If you were involved in a car accident in Tulare Califnoria and sustained an injury, be sure to speak to an attorney before talking to the other insurer.
Contact Maison Law after any crash in Tulare for a free, confidential consultation. Our legal team is focused on helping the residents of Central Valley, and we exclusively practice personal injury law.
How To Get a Car Accident Report from the Tulare Police department
If you retained an accident lawyer, they will request the accident report on your behalf.
If you were not injured or are obtaining your own collision report, you may pick up the report in person at the Tulare Police Department.
Tulare PD’s car accident reports are $40. Most accident reports involving only property damage are prepared in 7 – 10 days. If there were injuries, reports generally take 14 days or longer.
Accident reports may be paid for via credit card, cash or check. When picking up your report, have the incident number and your ID available.
Address:
Tulare Police Department
Records Department
260 M St
Tulare CA 93274
559-684-4290
https://www.tulare.ca.gov/departments/police
In many cases, if you just had property damage, your insurer will obtain the report for you as well.
How to Get an Accident Report from the Highway Patrol
If your accident happened on a major highway or interstate, a California Highway Patrol Officer (CHP) may have responded to your accident.
Request On-Line
The California Highway Patrol set up an online accident report request process where you can obtain a copy.
You should wait at least a week before filing a request. This gives the investigating officer time to finish looking into the accident and to submit the report. In some cases, a report may take longer to finish.
Once you believe it’s in, complete this collision report request form online.
Your identity and involvement, and eligibility to have access to the report will be checked. Have your driver’s license or identification information handy. Generally, you need to have been the driver or a passenger involved in the crash to request a document. The owner of the car and the parent or legal guardian of a victim involved could also get the accident report.
Requesting By Mail or at a CHP Office
To obtain a collision report in person from the CHP, you’ll need to figure out the closest Highway Patrol Office to your accident scene. The patrol officer investigating your crash should have let you know which office they work out of.
If your accident occurred in Tulare County, the closest office to you may be the CHP location in Visalia. It’s at 5025 West Noble Avenue.
Then you’ll be filling out and submitting a CHP 190 document by mailing it or bringing it to an office in person. You’ll need to contact the local CHP office to find out how much you’ll have to pay for your copy. There is usually a small fee.
Do I Need an Attorney?
In some cases involving property damage or minor scrapes and bruises, an attorney is not needed.
However, if you were injured, an experienced Tulare car accident lawyer may be able to significantly improve the outcome of your case.
After an injury, you will have many questions.
Contact us for a free consultation and we will provide answers to those questions for you.
