How a Car Accident Claim Works in Texas

Fact-checked against primary sources October 3, 2026

A Texas car accident claim runs from the officer's crash report to one of two endings: a signed settlement, or a lawsuit filed before the two-year deadline runs out. Between those points sit the insurance claims, the question of fault, a written demand, and negotiation or mediation. This guide walks through that order and points to the deeper guide for each step in our settlements section.

The claim, step by step

Each stop on the path below links to the guide that covers it. The sections that follow explain what Texas law and the state's crash records office say about each one.

Step 1: The Texas Peace Officer's Crash Report

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) describes itself as the custodian of crash records for the state. Its crash records page says Transportation Code section 550.062 requires a law enforcement officer who investigates a crash to send a written report to TxDOT no later than the tenth day after the crash when the crash caused injury, a death, or apparent property damage of $1,000 or more to any one person. That report is the Texas Peace Officer's Crash Report, form CR-3.

How TxDOT says to request a copy

TxDOT does not post crash reports for public viewing online, because of their confidential nature. Instead it sells copies through its Crash Report Online Purchase System, which emails the report to the buyer after purchase and adds what TxDOT calls a minimal surcharge. TxDOT lists these fees:

What TxDOT provides	Fee TxDOT lists
Regular copy of a crash report	$6
Certified copy (TxDOT says this is the one to ask for when an official document is needed, such as for a legal proceeding)	$8
Subpoena for state or federal court, or an affidavit	$8 each

TxDOT also notes that credit card transactions may carry added processing fees. Subpoena and affidavit requests go through a separate online system, CRIS Request. TxDOT stopped accepting those requests by mail on January 1, 2025, and lists processing times of 10 business days for an affidavit and 20 business days for a state or federal subpoena alone.

Who gets the full report

TxDOT's page cites Transportation Code section 550.065, which allows release of the report to people directly concerned in the crash. The list TxDOT reproduces includes anyone involved in the crash and their authorized representative, a driver involved, the employer, parent or legal guardian of a driver, the owner of a damaged vehicle or other property, insurers covering a vehicle or person involved, and any person who may sue because of a death resulting from the crash. A requester who does not fit those categories receives a redacted copy.

What TxDOT does not hold

TxDOT says it keeps crash records for the previous 10 full calendar years plus the current year. It no longer keeps the Driver's Crash Report (form CR-2) at all: under Senate Bill 312 of the 85th Legislature it stopped retaining those forms as of September 1, 2017, and the retention period for every CR-2 had expired by January 1, 2019. TxDOT's page tells drivers in a crash that no officer investigated to keep any CR-2 or local agency form they were given. It also says dash camera video, field notes and photographs taken at the scene are not in its files; requests for those go to the agency that investigated the crash.

Step 2: Treatment, records and the running clock

Under Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003, an injury suit must be filed within two years after the day the cause of action accrues, and that period keeps running while treatment and records are still coming in. Our guide to the deadline to sue covers when the clock starts and the few events the statutes say can pause it.

Step 3: First-party and third-party claims

A car crash can produce two different kinds of insurance claim, and Texas law treats them differently. A third-party claim is one you make against the other driver's liability insurer. A first-party claim is one you make under your own policy, such as uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.

	Third-party claim	First-party claim
Made against	The at-fault driver's insurer	Your own insurer
Prompt-payment deadlines in Insurance Code chapter 542, subchapter B	Do not apply; the subchapter defines a claim as first-party only	Apply
Where to read more	How fault is divided	Insurance claim deadlines

Insurance Code section 542.051 defines a claim, for the prompt-payment subchapter, as a first-party claim, made by the insured, the policyholder or a beneficiary named in the policy, that the insurer must pay directly to that person. For those claims the insurer has until the 15th day after notice to acknowledge the claim, begin any investigation and request the items it needs (30 business days for an eligible surplus lines insurer); it must accept or reject in writing by the 15th business day after it receives everything it asked for; and it must pay by the fifth business day after saying it will. If it delays payment more than 60 days after receiving all requested items and no other statute sets a period, an insurer that is liable for the claim owes interest at 18 percent a year plus reasonable and necessary attorney's fees (section 542.060(a)), with exceptions covered in the insurance claim deadlines guide.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is the first-party claim most tied to car crashes. Insurance Code section 1952.101 bars an insurer from issuing an auto liability policy in Texas without it unless a named insured rejects the coverage in writing. For a hit-and-run driver whose identity is unknown, section 1952.104 requires the policy to call for actual physical contact between the unknown vehicle and the insured or the insured's property. Underinsured coverage is reduced by whatever is recovered or recoverable from the other driver's insurer (section 1952.106). The uninsured motorist guide explains each rule.

Step 4: How fault is divided

In a tort claim such as one arising from a car crash, Texas uses proportionate responsibility under Civil Practice and Remedies Code chapter 33. The judge or jury assigns a whole-number percentage of responsibility to each claimant, defendant, settling person and designated responsible third party (section 33.003). A claimant found more than 50 percent responsible recovers nothing (section 33.001). Below that line, the court reduces the damages by the claimant's own percentage (section 33.012(a)). The shared fault guide works through how those percentages change a recovery.

Step 5: The demand

The demand is the claimant's written statement of what they are asking the insurer or the other side to pay and why. None of the statutes cited on this page prescribes a form for a demand on a liability insurer. On a first-party claim, the insurer's own written request for items under Insurance Code section 542.055 shapes what it receives, because its 15-business-day decision window starts once it has all of them. Our guide to demand letters covers what goes into one and how it is delivered.

Step 6: Negotiation and mediation

Section 154.002 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code declares it Texas policy to encourage disputes to be resolved peaceably and pending suits to settle early through voluntary procedures. Once a suit is on file, a court may refer it to mediation or another alternative dispute resolution procedure on its own motion or a party's (section 154.021). A party may file a written objection within 10 days after notice of the referral, and the court may not refer the dispute if it finds a reasonable basis for the objection (section 154.022(b) and (c)). A mediator facilitates communication between the parties (section 154.023), and a court-appointed mediator may not compel or coerce the parties to settle (section 154.053(a)). With limited exceptions, what a participant says in the procedure is confidential and cannot be used as evidence against that participant (section 154.073). For how a mediation day runs, see how mediation works.

Step 7: Settlement or a lawsuit

If the claim settles

Under the ADR chapter, section 154.071 provides that a signed written settlement agreement that resolves the dispute is enforceable in the same way as any other written contract. If there is more than one party at fault and the claimant settles with one of them, chapter 33 has two consequences if the rest of the claim goes to judgment: the court further reduces the damages by the total dollar amount of all settlements (section 33.012(b)), and no defendant has a right of contribution against a person who settled (section 33.015(d)).

If it does not

A claim that does not settle becomes a lawsuit only if it is filed in time. None of the chapter 16 sections that pause the two-year clock (16.001, 16.062, 16.063 and 16.064) mentions negotiating with an insurer. They turn on a claimant's age or mental capacity, a death, a defendant's absence from Texas, or a suit dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and refiled within 60 days, and the deadline guide lists each one with its limits.

When the crash caused a death

For an injury that results in death, section 16.003(b) still allows two years, but the claim accrues on the date of death. A wrongful death action is for the exclusive benefit of the spouse, children and parents who survive the person who died, and any of them may bring it for the benefit of all (section 71.004). The wrongful death guide explains who may sue and how that claim differs from a survival claim.

When a commercial truck was involved

A crash with a commercial carrier follows the same steps, but federal rules add insurance minimums, driver logs and qualification files (49 CFR 387.9, 395.8 and 391.51). The truck accident claims guide covers what changes.

This page is part of the North Texas disputes and settlements guides, which are arranged by the kind of problem a reader is facing rather than by statute.