Does Car Insurance Cover Damage to Your Own House or Garage?

It happens in a second: the car is in drive instead of reverse, or the garage door hasn't finished opening. The bumper is cracked, the door is bent, and the reasonable assumption is that car insurance handles car accidents. It handles part of this one.

Why liability won't pay for your own house

Property damage liability pays for other people's property. Insurance Code section 11580.1 lets a California auto liability policy exclude liability for damage to property owned by, rented to, transported by or in the charge of an insured. Your own garage is owned by an insured. The same logic reaches a car owned by someone in your household who is an insured under your policy.

Renting? The building is still "rented to" you

This is the part renters miss. The garage door belongs to your landlord, which feels like other people's property, but the statute's permitted exclusion covers property rented to an insured. Whether your auto policy uses that exclusion, and whether your renters policy picks up damage to the landlord's building, both vary by insurance company. Read the two policies together, or ask, before telling the landlord who will pay.

Where the house damage goes

• Homeowners: damage to the dwelling and other structures, such as a detached garage or fence, is a homeowners policy question, subject to that policy's deductible and terms.
• Renters: a renters policy protects your belongings and your liability; how it treats damage you cause to the rented building is set by its own wording.
• Your belongings in the garage: also a homeowners or renters question, not an auto one.

Do you have to report it to the DMV?

The DMV's SR 1 instructions say an accident on the driver's own property involving only the driver's personal property, with no injury or death, is not reportable. If anyone was hurt, or if someone else's property was damaged by more than $1,000, the ten-day SR 1 rule applies as usual, whoever caused it.

A worked example, limits only

You carry property damage liability of $50,000 and collision with a $500 deductible. Backing out, you clip the side of your own garage and dent the rear quarter panel.

• The car: collision pays the repair less your $500 deductible.
• The garage: your $50,000 property damage limit does not apply, because it is your property. The claim, if you make one, goes to your homeowners insurer under its deductible.
• Your neighbor's fence, if you had hit that instead: your property damage liability would respond, up to $50,000.

Is it worth claiming at all?

Often the honest answer is "maybe not". A small repair close to your deductible may cost you more over time as a claim than as a bill, and two claims, one on each policy, for one moment at home is worth weighing. Get the repair estimates first, then decide. If you would like to know how a claim like this would sit on your auto policy, ask us when you request a quote.