The Collision in Your Own Driveway

Two cars, one driveway, one reversing camera nobody checked. It is such a routine first-year event that it deserves its own page — because it is also the collision where the obvious answer, “my liability will pay for it”, is often wrong.

Why liability may not help here

Liability coverage exists to pay for damage you cause to other people's property. Auto policies commonly contain an exclusion for damage to property owned by, or in the care of, an insured — which is exactly what your parent's car in your shared driveway is.

Whether your policy contains that exclusion, and precisely how it is worded, is your carrier's answer rather than a universal rule. Read the exclusions section of the policy, or ask them the question directly using the words “damage to property owned by an insured”.

What may pay instead

The coverage that repairs a car regardless of who hit it is collision coverage on that car, subject to its deductible. So the practical question becomes: does the damaged vehicle carry collision, and is the repair worth more than the deductible?

If the damaged car is an older vehicle carrying liability only — which describes a lot of family second cars — then there may be no policy in the picture at all, and it is a repair bill rather than a claim.

The two-policy version

If the two cars sit on separate policies in the same household, do not assume that changes the answer. Household and resident-relative wording varies, and some policies treat a resident relative as an insured for these purposes. Same instruction: ask the carrier, with the specific facts.

What to actually do in the first hour

1. Photograph both vehicles, including a wide shot showing the position of each. Yes, in your own driveway.
2. Note the time and what happened, plainly, while you remember it.
3. Get a written repair estimate before deciding anything.
4. Then call the carrier and ask the coverage question before filing, not after.

That order matters. A phone call that opens a claim is harder to close than a phone call that asks a question.

Should you tell the insurer at all?

If the damage is small, confined to family property, and nobody is hurt, there may be nothing to claim — and paying a body shop directly is a legitimate choice. But be honest with yourself about two things first. Bumper covers hide sensors and mounting brackets, and “it's just paint” is a judgement a body shop should make. And if anyone was hurt, even slightly, that is no longer a decision about a repair bill.

The part that is not about money

This is the moment a lot of new drivers first lie by omission, and it is worth naming. A dent found later, unexplained, does more damage to the household arrangement than the dent itself ever could. Say it the same day. In our office, the families who handle the first year best are the ones where the first small crunch was met with a shrug and an estimate rather than a scene.

Preventing the second one

Almost all of these happen in the same three places: a shared driveway, a garage, and a kerbside space between two family cars. Agree parking positions so nobody has to reverse past anybody. Get out and look if the geometry is tight. And treat the reversing camera as one input, not as vision — it does not show you the wing mirror of the car beside you.

If you want to know what your household's policies actually cover between them, send us both declarations pages and we will map it out for you.