How to Fill Out New York DMV Form MV-198C: Fees, DPPA, and Delivery

New York DMV Form MV-198C is the one-page paper request you mail to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Albany to obtain a certified copy of a crash report. You download it from dmv.ny.gov, fill in your contact information and the crash details, sign the federal privacy certification on page two, and send it in with payment and a copy of your government-issued ID. Do not print it double-sided, and do not staple the pages or attachments together.¹

What to Put on the Form

Your Information

At the top, enter your name, organization name if you are requesting on behalf of a company or firm, street address, city, state, zip code, email address, and phone number. The DMV uses these details to contact you and to deliver the report.

Crash Details

Fill in as much as you know: the crash date, the county where it happened, and the police agency crash report number. There is a separate field for the NYC MV number if the crash occurred in New York City. More detail improves the chance the DMV locates the correct report on the first search.¹

Report Type and Motorist Information

Check whether you want the police report, the motorist report, or both. Then provide the name, driver license or non-driver ID number, VIN or plate number, and date of birth for each motorist whose report you need. If you are requesting reports for more than one person from the same crash, attach an additional MV-198C for each one. Each report carries its own $15 fee.¹

Delivery Preference

Choose electronic delivery or USPS mail. Electronic delivery, with a valid email address, is faster than waiting for the postal copy.

Signing the DPPA Certification on Page Two

Page two requires your signature under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. Crash reports contain personal information about the people involved, and federal law limits who can obtain that data and why. Check every box that applies to your purpose: insurance activity, use in a lawsuit, accident verification, and the other categories listed on the form.¹

By signing, you also certify that you will keep records of how the information is used for at least five years, maintain those records in the form the DMV commissioner prescribes, and make them available for inspection if the commissioner asks. A false statement on the form can carry criminal penalties under state and federal law.¹

Fees, Payment, and What Goes in the Envelope

Each report costs $15, and the DMV adds a $10 non-refundable search fee to the request. Two reports on one submission come to $40. Pay by check or money order made out to “Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.” If you have a DMV account number, you can supply that instead.¹

Put three things in the envelope: the completed and signed form, your payment, and a copy of a valid government-issued ID. Mail it to:

NYSDMV, MV-198C Processing
6 Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12228¹

Do not drop the form at a local DMV office. Crash report requests are handled only at the Albany address.

How Long It Takes

The DMV asks you to allow up to five business days for processing.¹ The report also has to reach the DMV’s system before it can be pulled. NYPD-investigated crashes can take up to seven business days from the date of the incident before the report is finalized and submitted.² If you send the MV-198C in too soon, the DMV may not find a matching record.

When MV-198C Is Not the Right Form

If the crash was investigated by the New York State Police on the Thruway system, including I-87 south of Albany, I-90 west of Albany, the Berkshire Spur east of Albany, I-190, and the Westchester County portions of I-287 and I-95, you cannot use MV-198C. Those reports come from the New York State Thruway Authority on its own form, TA-W4310, available at thruway.ny.gov. State Police crashes on other roads go through the regular DMV process.³

If speed matters more than paper, the DMV also runs an online Crash Report Sales Portal at getcrashreports.dmv.ny.gov, which delivers the PDF immediately for a $7 search fee plus $15 per report. The portal will not return reports for crashes with no injuries and property damage under $1,000, and it does not carry reports involving e-bikes or e-scooters. For those, mail the MV-198C or use the DMV’s online Records Request Navigator.⁴

1
New York Department of Motor Vehicles. MV-198C Request for Copy of Crash Report
2
NYPD. Motor Vehicle Accident Reports
3
New York State Police. Get a Copy of an Accident Report
4
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Order and Access Motor Vehicle Crash (Accident) Reports