Car Drove Into My Rental Property

[Karen Johnson]

Good day,

I will be researching other posts on this topic as well, but appreciate any help I can get.

Tenant texted me last night to say that someone drove their car into my rental property on Saturday night. Would have been great to know about this on Saturday when it happened, but not much to be done about that now. Tenant has the individual's contact information and is in the process of filing a police report, he says. There was a passenger in the car who was seriously injured, taken to hospital and requires surgery. Not sure what the circumstances were. Our house is set back from the street and has a driveway. They somehow drove all the way to the house, knocked down a pillar for the upstairs porch, drove into security door, shattering the glass and bending twisting the metal framing, and also broke the downspout on our drainage system. I obtained a phone number and an address for the driver from my tenant, as well as pictures of the damage and of the vehicle in question along with license plate. I have no idea if this person has insurance. 

What are my next steps here? I presume I should call my insurance company in case this individual has no or low converge. Do I take ownership of getting the police report filed? Do I contact the driver of the vehicle? Do I need a public adjuster? I've never been in a situation like this before so any and all advice is welcomed.

Thank you.

[Nathan Grabau]

I would contact local law enforcement and your insurance. Depending on what insurance you have, they might cover the costs for the property and then go after the driver and his/ her insurance to recover the cost of the damages to your property. I would remember that your insurance works for you, and you are at no fault in the situation. I have had similar situations with our car insurance for my family's roofing company where they prefer that we submit the claim through them, then they pursue who is at fault to recover their costs. It is much better for you to have your insurance pursue their insurance as opposed to you having to do that.