By mail: two copies of FR-50 plus a $10 check or money order (no cash) to SCDMV, Titles Mail-in Unit FR-50, PO Box 1498, Blythewood, SC 29016-0050.

The fee is $10 per report. SCDMV says the official copy is available only after it has received and processed the report, and that it is more detailed than what you received on the day of the crash (SCDMV).

The forms: TR-310, FR-10, FR-309, FR-50

If you lose your FR-10 after a Highway Patrol crash, SCDPS says to contact the troop office where the incident occurred (SCDPS FAQ).

Reading your report

• Contributing factors: officers can enter up to five per report (Fact Book note). Check which driver they were assigned to.
• Motorcycle head injuries: if the operator or a passenger of a two-wheeled motorized vehicle (such as a motorcycle) suffered a head injury, the report must indicate it (§ 56-5-1270).
• Insurance information: confirm the other driver's insurer and policy number are listed. SCDMV may tell an injured person whether insurance is shown on a driver's report (§ 56-5-1340).
• Errors: if names, vehicles or facts are wrong, contact the investigating agency, using the case number, to ask how it handles corrections.

Reports that drivers file themselves (such as the FR-309) are confidential to state agencies and can't be used as evidence at trial, except to prove that a required report was or wasn't filed (§ 56-5-1340).

Who else can get your report

South Carolina bars requesting crash reports for commercial solicitation. Anyone other than law enforcement and people named in the report must submit a separate written request for each report, stating their name, address and intended use (S.C. Code § 56-5-1275). This site does not obtain or use crash reports to contact anyone.

What to have ready

• Crash date, county, and location (road and nearest cross street);
• names and driver's license numbers of the drivers involved, which the FR-50 asks for;
• the FR-10 number or agency case number, if you have it;
• photo ID, and payment ($3 at County Public Records for GPD reports; $10 at SCDMV).

Greer, Mauldin, Simpsonville and other city reports

The County Public Records office handles Greenville Police Department and Sheriff's Office records (Greenville County Public Records). Crashes in Greer, Simpsonville, Mauldin, Fountain Inn and Travelers Rest, which together accounted for 2,645 collisions in 2024 (2024 Fact Book), are worked by those cities' own police departments. The simplest statewide route for any of them is an SCDMV request, because investigating officers must forward qualifying reports to SCDMV (§ 56-5-1270).

Using the report in a claim

• Send a copy to your own insurer with your claim, and keep the original.
• Compare the narrative and diagram against your photos and notes, and write down any differences while your memory is fresh.
• List the witnesses named on the report. They may be hard to find later.
• A report is an officer's account, not a fault ruling. Insurers make their own fault decisions and may disagree with it.