Massachusetts Parked Car Hit and Run: Penalties and 5-Day Report

If you hit a parked car in Massachusetts, state law requires you to stop immediately and give the owner your name, home address, and vehicle registration number. When no one is around, leave that information on a note securely attached to the damaged vehicle. Driving off without doing so is a criminal offense under M.G.L. c. 90, § 24(2)(a), punishable by up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $200.¹ What happens in the next few minutes at the scene, and over the next five days with paperwork, decides whether you walk away with an insurance claim or a criminal record.

What to Do at the Scene

Stop as soon as you realize you’ve made contact. If the owner is present, hand over your name, address, and registration number directly. If not, write those three required items on a note along with your driver’s license number and insurance company name, and attach it where the owner will clearly see it. The statute only demands the first three, but adding your license and insurer saves the other driver a hunt and reads as good faith if police or a court later look at what you did.¹

Before you leave, photograph both vehicles. Capture the damage on each car, how the vehicles are positioned, and the surrounding area, including any lane markings or signs. If the collision happened in a commercial lot or parking garage, go inside and ask about surveillance cameras. This record protects you if the other driver later disputes who caused the damage or how bad it was.

File the Crash Report Within Five Days

When property damage to any single vehicle exceeds $1,000, Massachusetts requires you to file a Motor Vehicle Crash Operator Report within five days of the collision.² Even minor bumper repairs routinely run several hundred dollars, so most parked-car collisions cross that line. When in doubt, file. There’s no penalty for filing when damage comes in under $1,000, and real penalties for failing to file when it doesn’t.

The form is available on Mass.gov and cannot be submitted electronically. Print it, fill it out, and mail copies to three places:³

Crash Records, Registry of Motor Vehicles, P.O. Box 55889, Boston, MA 02205-5889.
The police department in the city or town where the crash happened (mail or hand-deliver).
Your auto insurance company.

The five-day clock runs from the date of the collision, not the date you identify the owner or get a repair estimate. The deadline is tolled if you’re physically incapacitated.³ Otherwise, get the copies in the mail promptly. Late filing doesn’t erase the obligation, and it complicates both your insurance claim and any criminal case.

Criminal Penalties if You Leave

Driving away from a parked-car collision without stopping and providing your information is a misdemeanor under M.G.L. c. 90, § 24(2)(a). The penalties for the property-damage version of the offense are:¹

Jail time of two weeks to two years.
A fine of $20 to $200.
Both, at the judge’s discretion.

The fine range looks small. The jail exposure and the criminal record are what matter. A misdemeanor conviction becomes a permanent part of your Massachusetts criminal history and shows up on background checks for employment, housing, and professional licensing. For a parking-lot scrape, that is a steep price.

If Someone Was Hurt

Parked-car collisions rarely injure anyone, but a passenger may be in the parked vehicle or a pedestrian may be nearby. If so, the charges escalate sharply. Leaving the scene after causing injury (not resulting in death) carries six months to two years in jail and a $500 to $2,000 fine. If someone dies, the exposure is two and a half to ten years in state prison and a $1,000 to $5,000 fine, with a mandatory minimum of one year that cannot be suspended, reduced, or paroled.¹ Cases involving personal injury or death also cannot be continued without a finding or placed on file.

License Suspension and Reinstatement

A conviction for leaving the scene triggers a mandatory RMV license suspension, separate from anything the criminal court orders.⁴ For a first offense involving only property damage, the suspension can last up to 60 days. Repeat offenders face significantly longer revocation periods.

Getting your license back after the suspension ends isn’t automatic. You pay a reinstatement fee to the RMV ranging from $100 to $1,200, depending on the specific offense, as set by M.G.L. c. 90, § 33.⁵ Massachusetts does not require an SR-22 certificate; the state uses its own financial responsibility system, so you won’t need to file proof of insurance through that process after reinstatement.

The Insurance Surcharge Lasts the Longest

The financial consequence that hurts most people the longest isn’t the court fine. It’s the surcharge. Under the Massachusetts Safe Driver Insurance Plan, leaving the scene of an accident is a major traffic law violation and adds five surcharge points to your driving record.⁶ That’s the same category as an OUI conviction or refusing to stop for a police officer.

Those points stay on your record for years and directly raise your annual premium. Insurers use the SDIP point system to set rates, and a major violation can add hundreds or thousands of dollars per year. Over a typical six-year surcharge period, the cumulative cost dwarfs the criminal fine, and drivers who already had points get hit harder because the system compounds.

If You Were the One Who Got Hit

If you came back to find your parked car damaged, don’t move it until you’ve photographed everything: the damage from multiple angles, any paint transfer, debris on the ground, and the surrounding area. If the collision happened near businesses, ask about surveillance footage right away. Many systems record on a loop and may overwrite within 24 to 72 hours.

File a police report even if the other driver left a note. The report creates an official record your insurer will want, and it’s essential if the other driver later disputes what happened. With no note, the report also documents the incident as a hit-and-run, which affects how your claim is processed. If the other driver is identified, you can claim against their property damage liability coverage, which Massachusetts requires at a minimum of $30,000. If the driver is unknown, collision coverage on your own policy pays for the repair after your deductible (the default is $500 unless you chose otherwise). Collision coverage is optional. Massachusetts-mandated uninsured motorist coverage applies to bodily injury from a hit-and-run driver, not to property damage.⁷

1
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90 Section 24
2
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 90 Section 26 – Accident Reports
3
Mass.gov. Report a Motor Vehicle Crash
4
Mass.gov. Discretionary, Mandatory, and Public Safety Suspensions
5
Mass.gov. Reinstate Your Driver’s License
6
Mass.gov. Surchargeable Incidents
7
Mass.gov. Basics of Auto Insurance