ARE ACCIDENT REPORTS A PUBLIC RECORD?

Question

I am considering buying a car that has an accident listed on carfax. it isnt a total loss or salvage title. the owner who got in the accident kept the car for 2 more years. I am curious what the accident report says. is an accident report public record??

Answer 1

I wouldn't buy this car before looking at it and trying it out.

Answer 2

Accidents are public records - though unless you were one of the "participants" in the accident some agencies will black out the names and addresses of the people.  The challenge is, and a key reason that Carfax is so valuable, is that it would take you quite some time to locate and write to every police department in the US and Canada.  You have state police, county police, local city police, park police - literally thousands of government agencies.  Also, while the data is public record many agencies will charge a processing fee for their time to locate and print/mail/fax the data.