How Long Do I Have to Report a Car Accident in Alberta?

You must report a crash to police if it meets the damage or injury threshold, and you should tell your insurer as soon as possible after that, which most standard policies treat as a matter of days, not weeks.

Do I have to report to the police?

Only if the crash meets certain conditions. Effective 1 January 2024, Alberta raised the mandatory police reporting threshold from $2,000 to $5,000 in combined vehicle and property damage, according to Alberta Transportation. Collisions involving an injury or death must still be reported to police regardless of the repair cost. If your crash falls under the damage threshold and no one was hurt, you exchange information with the other driver and do not need to involve police.

How soon does my insurer need to know?

Alberta's government guidance is to advise your insurance company, regardless of fault, as soon as possible after reporting to police. If you plan to claim Section B accident benefits, the Automobile Accident Insurance Benefits Regulation requires you to give notice of your claim within 30 days of the accident, or as soon as practicable after that if 30 days is not reasonable. Waiting longer does not end a claim on its own, but it gives an adjuster room to ask why.

What comes after the report?

Reporting is the start, not the finish. Your insurer now knows about the crash. You are into a set of further deadlines: the AB-1 form, the AB-1A disability form and the two-year limit on Section B benefits. Those are covered in full, with each form and each deadline named, at Alberta Section B Accident Benefit Deadlines.

What none of these deadlines cover is what your recovery actually looked like week to week. A police file number and a claim number tell an adjuster a crash happened. They do not tell anyone which appointments you kept, which symptoms came back or which days you could not work. That record is yours to keep, and it is the one most people stop keeping once the paperwork starts.

The Alberta MVA Companion Guide walks through Alberta's own deadlines and forms page by page, and it is built to pair with the National MVA Recovery Guide, which covers the appointment log, symptom pages and correspondence record that carry a claim from week one to settlement.

If your recovery were reviewed tomorrow, what would your record say?

The National MVA Recovery Guide is where your recovery gets documented, day by day. Symptoms, appointments, calls and costs, written while they are fresh. It works in every province and it stands on its own.

See the National Guide$39

Both guides, $49. Add the Alberta MVA Companion Guide for the dates and rules that shape your recovery in Alberta, and the discount applies at checkout. Normally $63.99.

Every figure on this page comes from a named authority. How we check
Last verified: September 2026.