If you just hit a parked car, stop your vehicle, find the owner or leave a written note with your name and phone number on the windshield, photograph the scene, and call the non-emergency police line to report the collision. Then notify your insurance company. The moving driver is at fault in nearly every parked-car collision, so your liability coverage will normally pay for the other vehicle’s repairs. Driving away, even from a light scrape, is a crime in every state.
Who Pays for the Damage
The driver of the moving vehicle bears responsibility for hitting a stationary car. A parked car isn’t doing anything, so the person behind the wheel had the duty to see it, avoid it, and control their speed. Insurance adjusters almost always assign 100 percent fault to the moving driver.
There is one wrinkle. If the parked car was somewhere it shouldn’t have been — double-parked, jutting into a travel lane, or stopped in a fire lane — its owner may share some blame. How much depends on your state’s negligence rules. Most states use comparative fault, where each party’s recovery is reduced by their percentage of responsibility. A few states follow contributory negligence, which can bar recovery entirely if the injured party was even slightly at fault. Even when the parked car was illegally positioned, the moving driver usually carries the larger share, because the duty to watch the road doesn’t go away.
What to Do in the Next Few Minutes
Stop and Leave a Note
Every state requires you to stop immediately after hitting an unattended vehicle. Look around first: if the owner is nearby, talk to them in person and exchange information the way you would after any collision. If they aren’t there, leave a written note in a visible spot on the car. The note should include your name, phone number, and a brief description of what happened. Some states also require your address, driver’s license number, and license plate number. Don’t post your insurance policy details on a note anyone can walk up and read, but do give the owner a reliable way to reach you.
Document the Scene
Before you leave, take photos of both vehicles from multiple angles. Capture the point of impact, the position of the cars relative to the curb and any traffic signs, and any paint transfer or debris. Note the street address, time, and weather. If there are witnesses nearby, ask for their contact information. This protects you later if there’s a dispute about pre-existing damage or how hard the impact was.
Recording the parked car’s Vehicle Identification Number along with its license plate gives you and your insurer a reliable way to identify the vehicle. The VIN is a 17-character code visible on the lower-left corner of the dashboard through the windshield.1National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. VIN Decoder
File a Police Report
Call the local non-emergency line. Most states require a formal report when property damage exceeds a set dollar threshold, ranging from roughly $500 to $3,000 depending on the state. Even where a report isn’t technically required for smaller damage, filing one creates an official record that you stopped and cooperated. That record matters if the other owner later claims you fled, or if the damage turns out to cost more than it first looked.
Why You Can’t Just Drive Off
Leaving without stopping is a hit-and-run, even when no one is hurt and the damage is cosmetic. Every state treats this as a criminal offense. For property-damage-only cases, it’s typically charged as a misdemeanor. Penalties vary but commonly include fines, possible jail time, and points on your driving record. Some states also impose license suspensions of 30 days to several months on conviction.
The exposure gets worse when the damage is significant. Several states escalate the charge based on the dollar amount, and a few can bump a property-damage hit-and-run to a felony if the costs are high enough. The consequences don’t end with the criminal case. Your insurer can deny coverage on the grounds that you violated state law by fleeing, and the parked car’s owner can sue you in civil court with the hit-and-run conviction as strong evidence of fault.
This is where people make the most expensive mistake. A scrape that would have cost a few hundred dollars to settle through insurance becomes a criminal record, a suspended license, and a lawsuit. Staying is always cheaper than leaving.
How Insurance Handles It
Two coverages come into play on your policy. Your property damage liability coverage pays for repairs to the other person’s vehicle, up to your policy limit. State minimums range from $5,000 to $50,000 depending on where you live, and many drivers carry more. If the repair bill exceeds your limit, you’re personally responsible for the difference.
Your own car is a separate question. Collision coverage pays for your repairs after you pay your deductible. Without collision coverage, you pay for your own repairs yourself. Because you’re at fault, the parked car owner’s insurance has no obligation to fix your vehicle.
From the other side, when a driver stops and provides their information, their liability insurance handles the parked car’s repairs, and the owner typically won’t owe a deductible on that claim.
What This Does to Your Premiums
Filing an at-fault claim will almost certainly raise your rates. Major insurers typically increase premiums between 21 and 73 percent after an at-fault accident, depending on severity and your prior record. The surcharge usually stays on your policy for three to five years before it drops off.
Some insurers offer accident forgiveness that prevents a rate increase after your first at-fault claim. It comes in two forms: a loyalty benefit included automatically for long-time customers with clean records, or an add-on you pay for in advance. If you’ve never used it, a minor parked-car scrape is exactly the situation where it earns its keep. Check whether your policy includes it before deciding whether to file a claim or pay out of pocket. When the damage is small and repair costs are close to your deductible, paying directly can be cheaper over the life of the surcharge than filing.
If It Ends Up in Court
If a dispute over repair costs turns into a lawsuit, every state sets a statute of limitations for property damage claims. Most states allow two to three years from the date of the accident, though some allow up to six. Miss the deadline and the court will dismiss the case regardless of who was at fault. For smaller amounts, small claims court is often the practical venue. Jurisdictional limits typically fall between $5,000 and $20,000 depending on the state, which covers the repair cost of most parking-lot collisions without needing a lawyer.