Parking Lot Accidents

You were backing out of a space, walking to your car or waiting for a spot when another vehicle hit you. Now you’re hurt, and the other driver says it was your fault. If you’re shaken and not sure how fault works off the road, that’s normal.

Here’s the plain answer. Fault in a parking lot or garage turns on negligence: who failed to use the care a reasonably careful person would have used in that spot. Blame can be shared, including with the lot’s owner if a hazard it should have fixed helped cause the crash. In Michigan, most rules of the road are written for public roads, so a jury weighs the lot’s signs, layout and circumstances instead. Michigan’s rules are in the boxes marked “In Michigan.”

The hard part is usually the proof: police may not file the usual crash report for a crash inside a lot, and the other driver’s insurer may say you were just as much to blame.

Hurt in a parking lot and not sure where you stand? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

How is fault decided in a parking lot?

Most parking lot claims are negligence claims: someone failed to use the care a reasonable person would use in the same circumstances (Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, or Cornell LII). Michigan’s model jury instruction tells jurors that the law doesn’t spell out what a careful person would do: “That is for you to decide” (M Civ JI 10.02). In a lot, that means weighing the lanes, arrows and stop signs, what each person could see, speed, and who was moving first.

What if you were partly at fault?

In most states, being partly at fault reduces what you recover instead of ending the claim, though most of them cut off recovery once your share reaches 50% or 51%. A few places still follow contributory negligence, which can bar recovery for any fault at all (Cornell LII). See each state’s shared-fault rule.

Who is at fault in common parking lot crashes?

These examples are made up; the percentages only show the math.

Backing out of a space

A driver backing out is moving into a lane others are using, so the questions are whether they looked, went slowly and stopped when someone appeared. A driver in the lane who was speeding or not watching can share the blame. This isn’t a rear-end crash, where one car runs into the back of another going the same way: the backing car’s rear strikes a car or person crossing behind it.

A made-up example: Dana backs out of a grocery store space as Lee drives down the lane a little fast, and Dana’s bumper hits Lee’s door. If a jury finds Dana 75% at fault and Lee 25%, in most states Lee’s damages are cut by 25%, and in Michigan, Dana gets no pain-and-suffering or mini-tort damages from Lee.

Pulling out of a space

When a driver pulls forward out of a space, or out of a row into a main lane, the questions are whether they waited for a safe gap, and whether the approaching driver was speeding or looking at a phone. These crashes can end in a side-impact (T-bone) collision.

Through lanes and feeder lanes

Many lots have main lanes along the edges and toward the exits, sometimes called through lanes, and narrower feeder lanes between the rows. You may read that feeder-lane traffic must always yield to the through lane, but Michigan’s right-of-way rules are written for public roads (MCL 257.601). A jury looks instead at the lot’s own signs and arrows, who reached the crossing first, and each driver’s speed and view. In one Michigan case, the other driver said snow had hidden a stop sign where two lanes met in a shopping center’s lot (Pustay v Gentelia, below).

Two cars backing out at once

Each driver was moving and should have looked behind, so a jury can split the fault, even evenly.

A made-up example: Two drivers back out of facing spaces in a parking garage and collide, and a jury finds each 50% at fault. In Michigan, 50% isn’t “more than 50%,” so each recovers half of their damages from the other, including pain and suffering if the injury meets the legal threshold and a mini-tort claim for car damage insurance doesn’t cover (MCL 600.2959; 500.3135(2)(b), (4)(a)). In a state that bars recovery at 50%, neither would recover (Cornell LII).

Pedestrians

A driver must use ordinary care for others’ safety, and a pedestrian for their own (in Michigan, M Civ JI 10.04, 10.05). Was the driver watching and slow enough to stop? Did the pedestrian look before stepping into the lane? A pedestrian’s own share of fault can reduce what they recover.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that in 2021, 64,838 people were injured in crashes off public roads, including crashes in parking facilities and driveways. About 30% were people outside a vehicle, such as pedestrians, and 37% of those were hit by a vehicle backing up.

What should you do after a parking lot accident?

Evidence in a lot disappears quickly: cars move, shoppers leave and video gets recorded over.

1. Get safe, and call 911 if anyone is hurt.
2. Swap information: names, addresses, license, plate and insurance details, and the owner’s name if the driver doesn’t own the car.
3. Photograph the scene, if it’s safe: where the cars stopped, the damage, arrows, stop signs, lighting, potholes and anything that blocked a view.
4. Find the cameras, and ask the store or property manager in writing, right away, to save the footage. See how to preserve crash evidence.
5. Get witnesses’ names and phone numbers.
6. Be careful with the other driver’s insurer. You don’t have to give it a recorded statement, and it’s safer not to before you’ve had advice; see talking to an insurance adjuster.

If the other driver left, see what to do after a hit-and-run. For the days ahead, keep our checklist of 10 things to do after a car accident handy.

When can the parking lot owner share the blame?

Whoever controls the lot, such as a store, landlord or property manager, can share the blame if it failed to use reasonable care about a dangerous condition it knew about, or should have found, and that condition helped cause your injury. This is called premises liability. Think of a stop sign hidden by piled snow, a deep pothole or open trench, a blind corner, or lighting too dim to show a hazard. A contractor that created the hazard can face an ordinary negligence claim too (in Michigan, Bowerman v Red Oak Management Co, 2026).

If you were attacked in a lot, the claim is about security. A Michigan business must respond reasonably to situations on its property that “pose a risk of imminent and foreseeable harm to identifiable invitees,” a duty “limited to reasonably expediting the involvement of the police,” and it doesn’t have to hire guards (MacDonald v PKT, Inc, 2001); see negligent security claims. A government agency that runs a lot may be immune from injury claims unless an exception applies (MCL 691.1407(1)); see claims involving government property.

Not sure whether the lot's owner shares the blame? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

Who pays after a parking lot accident?

That depends on whether your state is an at-fault or a no-fault state; our car accident lawsuit guide explains both.

What to do next

1. Get medical care, and describe every symptom.
2. Save the evidence now: photos, witness names and a written request to the lot’s owner or manager to keep its video.
3. Mark your deadlines. In Michigan: written PIP notice within one year (MCL 500.3145(1)), and a lawsuit against the other driver or the lot’s owner generally within three years (MCL 600.5805(2)).
4. Don’t guess about fault with the other driver’s insurer, and don’t sign a release before you know how badly you’re hurt.
5. Get a free case review before the deadlines get close. Tell us what happened, or compare Michigan injury lawyers.

What waiting can cost

• The video. Cameras can record over footage before anyone asks for it.
• Your PIP benefits. In Michigan, without written notice or a payment within a year, you can lose the right to sue for them (MCL 500.3145(1)).
• A parked-car claim. A lawsuit for property protection benefits must start within one year of the crash (MCL 500.3145(5)).

What a good outcome looks like

The fault split matches the evidence, not the other driver’s first story or an adjuster’s guess. Your medical bills and lost pay are covered while you heal, your car is fixed, and if the lot’s owner let a hazard help cause the crash, it answers for its share. From wondering who’s to blame for a crash in a parking lot to knowing what the evidence shows, who pays and which deadlines apply to you.

For more, browse our car, truck and motorcycle accident guides. Hurt in Michigan? Start with Michigan injury law in plain English.

Updated September 28, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.