Delaware Crash Reporting Requirements
In Delaware, the crash reporting threshold is $2,000 in damage. Deadline to file: Immediately. Submit to: The police agency with jurisdiction where the crash happened.
- Damage threshold
- $2,000
A report is due if anyone is injured or killed, if a crash on a public highway causes property damage to an apparent extent of $2,000 or more, or if a driver appears impaired by alcohol or drugs. The figure was $500 until House Bill 28 raised it on September 30, 2021; guides still quoting $500 are out of date. Below the threshold you may report voluntarily, and you must still stop and exchange names, addresses, registration numbers and licenses.
- Deadline to file
- Immediately
The statute says immediately, once you have stopped, checked for injuries and exchanged information. There is no grace period and no form for the driver to mail in later.
- Submit to
- The police agency with jurisdiction where the crash happened
You call the local police agency with primary jurisdiction over the location, not the DMV. That agency investigates and completes the State of Delaware Uniform Traffic Collision Report. Delaware is unusual in having no driver's own written report to file afterwards, though the Department of Safety and Homeland Security can demand a supplemental report if the original is inadequate.
Delaware sets $2,000 — higher than 32 of the 44 jurisdictions on this site. The range runs from $250 to $4,000.
How Delaware compares with every other state
What this means after a crash
$2,000 is the number to keep in mind, and it is a damage figure rather than an injury one: a crash with no one hurt still has to be reported once the damage reaches it. Only 7 of the 44 that set a dollar figure start higher. Note what the threshold is measured against — apparent damage at the scene, not the final repair invoice — so the call has to be made before anyone has priced anything.
The deadline is not a number of days. Delaware wants the report immediately, which in practice means from the scene or as soon as you are able. A clock that starts and ends the same day leaves no room to "get to it later", and that is the most common way an ordinary crash turns into a charge of its own.
Who receives it matters as much as when. In Delaware the report goes to The police agency with jurisdiction where the crash happened. An officer writing a report at the scene is not automatically the report the state is waiting for — where the two are separate, the table above says who receives yours.
Every statute cited for Delaware
What changed
September 30, 2021
Crash reporting threshold raised from $500 to $2,000
House Bill 28 of the 151st General Assembly amended 21 Del. C. § 4203. A property-damage crash on a public highway now has to be reported to police only when the apparent damage reaches $2,000, up from $500. The same act set the figure that obliges a police agency to complete the State of Delaware Uniform Traffic Collision Report at $2,000 as well, replacing a $1,000 base that had been which had already climbed to its $1,500 ceiling and stopped there under subsection (f). Delaware still requires the report immediately, and the duty is triggered regardless of dollar amount when anyone is injured or killed or when a driver appears impaired.
83 Del. Laws, c. 220 (House Bill 28)
Why the rule looks like this
- What Changed in 2026Liability minimums doubled in Hawaii, two states dropped pure comparative fault, New Hampshire stopped inspecting cars, and three crash reporting thresholds moved — a dated account of the 2026 changes, and the ones already signed for 2027 and beyond.
- The Crash You Are Required to Report Is Smaller Than You ThinkCrash-report triggers start at $500 in Georgia and New Jersey and reach $3,000 for a Virginia police report; Florida's is $500 before 1 October 2026 and $2,000 from that date, and Pennsylvania and Maryland use no dollar figure at all.
More on Delaware
Checked against the primary sources above on September 29, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.