New York Crash Reporting: Police, DMV and Form MV-104

After a motor-vehicle crash in New York State, stop and check for injuries. Exchange information, notify police when required and make sure your own DMV reporting duty is completed.

At the scene

• Someone is injured or killed: notify police immediately and call 911 for emergency help. Leaving the scene of an injury or fatal crash is a crime.
• Property damage only: exchange driver-license, insurance and registration information with the involved drivers.
• An unattended vehicle or other property is damaged, or a domestic animal is injured: locate the owner or contact police.

Keep yourself and others out of the path of approaching traffic. Follow emergency responders’ directions.

When must you report to DMV?

For a motor-vehicle driver involved in a crash, the reporting requirement applies when:

Result	DMV report required?
Anyone is injured or killed	Yes.
Damage to the property of any one person, including you, exceeds $1,000	Yes.

File within ten days of the crash. Do not add different owners’ losses together to judge the one-person threshold. Injury or death independently triggers reporting even if property damage is small. A crash involving an e-bike or e-scooter with injury or death must not be overlooked.

Each motor-vehicle driver is responsible for the required report. A report to police or your insurer does not replace your DMV filing. Reporting is not an admission that you caused the crash; DMV does not determine fault from the crash report.

Online or by mail

Use the official DMV crash-report page:

1. Online: follow its link to the Online Motorist Crash Report Portal and sign in or create an NY.gov ID.
2. By mail: complete Form MV-104 and send it to the address on page two.

Gather driver and vehicle details, insurance information, the crash time and location, damage and injury information, and an accurate description. Follow the form’s instructions and keep a copy of your submission. Failure to file can lead to suspension of your driving privilege until the report is received, as well as other legal consequences.

Three examples

• Minor injury, $300 vehicle damage: injury alone triggers reporting.
• No injuries, $1,500 damage to your own car: the property threshold is met.
• Police attended and your insurer opened a claim: check that your own required DMV report is still filed within ten days.

For preventing a roadside crash while passing stopped vehicles, review Move Over rules.

Official sources

Reviewed October 29, 2026. DMV motorist crash-report service, MV-104 and instructions, Vehicle and Traffic Law section 605 and DMV manual: traffic crashes.