After a Crash in Minnesota — Official Resources
This is general information, not legal advice.
Minnesota is a no-fault state with the highest PIP minimum of any state on this site: $40,000 per person per accident — $20,000 for medical and $20,000 for wage loss and replacement services. Notice of a no-fault claim is commonly cited as due to your insurer within six months of the crash, so open it early. To step outside no-fault and claim pain and suffering you generally need more than $4,000 in medical expenses (excluding diagnostic imaging), 60 days of disability, permanent injury, or permanent disfigurement (Minn. Stat. 65B.51). Note also that the old driver report to the state no longer exists — Minn. Stat. 169.09 subd. 7 was repealed effective July 1, 2021. Crash reports cost $5 and take about three weeks. Free help: Minnesota Lawyer Referral at 612-752-6699 ($30 or less for 30 minutes), LawHelpMN.org, and the Department of Commerce at 800-657-3602.
Two things about Minnesota surprise people. The paperwork you may have been told to file with the state was quietly repealed in 2021, and yet plenty of accident guides still tell you to send it. Meanwhile the deadline that actually matters isn’t a state form at all — it’s a phone call to your own insurer, and it is easy to sleepwalk past. Both are below, along with the report, lawyer referrals, free legal help, and insurance complaints. The first-steps checklist covers saving your dashcam clip before the camera loops.
Open your own PIP claim early
Minnesota runs a no-fault system: your own Personal Injury Protection pays medical bills and wage loss first, regardless of who caused the crash. Every Minnesota policy carries at least $40,000 per person per accident — $20,000 for medical costs and $20,000 for non-medical losses like lost wages and replacement services. That is the most generous statutory minimum of any state covered here.
The catch is timing. Notice of a no-fault claim is widely reported as due to the insurer within six months of the accident — far shorter than Minnesota’s six-year limit on filing a lawsuit, and easy to miss while you wait to see how an injury settles down. Call your own insurer and open the claim now; confirm your specific deadline with them or with the Department of Commerce below.
To pursue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering you generally must cross a threshold under Minn. Stat. 65B.51: more than $4,000 in reasonable medical expenses, not counting diagnostic imaging, or 60 days of disability, permanent injury, permanent disfigurement, or death. Property damage claims aren’t subject to that threshold.
Report the crash
Call police. Minnesota requires notifying law enforcement when a crash causes injury or death, or property damage above the statutory threshold, and the officer’s report becomes the record.
What no longer applies: Minnesota used to require the driver to mail a written report to the commissioner of public safety within ten days. Per the Department of Public Safety, that duty is gone — Minn. Stat. 169.09 subdivision 7 was repealed effective July 1, 2021, and reports are no longer submitted to Driver and Vehicle Services by drivers. You will still find guides published this year telling you to file it. You don’t.
At the scene, the statute still requires you to give your name, address, and vehicle registration, show your license to any officer, and provide your insurance information to the others involved and to the investigating officer.
Get the crash report
Crash reports cost $5 and are available about three weeks after the incident. Complete a Crash Record Request Form (PS2503) and submit it in person at Driver and Vehicle Services, 445 Minnesota St., Saint Paul, at a full-service deputy registrar office, or by mail to the DVS Records Unit. Questions: (651) 296-2940.
Two important limits, both from DPS. Reports go only to people involved in the crash — driver, passenger, pedestrian, vehicle owner, owner of damaged property, next of kin — or their authorized attorney or insurance representative with a signed release. And Minnesota crash reports are confidential and cannot be used as evidence in a trial, civil or criminal. They are for your claim, not for court, which is another reason your own footage and photos carry weight here.
Hit-and-run
Call police immediately — and then remember that Minnesota’s no-fault design works in your favor here. Your PIP pays your medical bills and wage loss whether or not the other driver is ever identified, so open that claim on the same six-month clock rather than waiting on the investigation.
Save your clip and note the time and location while they’re exact; a plate that resolves on playback is what gives investigators something to work with, and since the crash report itself can’t be used at trial, your footage may end up being the durable evidence. Uninsured-motorist coverage — which Minnesota requires on every policy — is what typically covers what PIP doesn’t. Check your policy’s hit-and-run notice window, which is usually far shorter than six months.
Find a lawyer
The Minnesota Lawyer Referral and Information Service is a nonprofit public service of the Hennepin and Ramsey County Bar Associations, connecting people to over 200 vetted private attorneys across more than 50 practice areas. A 30-minute consultation costs $30 or less — call 612-752-6699, or 612-752-6677 for a referral counselor who will talk through your situation first.
They also run a Reduced Fee Program for people with stable incomes between 125% and 250% of the federal poverty guidelines — they screen for it over the phone, so ask. Statewide, the Minnesota State Bar’s MN Find a Lawyer directory covers attorneys outside the metro.
Free legal help
LawHelpMN.org lists the legal aid providers and free clinics operating in each part of the state — the right place to start if paying an attorney isn’t realistic, and the resource the Lawyer Referral Service itself points people toward when a case is outside its coverage area.
Minnesota’s judicial branch also runs a statewide self-help center that answers questions about court forms and procedures by phone and email for people representing themselves.
Insurance problems
Minnesota has no standalone insurance department — insurers are regulated by the Department of Commerce, which also publishes plain-language guidance on what to do after a crash. Phone: (651) 539-1600, or (800) 657-3602 from Greater Minnesota. Email: consumer.protection@state.mn.us. Complaints can be filed online.
One line from their own guidance worth knowing before you negotiate a repair: under Minnesota law, your company must restore your vehicle to the condition it was in before it was damaged.
Uninsured when it happened? That means no PIP, which in a no-fault state is the harder problem — your medical bills have no first-payer. Get treatment documented anyway, and call LawHelpMN early rather than late.
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Dashwatcher is a dashcam company, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice or a substitute for a licensed attorney. Reporting rules, deadlines, and programs differ by state and change over time; verify everything with the official source before you rely on it. Links go to government agencies, bar associations, and nonprofits. Dashwatcher receives no payment from any organization listed.
From the team at Dashwatcher.
Last verified: August 4, 2026