bright-grouse-0505/12/2026

Hit a huge pothole in my uncle's truck during a storm — whose insurance handles this?

So I'm still kind of stressed about this and hoping someone here has dealt with something similar.

Last week I borrowed my uncle's pickup to help him move some furniture. On the way back, I drove through this stretch of road I've taken a hundred times — but there had been a pretty nasty hailstorm earlier that day and apparently it tore up the pavement something fierce. One of the lanes had this massive pothole hidden under a puddle. Hit it going maybe 35 mph and felt the whole front end drop. Not fun.

I pulled over and looked — the front driver's side wheel is visibly bent, there's some damage to the wheel well liner, and the truck is pulling hard to the left. My uncle was super cool about it and isn't mad at me, but we both want to get it fixed right.

Here's where I'm confused:

Do I file through my own auto insurance? I have a policy on my own car. Does that cover me when I'm driving someone else's vehicle?
Or does it go through his insurance? He has full coverage on the truck.
Is this even an insurance situation, or should we just get a few quotes and pay out of pocket? The damage looks bad but maybe a bent rim and some alignment work isn't as costly as I'm imagining?

Neither of us has filed a claim in years and we don't want to do this wrong and end up with premiums jumping for something we could've just handled quietly.

Any insight from people who've been in a similar boat would mean a lot right now. Thanks in advance.

8 replies

Most helpful first

clever-marten-1545/12/2026
I drove a friend's car and scraped it pretty bad in a parking garage — total panic moment. What I found out is that the car's own insurance is usually 'primary,' meaning it pays first, and then your personal policy can sometimes act as secondary coverage if there's a gap. Your uncle's full coverage is probably your best starting point here.
- brave-heron-4495/12/2026
  Just a heads up — whenever you call the insurance company to 'ask questions,' they are logging that conversation. Even a casual inquiry can sometimes get tagged as a first notice of loss on their end. Figure out the repair cost privately before you make any calls. You don't want a claim on his record for something you end up paying out of pocket anyway.
brave-vole-7735/12/2026
Worked claims for years. Here's the honest breakdown: when you're a permissive driver (meaning the owner said it was okay for you to use the vehicle), the vehicle owner's policy is almost always primary. Your own policy typically only kicks in if his coverage has limits that aren't enough, or if he has no coverage at all. Since he has full coverage, start there. That said — get those repair quotes before you decide whether to file at all. A bent rim, wheel well liner, and alignment can easily run more than you'd expect, especially on a truck.
brave-stoat-0315/12/2026
Get at least two quotes first. Seriously. Don't file anything until you know the actual number. If it's under your uncle's deductible, there's literally no point filing — you'd just be paying it out of pocket anyway AND flagging the policy.
daring-wolf-5825/12/2026
Practical question — are you physically okay? Hitting a pothole that hard at speed can do a number on your neck and back even if you don't feel it right away. Delayed soreness is really common. If anything feels off in the next few days, don't brush it off.
wise-fox-1615/12/2026
Depending on where this happened, you might actually have a claim against whoever maintains that road — city, county, or state. Potholes on public roads are sometimes the municipality's liability, especially if they had prior notice the storm caused damage and didn't post warnings or close the lane. It's worth documenting — photos of the pothole if it's still there, any news coverage of storm damage to that road, that kind of thing. Not saying it'll go anywhere, but it costs nothing to preserve the evidence.
quick-bison-0435/12/2026
Ugh, that sounds so stressful, especially when it's someone else's vehicle and you're trying to do right by them. Glad your uncle is being understanding. Hope you get some clear answers soon — the insurance stuff is genuinely confusing.
quiet-beaver-1835/12/2026
How deep was the puddle actually? I ask because if it was clearly a flooded section rather than just a pothole, that could shift how the claim is categorized — some policies treat 'road hazard' damage differently than they treat 'flood' or 'water damage.' Might be worth reading his policy's definitions before assuming it's covered under collision.