You know it's not a good night when...

[Shane]

:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

So about 8:00 pm this evening, the doorbell rings, sort of unusual on a January night in these parts. It's the neighbor who says "We've got a problem". :blink:

"We hit your garage" he says, and proceeds to explain (translating for his relative) how the car he and his relative were working on when I came home from work, had no brakes as they backed away from their garage, which faces mine. Apparently, they had been fixing the brakes, and had failed to pump them up before taking off, and of course, the beer I smelled didn't help the reflexes as much as one might hope.

The door is inoperable, the corner is blitzed off the foundation, and there was a goodly sized piece of the wallboard lodged in the rear bumper of his car. :blink:

Did I mention no car insurance?

As we were passing the time chatting about how to reconcile this, and waiting for the police to come and write it up, I was able to look on the bright side and told my neighbor, "at least your buddy hit that corner and not the other one. My FJR is on the other corner, and if that had been hit, I would be upset."

They appear to want to make it right, so now I've got to get it fixed and hope they pay up without a hassle.

Any suggestions?

Shane

 

[Rogue]

:trinibob: :trinibob: :trinibob: :trinibob: :trinibob: :trinibob: :trinibob: :trinibob: :trinibob:

 

[Rogue]

Seriously, just turn it over to your homeowners insurance and let them handle it.

 

[Fallen Jim Rides again]

Hmmm, lets see, relative required a translator, <_< hmmm poor mechanical skills, beer smell, no insurance :bigeyes: and all this in MN, in January, right? :detect:

Good luck.

Hope your homeowners is paid up.

If so let them deal with subrogation.

I am very glad the FJR was on the other side.

 

[kaitsdad]

Shane,

I've had to deal with a similar situation before - only the drunk hit a parked car in front of my house.

So - IMHO and FWIW

Contact your home owners insurance carrier immediately, and let them know what happened. I would suggest that you let your ins co handle the claim, and let them collect from the responsible party. This way you are protected, and you don't spend the next 4 months with plywood and two by fours instead of a garage.

The next time you see them doing mechanical work - GET THE FJR OUT OF THE GARAGE !! HIDE IT !!

Oh yeah - gonna post some pics?

 

[JimLor]

Take pictures and notes. Show them pictures of you gun collection.

 

[Shane]

At least I can work from home today, so here's some pictures for y'all.

As you can see, the garage needs a little help.

I should be getting an estimate this afternooon, and the insurance company knows the deal, should I choose to file a claim.

Here's my bill collector enforcement.........

and,

Just kidding, really.

Still not happy, but making the best of it.

Shane

 

[JimLor]

Nice collection!

 

[gr8eyes]

Hey I think your attitude is great, humor and all. Obviously its going to get fixed one way or another so you are making the best of it.

 

[Bounce]

+1 for turning it over to home owners insurance.

that's the only way to know for sure that it gets fixed right. let them worry about collecting from the neighbors. if they pay up as quickly as you would want them to, then they won't have any problems with your ins co. if they were planning on dragging their feet, then you get your garage fixed (right) and someone else can worry about that part of things.

 

[bikerskier]

Shane

Your situation may very well be a good candidate for a Homeowners Ins. claim, however, everyone should be fully aware of the Insurance industries process called C.L.U.E, which is the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Experience. This computerized database is widely used now to identify homeowners (and others) who attempt to defraud or abuse the system, using different names and addresses for claims. In fact, it has become a tool that underwriters commonly use now to increase premiums or even deny coverage to people who in their view are costing them money.

Every call to your agent or insurer to discuss a claim, whether or not you actually make the claim, can be recorded into the system and can be used against you in the future or against a Buyer of your property when you sell and they attempt to put insurance on the home at closing.

This not paranoia or black helicopters. I am in the Real Estate business and I regularly order CLUE reports for my Sellers and have listing agents provide me with CLUE reports for any listing that a Buyer of mine may be contemplating. It is particularly important for older homes and any homes that are in flood areas, or areas known to have had wind or storm damage or poor drainage.

We order most of our CLUE reports from www.choicetrust.com which has become a repository for information of various sorts.

My point is "think" before you call your agent.

 

[Geezer]

Well, considering that the corner of your garage is no longer on the supporting foundation, you are going to need some serious work to get things back to normal. I can't tell from the pictures how much weight is on that corner, but you might want to get some supports under the corner post as quickly as possible. That repair is not going to be inexpensive. The job needs to be done right, by someone who knows what he is doing.

Is your neighbor accepting responsibility or is he planning on having his uninsured friend take care of it? If the neighbor is taking responsibility then you should have an opinion regarding whether or not he is likely to be good for it.

 

[donaldb]

Heres a guess on the gun collection right to left: Marlin 22, Marlin 30-30, Remington 700 BDL (caliber unknown), 50 cal muzzle loader CVA maybe, Remington 1100 12 ga., cant make out the one on far left other than a bolt action, the one against the wall looks like a shotgun of some sort. Welp, How'd I do?

 

[Shane]

@donaldb,

Pretty good, here's the rundown, right to left:

Marlin .22 LR

Winchester model 94, 30-30

Remington 700 BDL, 300 Win mag

50 cal kit build from Cabelas

Franchi 20 ga. o/u

Stevens model 54 single shot .410

Smith and Wesson 12 ga.

Since this picture was taken, the 12 guage has been replaced by an old Mossberg 12 guage, and there is a Mark V Weatherby in 30.06 now added to the box.

Not visible in the picture are:

Smith and Wesson .357 "Highway Patrolman" revolver

Walther .22 LR pistol

Ruger Super Blackbird single action revolver in 44 mag

Fun

Shane

 

[toophast]

Ruger Super Blackbird

Do you mean Blackhawk? or was the pun intended?

 

[Shane]

Ruger Super Blackbird

Do you mean Blackhawk? or was the pun intended?

Oh yeah, Blackhawk. No pun intended.

Maybe a sign of a subliminal desire?

Shane

 

[Parachutist]

So that's where my gun collection went!

 

[motorgod]

That should do the trick!!

 

[Shane]

Well, it's fixed!

A couple of days, a friend or two, and a whole crew of friends of my neighbor (who do construction and siding for a living), a trip to the Depot, and the garage is back in fine shape! I even learned how to do vinyl siding, cool, since I had never done that.

The driver of the errant vehicle paid for everything I wanted, and even provided a celebratory case of Corona!

The only lingering thing is the top rail for the Garage door, but with time and a little more strategic beating with a hammer, it should be quite serviceable for years to come.

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Shane