If you hit a parked car backing out of your driveway, stop the vehicle, check the damage, and either speak with the owner or leave a written note with your name and phone number before you go anywhere. Photograph both cars and the note itself. Then call your insurer, and depending on how much damage there is, your local non-emergency police line. Driving off, even from what looks like a scuff, is what turns this from a routine insurance matter into a possible hit-and-run charge.
The First Few Minutes at the Scene
Put the car in park and get out. Look at both bumpers, both quarter panels, and anywhere the two vehicles made contact. A tap that felt like nothing can crack a bumper cover, push it out of alignment, or damage the parking sensors and cameras tucked behind the panels of most newer cars.
Take photos. Every angle of both vehicles, both license plates, the position of the cars relative to your driveway, and any scratches or dents on the parked car that were clearly there before you touched it. Those pre-existing damage shots are your defense if the owner later claims you caused something you didn’t.
If the owner is around, swap names, phone numbers, and insurance details. If nobody’s there, write a note with your name, phone number, and a short description of what happened, and wedge it under the windshield wiper. Then photograph the note on the car. Notes blow away and get pulled off by passersby, and a timestamped photo is what proves you actually left one. Without it, you have no answer if the owner reports the car as hit and abandoned.
Do You Need to Call the Police?
It depends on your state and the damage amount. Most states require a police report once damage crosses a set dollar figure, and those thresholds run anywhere from about $50 to $3,000, with $1,000 being the most common. A few states require a report for any collision at all.
Even when the law doesn’t require it, filing one is usually the right call. A police report is a neutral, timestamped record that neither driver can rewrite later, and insurance adjusters lean on it heavily when a story changes weeks after the fact. Call the non-emergency line, describe what happened, and ask whether an officer will come out. Some departments won’t dispatch for minor parking damage but will let you file at the station or online.
Telling Your Insurance Company
Call your insurer soon, even if you’re thinking about paying for the repair yourself. Most policies require you to report an accident within a short window, often 24 to 48 hours. Reporting is not the same as filing a claim. You’re putting the company on notice so they can defend you if the other driver later demands money or sues. Skip this step and you risk your insurer refusing to cover you when it matters.
Give them the date, time, and location, the other car’s plate number, your photos, and the police report if you have one. The adjuster takes it from there.
Liability, Collision, and Your Deductible
Two coverages come into play. Liability pays for the damage you caused to the other car. Collision pays for damage to yours. Since you were the one moving, you’re the at-fault driver, so the parked car’s repairs go through your liability policy. Anything you fix on your own car runs through collision, and you pay the deductible first. Collision deductibles typically run from $100 to $2,000 depending on what you picked.
If your deductible is $500 and your bumper repair is $700, you pay $500 and your insurer covers $200. If the repair comes in under the deductible, filing a collision claim gets you nothing.
What This Does to Your Premium
An at-fault claim will almost certainly raise your rates. Industry analyses have found a single at-fault accident can push annual premiums up roughly 40 to 50 percent, which is several hundred dollars a year for most drivers, and the surcharge usually stays on your record for three to five years.
Check your policy for accident forgiveness. Some insurers include it automatically, others sell it as an add-on, and if you have it and this is your first claim, it can wipe out the surcharge entirely.
Paying Out of Pocket Instead
For genuinely small damage, settling directly with the other owner can save money. If the repair is close to what a premium increase would cost you over the next few years, keeping the claim off your record makes sense.
Two traps to watch. First, hidden damage. A scuffed bumper can hide cracked brackets, damaged sensors, or bent structural pieces the body shop only finds after pulling the panel. Hand over cash, then get a call that the bill doubled, and you’re stuck. Second, the other driver can come back weeks later claiming neck pain or new car problems, and without your insurer involved, nobody is there to investigate or defend you.
If you do settle privately, get a signed written release before any money changes hands. It should describe the accident, state the amount paid, and clearly waive any future claims from either party. Keep the release, your photos, the repair estimates, and proof of payment. Without that document, nothing stops the other driver from cashing your check and then suing.
Who’s at Fault
When a moving car hits a parked one, fault almost always lands on the driver who was moving. A parked car can’t cause a collision, and a driver backing out of a driveway has a duty to check the path before moving. That’s where adjusters start, and usually where they finish.
The exceptions are narrow. If the parked car was blocking a driveway, sitting in a fire lane, or jutting into a travel lane, the owner could share some responsibility. In comparative negligence states, shared fault reduces what you owe proportionally: 80 percent at fault on a $2,000 repair means you owe $1,600. Cooperate with your insurer’s investigation. Withholding information only hurts your side.
Traffic Tickets You Could Get
If an officer responds, expect a citation for improper backing, which reflects the rule that you can’t reverse unless you can do it safely. Fines usually land between $50 and $200, and it typically puts a couple of points on your record. Back onto a public road from a private driveway without yielding and you can also be cited for failure to yield. Some local ordinances add extra penalties for backing violations in school or hospital zones. Points compound the insurance hit, since insurers pull your driving record when they price your policy.
Why You Cannot Just Drive Away
Leaving after hitting a parked car, even one with barely a mark on it, exposes you to hit-and-run charges. State laws generally require any driver involved in a collision to stop, identify themselves, and make a reasonable effort to notify the other vehicle’s owner. Missing any of those steps is enough.
Misdemeanor vs. Felony
In most states, a hit-and-run involving only property damage is a misdemeanor. Fines commonly run from several hundred to several thousand dollars, jail sentences up to six months are possible, and courts often add probation, community service, or restitution. Points go on your record, and some jurisdictions trigger an automatic license suspension.
If the collision caused serious property damage or injured someone, the charge can be elevated to a felony. Felony hit-and-run convictions carry fines that can exceed $10,000, prison time measured in years, and long-term license revocation. A felony also shows up on background checks and makes affordable insurance hard to get for years afterward.
The “I Didn’t Know” Defense
Prosecutors generally have to prove you knew, or reasonably should have known, that you were in an accident. If you truly didn’t feel the impact and had no reason to suspect contact, that’s a potential defense. But the bar is low. An audible sound, a visible scrape, or any jolt, and a court will likely find you should have known. If you realize afterward that you may have hit something, go back or call the police right away. The sooner you come forward, the more credible your account looks.
How Long You’re Exposed
Don’t assume you’re clear because a week went by. Misdemeanor hit-and-run charges can typically be filed within one to three years of the incident, depending on the state. Doorbell cameras, security footage, and witnesses surface long after you’ve stopped thinking about it. The vehicle owner’s separate right to sue for property damage usually runs two to four years.
If You Hit a Mailbox, Fence, or Hydrant Instead
The obligations are the same: stop, document, and make a reasonable effort to notify the owner. For public property like fire hydrants or street signs, report the damage to local authorities. Damage to non-vehicle property is generally covered under the property damage portion of your liability insurance.
Mailboxes have their own wrinkle. Curbside mailboxes must meet U.S. Postal Service standards, and the Federal Highway Administration recommends installation on a post designed to bend or fall away on impact rather than punish the vehicle that hits it.1U.S. Postal Service. How to Install a Mailbox If the box you hit was mounted on a concrete-filled post that damaged your car on impact, the property owner could share liability for your vehicle damage, since that kind of installation violates federal safety guidance.
Not Doing This Again
Every vehicle built after May 1, 2018 is required to have a backup camera.2U.S. Department of Transportation. NHTSA Announces Final Rule Requiring Rear Visibility Technology Use it, but don’t trust it alone. Cameras have blind spots at the edges and won’t show you a car coming down the street at 30 miles per hour.
Back into your driveway when you can, so you pull forward out onto the street. Visibility going forward is dramatically better than in reverse. When you do have to back out, roll the windows down so you can hear traffic, go slowly enough to stop instantly, and check the mirrors, over both shoulders, and the camera. The extra few seconds is cheap compared to what a bad five feet of reversing can cost.