What to Do When a Car Crashes Into Your House in California
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This page was written and reviewed by Michael J. Cefali, Esq. Attorney Cefali is a founding partner of Cefali & Cefali, APC, based in San Juan Capistrano, CA. He holds a Juris Doctor from Chapman University Fowler School of Law and a B.A. in Global Studies & Maritime Affairs from the California Maritime Academy. Widely recognized for his advocacy in personal injury law, he has secured multi-hundred-thousand-dollar settlements in motorcycle accidents, hit-and-runs, and red-light collision cases. He maintains a perfect 10.0 “Superb” rating on Avvo.
Beyond his legal practice, Mr. Cefali actively supports his community through the Rotary Club of San Juan Capistrano, contributes to housing and meal programs for those in need, and enjoys fishing and spending time with his rescue dogs.
The date below reflects when this page was last reviewed for accuracy. Please see our Editorial Guidelines.
What to Do When a Car Crashes Into Your House in California
When a car hits your home, get everyone out of the damaged area, call 911, and do not go back inside until the fire department or a building inspector says the structure is safe. Then collect the driver's insurance details and the police report number, photograph everything, and open a claim with both the driver's insurer and your own homeowners insurer.
A car through a house is part injury emergency, part construction problem and part insurance dispute. The driver's liability coverage is supposed to pay, but California only requires $15,000 in property damage coverage, and a crash that reaches a wall, a porch or a bedroom can cost far more than that to fix. This checklist covers the first hour, the first week, who pays for what, what happens when someone inside was hurt, and the deadlines that apply. Treat it as a general guide: the right steps for your own claim depend on your policy and the facts.
What do I do when a car hits my house?
Your first job is safety, and your second is evidence. Everything else, including repairs and insurance paperwork, can wait a few hours, but a weakened wall or a gas leak cannot.
In the first hour
Get everyone away from the impact area and call 911. Ask for police, fire and an ambulance if anyone, including the driver, could be hurt. A car that drove into a building may be holding up part of the wall, so leave it where it is unless firefighters move it.
Check for gas, electrical and water hazards from a safe distance. If you smell gas, leave the house and tell the 911 dispatcher. Your gas and electric utility can shut off service and check the lines.
Get the driver's information. California law requires a driver who damages property to stop, give the owner a name and address, and show a driver's license and vehicle registration on request (Vehicle Code section 20002). Write down the license plate, the insurance company and policy number, and the vehicle owner's name if it is not the driver's car.
Get the report number. Ask the officer for the report number and which agency took the report: a city police department, the sheriff, or the California Highway Patrol.
Talk to witnesses and neighbors. Get names and phone numbers, and ask nearby homes and businesses to save doorbell and security camera footage before it records over.
In the first few days
Photograph and video everything before anything is moved. Shoot the car in place, the outside walls, the roofline, cracked drywall, doors that no longer close, the foundation, damaged furniture and anything outside, such as a fence, mailbox or landscaping.
Wait for a safety inspection. After a car goes through a house, your city or county building department may inspect it and post a placard. A green tag generally means you can use the home, yellow means limited entry, and red means you should stay out. A structural engineer's report also helps the insurance claim.
Call your homeowners insurer. Report the loss even if the driver's insurer has accepted fault. Your policy likely requires prompt notice, and your insurer can usually pay faster.
Open a property damage claim with the driver's insurer. Give the date, address, report number and photos. Stick to facts and do not guess about repair costs.
Protect the house from further damage. Board up openings, put a tarp over roof damage and arrange emergency shoring if a contractor recommends it. Most policies expect you to take reasonable steps to prevent more damage. Keep every receipt.
Track where you are staying and what it costs. If you cannot live in the home, hotel bills, extra meals and mileage may be covered as additional living expenses (often called loss of use).
Make a list of damaged belongings. Include what each item is, roughly when you bought it and what it cost. Keep damaged items until the adjuster has seen them.
Avoid signing anything from the driver's insurer, including a release or a quick check, until you know the full cost of repairs and anyone who was hurt has finished treatment.
Whose insurance pays, mine or the driver's?
The driver who hit your house is responsible, so the driver's auto liability insurance should pay for the damage. In practice, both policies often end up paying: the driver's coverage up to its property damage limit, and your homeowners policy for the rest, after which your insurer can try to recover what it paid from the driver.
Coverage
What it can pay for
Limits to know
Driver's property damage liability
Repairs to your home, fence and belongings, plus related costs such as loss of use
California's minimum is $15,000 per accident for policies issued or renewed since January 1, 2025 (Vehicle Code section 16056). That amount is shared by everything the driver damaged in the crash.
Your homeowners dwelling coverage
The structure itself: walls, foundation, roof, porch, attached garage
Most policies treat vehicle damage as a covered cause of loss. Your deductible applies.
Your homeowners personal property coverage
Furniture, electronics, clothing and other belongings
Vehicles are a listed covered peril on most standard policies. Check your declarations page.
Your homeowners loss of use coverage
Hotel, rental housing and extra living costs while the home is unlivable
Usually capped at a percentage of dwelling coverage or a time limit.
Renters insurance
A tenant's belongings and temporary housing
Does not cover the building. The landlord's policy does.
One exception to watch: many homeowners policies do not cover damage to a fence, driveway or walkway caused by a vehicle owned or driven by someone who lives in the home. If a family member backed into your own garage, read the vehicle section of your policy before you file.
Why your own insurer may pay first
The driver's insurer may take weeks to investigate fault, and a minimum policy may not cover a structural repair. Your homeowners insurer usually moves faster and pays under your own policy. It then steps into your shoes and seeks repayment from the driver or the driver's insurer, a process called subrogation. (If you were the one who caused a crash, the same process is what produces a subrogation letter.)
California's Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations protect you in that process. An insurer that makes a subrogation demand must include your deductible in it, and it must share what it recovers with you on a proportionate basis unless you have already recovered the whole deductible (10 CCR 2695.7(q)). In other words, if your insurer collects from the driver, you should get some or all of your deductible back.
You cannot be paid twice for the same damage. If your insurer has paid for the roof, you would not also collect for the roof from the driver. You can still pursue the driver directly for losses your policy did not cover, such as your deductible, items above your policy limits, or damage your policy excludes.
What if the driver fled or has no insurance?
Your homeowners policy still covers the house and your belongings, minus the deductible. Uninsured motorist property damage coverage on your auto policy generally applies to your car, not your home, so it will not help with the house. Leaving the scene after hitting a home is a crime under Vehicle Code section 20002, so report it to police right away and give them any video you have. For the criminal side of it, see California hit and run law. If police identify the driver later, you or your insurer can still pursue the driver personally.
What if a city or county vehicle hit your house?
If the driver was on duty for a public agency, such as a city truck, a school bus or a patrol car, you must file a written government claim before you can sue. For damage to your home itself, the claim is generally due within one year. For injuries and damaged personal property, it is due within six months (Government Code section 911.2). Missing that date can end the claim, so do not wait on the agency's own adjuster.
What if someone inside was hurt?
Anyone injured when a car drove through a house can bring an injury claim against the driver, and that claim is separate from the property claim. See a doctor within a day or so, even when the pain seems mild, because falling debris, glass and the force of a wall giving way can cause head, back and crush injuries that are not obvious at first.
The driver's bodily injury liability coverage pays first. The California minimum is $30,000 per person and $60,000 per crash for all injured people combined (CDI bulletin on SB 1107). A serious injury, or several injured family members, can use that up quickly.
Your own auto policy may help even though you were not in a car. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage under Insurance Code section 11580.2 can protect you and relatives who live with you when an uninsured or underinsured driver injures you, and some policies extend medical payments coverage to the same situation. Read your policy or have a lawyer read it.
A guest's minor medical bills may be covered by your homeowners policy. Medical payments to others coverage pays small medical bills for visitors injured on your property regardless of fault. It does not cover people who live in the home.
Health insurance will pay for treatment, and it may later seek repayment from any injury settlement.
Do not give a recorded statement about anyone's injuries to the driver's insurer before talking with a lawyer. Statements made in the first days after a crash, before a diagnosis, are often used to argue that an injury was minor.
Renters, landlords and businesses
If you rent, the landlord's property policy covers the building and your renters policy covers your belongings and temporary housing. If you or a family member was hurt, the injury claim is still against the driver. A landlord's own liability coverage only comes into play if the landlord did something wrong, such as ignoring a known hazard. Our article on landlord personal injury coverage explains how those policies work.
When a car drove into a building such as a store, restaurant or office, injured customers and employees have claims against the driver. A business can also claim lost income under its commercial property policy. In some cases, a property owner who knew drivers kept leaving the parking lot and hitting the storefront, and did nothing to protect the entrance, may share responsibility.
How long do I have to claim?
In California, you generally have three years after the crash to bring a lawsuit over damage to your home and belongings, and two years to file one for a personal injury. If a government vehicle was involved, the first filing window can close in six months.
Claim
Deadline
Law
Damage to your house or land
3 years
Code of Civil Procedure section 338(b)
Damage to belongings and other personal property
3 years
Code of Civil Procedure section 338(c)(1)
Personal injury
2 years
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1
Government claim for injury or personal property (city, county or state vehicle)
6 months to file the government claim
Government Code section 911.2
Claim against a public agency for damage to your home
Insurers have deadlines too. Once your insurer has proof of the claim, it generally has 40 calendar days from receiving proof of claim to accept or deny it (10 CCR 2695.7(b)). Our article on insurance claim deadlines in California walks through the full timeline.
Talk with a lawyer if the damage is serious or someone was hurt
Many property-only claims can be handled directly with insurers. It is worth calling a lawyer when someone was injured, when the repair estimate is higher than the driver's limits, when the driver had no insurance or left the scene, or when an insurer disputes what your policy covers. Michael J. Cefali and Courtney L.C. Cefali handle injury claims throughout Orange County and Southern California, and Michael's client recoveries now top $60 million. For a free review of your situation, call (949) 325-7790 or see our car accident lawyer in Orange County page. You pay no fee if there is no recovery.
Car crashed into house FAQs
What do I do when a car hits my house?
Get everyone away from the damaged area, call 911, and stay out until firefighters or a building inspector say the structure is safe. Get the driver's name, license, registration and insurance, the police report number and witness contacts, photograph everything, and report the loss to both the driver's insurer and your homeowners insurer.
Whose insurance pays, mine or the driver's?
The driver's property damage liability coverage should pay, but California's minimum is only $15,000 per accident. Your homeowners policy usually covers the rest, less your deductible, and your insurer may then go after the driver for repayment. Under 10 CCR 2695.7(q), it must include your deductible in that demand and share recoveries with you.
What if someone inside was hurt?
Each injured person has a claim against the driver's bodily injury liability coverage, which has a California minimum of $30,000 per person. Your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may also apply even though you were not in a car. Get medical care right away and avoid recorded statements to the driver's insurer.
How long do I have to claim?
Generally three years to file a lawsuit over damage to your home and belongings (Code of Civil Procedure section 338), and section 335.1 gives injured people two years. If a government vehicle hit your house, the government claim must be filed within six months for injuries and personal property and within one year for damage to the home.
Does homeowners insurance cover a car crashing into my house?
Usually, yes. Most homeowners policies cover damage caused by vehicles to the house and your belongings, subject to your deductible. A common exception is damage to a fence, driveway or walkway caused by a vehicle owned or driven by someone who lives in the home.
Michael Cefali is a dedicated accident attorney based in San Juan Capistrano, California, committed to securing justice and fair compensation for accident victims.
A graduate of Newport Harbor High School, he went on to earn his Bachelor’s degree in Global Studies and Maritime Affairs from the California Maritime Academy, followed by his Juris Doctor from Chapman University School of Law.
Deeply invested in his community, Michael is an active member of the Rotary Club of San Juan Capistrano, contributing to efforts that provide meals, housing, and support to those in need. Outside of his legal work and volunteer service, he enjoys fishing in Dana Point and spending time with his three rescue dogs—a Chihuahua, a Spaniel mix, and a Shepherd mix.
Driven by his strong belief in justice and fairness, Michael remains steadfast in advocating for individuals harmed by the negligence or inaction of others.
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