A man narrowly escaped being crushed by a boulder that landed on the roof of his car after stepping out following a call from his girlfriend.

 Mauricio Henao was sitting inside his parked car, preparing to drive away when the hillside next to him began sliding, sending rocks and mud crumbling down onto the road.

Moments before it fell, his partner called to ask him to grab something from inside his house which turned out to be a potentially life-saving call.

Speaking to the local media Henato recalls hearing ‘loud crashes’ outside the along block of Pacific Coast Highway where he was parked, only to see a massive boulder virtually inside his car after completely destroying his roof to end in the driver’s side of the car.

Reflecting on the incident he relished his great fortune of avoiding that likely fatal catastrophe “I feel like I should play the Lotto.”

The smiling driver snapped a selfie with his destroyed vehicle, showing the boulder still sitting in the front seat.

But he added: “I’m pretty shook up. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll park here again after this. I’m a little traumatised by this whole ordeal.”

Describing his lucky save, he said: “My girlfriend called me and said, “Hey, can you get my bag that I left there” so I went back inside and I heard rumbling outside.”

Mud, rocks, and boulders, spread across four lanes of traffic on the roadway on Tuesday.

Fortunately, no one was hurt by falling rocks, although many other cars were damaged.

Another local whose SUV was also damaged while parked in his driveway, said: “I’m kind of glad my car was there. I don’t know if [the rocks] would have gone through the wall of the house and nailed me because my desk is right on the other side of that wall.”