Being hit — driving or parked — starts the same short checklist: document, identify, report, and be careful who you talk to. The wrinkles come from the scenarios, and the scenarios have rules.
Hit While Driving
Run the full after-crash checklist: photos, information exchange, witnesses, prompt medical evaluation, and reports. Fault will be built from the evidence — and rear-end scenarios carry a presumption that helps you as the struck vehicle.
Hit While Parked
- Driver present: exchange information normally — a parked car is the cleanest liability scenario there is.
- Note left: photograph it, the damage, and the scene; contact the other insurer with your evidence assembled.
- No note: that’s a hit-and-run — photograph everything, canvass for cameras (the lot’s, nearby businesses’, doorbells), file a police report promptly, and open the claim under your own collision or UM coverage as applicable; our hit-and-run practice page covers the injury side.
Who Actually Pays
Vehicle damage: the at-fault driver’s property-damage liability, or your collision coverage with subrogation behind it. Injuries: first-party medical benefits regardless of fault, then the liability claim subject to your tort election. Rental, diminished value, and deductible recovery ride the property claim — itemize them; insurers pay what’s demanded, not what’s deserved.
Frequently Asked Questions
The driver who hit my parked car offered cash for the ‘small dent.’ Take it?
Rarely wise — body-shop reality routinely triples parking-lot estimates, and hidden damage is common. Get their information and an actual estimate first; cash deals die when the real number arrives.
Does a parked-car claim raise my rates?
A not-at-fault claim shouldn’t be treated like an at-fault one, and being struck while parked is as not-at-fault as it gets. Don’t donate your deductible to rate fear without checking.
Someone hit me and their insurer ‘can’t confirm coverage.’ Now what?
Push through your own carrier — collision now, subrogation later, and our uninsured-driver guide if injuries are involved. Coverage stonewalls are common and beatable.
Questions about your own crash? Call (215) 464-4600 or contact us online — free, confidential consultations, contingency-fee representation.