If you’re in crisis right now because a car has literally just crashed into your house – welcome to the horrible club – but I’m not going to make you suffer and waffle on for ages, the TLDR (too lazy didn’t read hehe) summary is right here:

If you’re like, dude, it’s too late for any of this, I need to know about next steps, then you want to head to The Long-Term Recovery Guide After A Car Crashes Into Your House (upload pending) – honestly this is the best post because this is the stuff I NEVER would have thought of had I not gone through it myself, I highly recommend 10/10 (not bias obv).

If you’re not really sure what you need and are kinda having a mental breakdown, read my personal account of what happened when a car crashed into my house, and maybe it will feel a little lighter to know that you are not alone and that IT’S OKAY TO BE TRAUMATISED (is it just me???).

Anyway, for the immediate steps on what to do if a car crashes into your house, this is what you need to do. (And my g, this is pretty much 100% based on all the things I got wrong and didn’t do properly, so don’t beat yourself up too much that you’re too traumatised to think of any of these yourself right now. Let me be your donor brain for 10 minutes okay?).

Soundtrack for this post (you’re probably not in the frame of mind for this sorry… just tryna lighten the mood)

1. Check for danger

No matter what the circumstances are around a car crashing into your house, you are going to be in shock, and your nervous system is going to slip into survival mode and not recognise things like ‘hmm, it isn’t structurally sound to be in this room right now, I could die’ and ‘hmm, there is a cracked pipe sticking out of the wall that doesn’t have water in it… I wonder what that could be…maybe that is a gas main’.

So take a breath, followed by a visual sweep. If your internal walls have thick plaster on or furniture in the way, it might be hard to see that they are in fact now on a slant, and may be dangerous to be around.

The urgent urgent things to think about are: gas, electrics, water, if any of your exits are blocked and how you’re going to get out asap if any of those guys start mucking around.

2. Get out of the house

Now you’ve done that, you and and your whole family INCLUDING THE ANIMALS BECAUSE THE POLICE WON’T LET YOU BACK IN TO RESCUE THEM AND IT WILL TRAUMATISE YOU FURTHER *ahem* sorry*, need to leave, and I mean now.

Even if you don’t think anyone is at risk (in fact, especially if, because that says to me that your brain is elsewhere), a moving vehicle just hit a structure that was literally not designed to ever be hit by anything, something is probably not okay, and it’s better to be safe. Leave all your belongings. I know. Trust me, I know.

Once you are out, do not go back in until a structural engineer has assessed the property to be safe. Not know-it-all-Billy-Bob from next door, a proper structural engineer or fire crew (this is part of the next step sorry, I’m jumping ahead).

3. Call emergency services

Hopefully you aren’t going through this on your own, and someone in the household is already on it. But just in case you are a dumbass like me who thinks that ‘I’m being too much’ by calling the police and ‘it’s just a teeny-weeny destroyed house and burst gas main’, call the fucking police.

They will then decide who else they need to send. Something I wish I had done when I called the police, is say ‘oh I think they’ve hit a gas main‘ and ‘I don’t know if anyone is injured‘, because they would have sent a fire crew and paramedics out straight away, rather than twenty-minutes later when the police arrived and assessed the damage. You are absolutely better to be safe than sorry on this one, if you’re in doubt, call them out.

(Additional note, you may be in too much shock to even realise you are injured. I had no idea plasterboard had fallen on me until several hours AFTER the incident when it all sunk in. I never got checked out…).

4. Seek medical attention (if needed)

If you’re searching for what to do if a car crashes into your house, you’re probably dealing with one of the most shocking situations imaginable. I’m hoping and praying that no one is injured or harmed, but if they are, my deepest sympathies are with you. At this point, the emergency services should be on site. My top recommendation is to request to be checked out, even if you feel fine.

At my incident, the paramedics drove off because the police dismissed them, without even asking any of us if we were injured. Because we looked visually fine, they decided that we were, but we weren’t even of sound mind to process any of it, let alone remember plasterboard falling on us. Request to get checked out, just to be safe.

5. Get their friggin insurance details

I can’t type this paragraph without being riddled with shame. Because I KNEW BETTER. But I was so stressed, the only information I had was the guys numberplate and the make and model of his car. That is dumb. And whilst it did work out for me because the police had his details, it took at least five additional ‘trauma phone calls’ to get the insurance side of things sorted out as a result.

As a minimum you need their car registration numberplate and contact information. Ideally you want their policy number, home address and THEIR DAMN NAME. (*sigh of shame*).

6. Take a gabillion pictures of everything

I actually didn’t think this would be that important because yanno, the police were there, and there were three witnesses, and the local news lol. But at six weeks in, I’m still being asked for photos from the insurance company, police and mains services. We must have around 250 in total now. WHAT DO THEY WANT FROM ME.

The main thing you want a picture of is the actual car hitting the house. Bonus points if you get the driver in the photo too. And if I could replay, I would’ve hit record when I went out to speak to him, because videos all act as evidence in court (if it ever gets to that…more on that in another post) especially if they confess.

For insurance and mains services (that will want to keep charging you money even when you can’t physically live in your house), you will need concrete evidence that your house is fucked. I literally had to send a picture of the gas man by the pipe with a ‘DANGER, DO NOT TOUCH AT RISK OF DEATH, TAMPERING WILL BE PROSECUTED. IT IS A CRIME TO REMAIN ON THIS PROPERTY.’ sign for them to actually believe me. (I wish I was joking).

7. Get witness details (if possible)

Another thing I did poorly. We actually got the details from the witnesses on little pieces of paper, which is dumb when your house is a rubble-pit. Please just save them on your phone like the technologically advanced human race we now are.

Witnesses won’t necessarily come in handy for insurance (unless they really don’t believe you), but will if you pursue court. This will almost always be the case if the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. If it was an ‘accident’, you will have to fight for the police to press charges (which is appalling and I hate it) because a lot of the time they dismiss the crime because ‘insurance will handle it’. If you’re anything like me, and want justice, and for no ones life to be put at risk by the idiot again, you will have to work for it. Which is shit and I’m sorry. Use your witnesses!

8. Call your home insurance

By this point I’m guessing you are sat on your street (or two streets up if they think a gas main is going to explode and everyone might die), with your head in your hands, thinking ‘what the hell do I do now’.

Da da daaaaaa: call your home insurance. Calling them as soon as it happens puts you in a better position, but also means that if you require temporary accommodation, which most people will, they can get on it.

Your insurance should have an emergency line specifically for situations like this, so when you call them in the middle of the night like I did, they’ll be ready for ya. It was helpful too, because the guy was able to set the case up ready to go by the next morning, which prevented any further delays.

9. Secure the property

Maybe not something you expected to see on the ‘what to do if a car crashes into your house’ list, because it feels futile, right? There’s a fucking hole in the wall, racoons could move in if they wanted. But for now, grab all the valuables you are able to take, and come back the next morning for the rest.

Your property is now a walking red flag for criminals and busybodies and squatters. As horrible and frightening as that sounds, I’ve lived it, and we need to be real here.

Jewellery, cash, electronics. Whatever you can’t take on the first night, get the next morning. If you need storage, this is something insurance should provide, although you may have to make the initial payment and accept the insurance contribution in arrears.

10. Document Absolutely Everything

On that note, keep all your receipts. If you have to source accommodation, have it all in writing. If you’re staying with family, get them to draft up a rental contract. If you’re having to do additional travel or make emergency purchases, track it all. Bin off work for at least the next day, and if you’re self-employed, you might be able to claim back the losses too (do not hold me to that, check your policy details first).

You want to store all of this on your phone, and have separate notes for different things. eg. police crime reference number and officer contact details, insurance policy and claim numbers, conversations with the driver including dates and times, mileage done, specific areas of damage to the house etc. I’d even recommend screenshotting email responses and saving them all in one place here too.

Trust me, you’ll thank yourself later. You’re about to enter an administrative nightmare and need all the help you can get.

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Hopefully you never need this guide, but if you’re wondering what to do if a car crashes into your house, these immediate actions can make the recovery process much smoother. And when you’re ready, The Long-Term Recovery Guide After A Car Crashes Into Your House (pending upload) is the next best place to be after this one.

Sending you strength. And hugs. This is shit.