A car smashed into our rental property!

[Christine Glasner]

Okay, so I get home yesterday and there is a message on my phone from my stepdaughter. "Christine, you might want to check out Facebook. There is a picture on there with a car crashed through the front of a house and it look likes dad's brown house." I checked my husband's phone and low and behold, there is a text from our tenant that some guy crashed his truck into the house.

So I wake up my husband (he works nights) and he rushes over there. The county inspector has condemned the house due to structural damage. The Salvation Army is putting up our tenants in a hotel until the end of the week. Thanks god the bottom of the house was only used for storage and the tenats rented the apartment upstairs. They are ok, the driver is ok, his dog got hurt.

I called my insurance company and was told to get the police report and put in a claim on the driver's auto insurance. That's on today's list of things to do as well as inventory everything that got damaged, several antiques were being stored there.

We have taken some pictures and will take more tomorrow. Cracks go all he way up to the roof and to the other 2 corners of the building We have it boarded up now. We are wondering how this will work from here. Does anyone have any experience with such a situaion?

[Mike H.]

Wait. Why are you having to put in a claim on the driver's insurance? You should be able to work with your insurance company and let them go fishing to get the refund back from the driver's insurance. I'd push back a little on them and tell them that you're paying them the money to cover stuff. Its up to them to work out the refund with the driver's auto insurance. Not sure if thats correct, but I would try that one first just because it would make things a lot easier on you.

I'd also probably get a contractor out there right away to start working on the estimate. Also, I'd be sure to check your insurance policy and see if you've got loss of rents covered in your policy. You need to be able to get that money coming in.

In a way, this may be a blessing in disguise. Nobody was hurt and now you can get your house updated now.

I've never had something like this happen but I have had a fire. In that case, the insurance company sends an adjuster out to take pics. Then you have to have an "approved" contractor come out and put together an estimate. And it is one of the most expensive rehabs you'll likely ever see. These guys charge double to triple what the prices should be.

Good luck with that one though. If you ever had any thoughts of adding a garage door to the place, now would be the time to do it. They already cut out the opening for you. :-)