A Car Crashed Into My House: Whose Insurance Pays?

When someone drives into your house, the driver's auto insurance is the one that should pay. Property damage liability coverage exists for exactly this: it pays for damage a driver causes to other people's property, buildings included. Your own homeowners policy is the backup and often the faster route, because damage by vehicles is a peril most home policies cover. You can claim on your own policy, pay your deductible, and let your insurer go after the driver's company, or you can claim directly against the driver's insurer and wait for it to accept fault.

The driver's property damage liability comes first

State regulators describe this coverage in terms that fit a house as well as another car. California's Department of Insurance says property damage liability pays for damage you cause to someone else's car, or to objects and structures that your car hits. Illinois regulators say it pays for damage to another person's car or property such as fences, buildings, utility poles, signs, and trees. A claim against the driver's policy has no deductible for you, since you are not the policyholder.

The weakness is the limit. Drivers are only required to carry their state's minimum, and the minimums were set with fender benders in mind, not structural repairs. Texas requires 25,000 dollars of property damage coverage, Illinois requires at least 20,000 dollars per accident, and California's minimum is 15,000 dollars. A car through a living room wall can exceed those figures once framing, masonry, windows, and contents are counted. The driver remains personally responsible for the rest, but collecting it is another matter.

Your homeowners policy can pay as well

Vehicle impact is a standard covered cause of loss. California's Department of Insurance lists vehicles among the perils typically covered by a homeowners policy, and the Texas Department of Insurance includes aircraft and vehicles in its table of risks most policies cover. Coverages vary by company, so read your own policy, but in the usual case several parts of it respond:

• Dwelling coverage for the house itself and attached structures such as an attached garage or porch.
• Other structures coverage for things not attached to the house. Texas regulators give detached garages, storage sheds, and fences as examples.
• Personal property coverage for furniture and belongings damaged inside.
• Additional living expenses if you have to move out during repairs. Washington's Office of the Insurance Commissioner says this pays for living expenses over and above your normal living expenses while the house is being repaired or rebuilt.

You pay your homeowners deductible on this route. Your insurer can then seek repayment from the driver's insurer, and if it recovers the money you may get the deductible back. Ask your adjuster whether the company intends to pursue the driver and how your deductible is handled if it does.

Which claim should you file?

Report the loss to both companies, then decide where to press. Filing against the driver's insurer avoids your deductible and keeps the claim off your own policy, but that company owes its duties to its policyholder, not to you. The Texas Department of Insurance, writing about car crashes, puts it this way: you don't have a contract with the other driver's insurance, so you don't have the same options you would with your own company. It may take time to investigate, dispute what the repairs should cost, or run out of coverage.

Your own insurer has a contract with you and deadlines to meet. If the house is open to the weather, you cannot stay in it, or the driver's insurer is slow to accept responsibility, your own policy is usually the practical choice. If the damage is modest, the driver's insurer has accepted fault quickly, and you would rather not pay a deductible, the driver's policy may be enough on its own.

If the driver has no insurance or drove off

Then your homeowners policy is the claim. Uninsured motorist coverage on an auto policy is generally about your vehicle and injuries to people, not damage to a house. Call the police either way. Drivers have legal duties after hitting unattended property. Florida's statute, for example, requires the driver to stop immediately, locate and notify the owner or leave a written notice with their name, address, and registration number in a conspicuous place, and notify police without unnecessary delay, and makes failing to do so a second-degree misdemeanor. Other states have their own versions. A police report, photos, and any security camera footage give both the police and your insurer something to work with.

If the driver was you or someone in your household

Auto liability coverage pays for other people's property, so if you hit a wall of your own home it does not normally pay for the repair. The damage to the house goes to your homeowners policy, and the damage to the car goes to your collision coverage, each with its own deductible.

What to do in the first hours

• Check for injuries and call 911. Leave the house if there is any doubt about the structure, gas, or electrical lines.
• Do not let the vehicle be pulled out until someone qualified says the wall will hold without it.
• Get the driver's name, license, plate number, insurance company, and policy number, and get the police report number.
• Photograph and video everything before cleanup: the vehicle in place, the exterior, the interior, and damaged belongings.
• Prevent further damage with temporary measures such as boarding and tarping, and keep every receipt. Texas regulators advise doing what you need to keep the damage from getting worse and keeping receipts for all expenses.
• Notify your homeowners insurer and the driver's auto insurer, and ask your own adjuster about a structural inspection before permanent repairs.
• If you move out, keep receipts for lodging and meals. California regulators stress keeping receipts for all additional living expenses and submitting them for reimbursement.

The bottom line

A driver who hits your house is responsible, and their property damage liability coverage is meant to pay. Your homeowners policy is there so you do not have to wait on a stranger's insurer or absorb what a small liability limit leaves unpaid. Report to both, use your own policy when the damage is serious or the other side stalls, and document everything from the first hour.