Car Accident in Front Yard

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saladdin
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Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by saladdin »

There is about 50 feet of yard from my front porch to a local highway. A short time ago a drunk dude (cited for DUI) ran off the road, slid through this 50 feet of yard and finally stopped in my neighbors yard. I have no idea how he missed the massive Water Oak tree or light pole on the property. His skid marks come within about 10 feet from my house.

Ok, there is no real property damage. A couple of small ruts that don't bother me. But, there are dozens and dozens of plastic parts from bumpers, head lights etc... thrown around everywhere. This isn't a money grab but honestly, I'm too lazy to clean up the plastic pieces. Some range in size from a nickel to a poster board. I would say 50-75 total pieces.

Of course I don't want to do anything to trigger my home insurance but would like to have someone (that isn't me) just clean up the mess. I can easily pay nephews $20 to do it and be done with it but I would like to hear others input.

I have friend that works in the city that is getting me a copy of the accident report, if that matters.

I just want the mess cleaned up before mowing season. That's it.


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livesoft
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by livesoft »

File a claim with the car drivers insurance company. They will get rid of the ruts, too.
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Toons
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by Toons »

Speaking for myself ,I would clean up the mess ,a little each day ,and move on. :happy
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JLJL
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by JLJL »

You should start a post asking if it is better for your lawn to remove leaves before the spring or let them mulch. If it is #1, kill 2 birds with 1... rake.

I would demand remediation from the drunk driver though.
barnaclebob
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by barnaclebob »

OP says he doesn't mind the ruts and they don't look too bad. Pick up the plastic and move on, life happens. Having someone to come out and fix the issue has the possibility of making the current problem worse or creating a new one.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by ResearchMed »

livesoft wrote:File a claim with the car drivers insurance company. They will get rid of the ruts, too.
If this is a classic DUI, one-car accident, with no question about driver's liability (yes, yes, there can always be a question if it gets to court, etc., but assuming not), then this is what the insurance is for.

One possibility, call the insurer (driver/car, NOT your homeowners), and suggest a reasonable price to pay your nephews (don't stop at $20; that's not worth a phone call) OR you will hire professional lawn care and send them the bill.

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SimonJester
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by SimonJester »

saladdin wrote:I can easily pay nephews $20 to do it and be done with it but I would like to hear others input.
Life is short I'd go this route. You could hire a company, pay for the cleanup service, then file a claim against the DUI drivers insurance and this would be perfectly acceptable. It should have nothing to do with your HO insurance.

But to me I'd keep it simple and have the nephews do it. Young kids need money and work ethic right?
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Topic Author
saladdin
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by saladdin »

OP here.

Someone asked. It is clear case of DUI. He was charged and admitted to cops falling asleep (passing out) while driving.

Another twist, found out DUI dude was driving a friend's car. Not his car.

Probably just going to drop it. Too lazy to create drama but just never hurts to hear others opnions.

Thanks guys.
jstrazzere
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by jstrazzere »

" pay nephews $20 to do it and be done with it"

Assuming you can't (or don't want to) clean it up yourself, do that. Your time and aggravation is worth more than $20.
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N1CKV
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by N1CKV »

Regardless, the vehicle caused property damage including damage to your yard and deposited debris.
That's what liability insurance (on the car) is for. I don't see why any of the other details (intoxicated or not, friend's car, etc.) would make any difference.
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by Hawkeye_Saver »

jstrazzere wrote:" pay nephews $20 to do it and be done with it"

Assuming you can't (or don't want to) clean it up yourself, do that. Your time and aggravation is worth more than $20.
I agree. The ruts will be gone by fall and you said they don't bother you anyway. Life is too short to worry about something like the broken plastic. I'm sure your nephew wouldn't mind the $20 for 10 minutes of work anyway.
bberris
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by bberris »

Am I right in assuming a tow truck took the car away? In Louisiana the tow truck is responsible for cleaning up the debris, but they usually don't.
Gropes & Ray
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by Gropes & Ray »

I would hire a service to clean up the junk, and another to repair the ruts, and send the bill to his car insurance. I am probably more of a stickler for a nice lawn than most.
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saladdin
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by saladdin »

bberris wrote:Am I right in assuming a tow truck took the car away? In Louisiana the tow truck is responsible for cleaning up the debris, but they usually don't.
Yes it did.
The car's final resting place was actually my neighbors. The way it looks is he went through my yard and tried to drive away and only made it to the neighbors yard. Looks like some of the skids was driver backing up trying to get away.
I saw the car being loaded on the tow truck in the neighbors yard.

The pics don't do it justice. This guy was inches from killing himself and hitting by brick house.
Topic Author
saladdin
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by saladdin »

SimonJester wrote:
saladdin wrote:I can easily pay nephews $20 to do it and be done with it but I would like to hear others input.
Life is short I'd go this route. You could hire a company, pay for the cleanup service, then file a claim against the DUI drivers insurance and this would be perfectly acceptable. It should have nothing to do with your HO insurance.

But to me I'd keep it simple and have the nephews do it. Young kids need money and work ethic right?
I do agree. I'm a let live kinda guy since there was no real damage. The ruts bother me zero. The UPS guys cause more damage pulling through my drive (and I don't care about that either).

I just wanted to make sure of no unattended side effects like waking up my home insurer and wanted others thoughts in case I missed something.
Tamahome
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by Tamahome »

Contact the insurance company first. Tell them you need the ruts fixed and the debris cleaned up and you will go away. They will likely have a list of preferred companies they use and give you the contact and claim info. You contact the company who gets paid by the insurance company. Done deal.
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dratkinson
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by dratkinson »

+1

Can't hurt to check first. They might be willing to let you pay your nephew just to make you happy.

If all you have are small plastic pieces, would think setting a bagging mower to scalp the lawn would pick those up.

Pay nephew to pick large pieces, use mower to vacuum up small pieces, and shovel in ruts if needed. Submit claim to driver's insurance company.
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GoldenFinch
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by GoldenFinch »

Toons wrote:Speaking for myself ,I would clean up the mess ,a little each day ,and move on. :happy
I think it may be more work trying to go through the insurance companies than it would be just doing it yourself.

If it really bothers you to do it yourself, I vote for hiring the nephews. They will make a few bucks and you can take a few minutes when you pay them to educate them about the value of saving hard earned money, as well as the idiocy of drunk driving. :happy
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Christine_NM
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by Christine_NM »

^^ Finch said it. Tell them what happened and then let the nephews use their imagination about DUI and what would have happened if the tree got in the way.

Go over the yard yourself before you mow. Wear safety glasses when you do mow.

I sound like an ol' fuddy duddy today. :|
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Topic Author
saladdin
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by saladdin »

OP here.

Yea, just going to pass this to nephews.

I appreciate everyone's input.
Gill
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by Gill »

Insurance company will pay for it. Ask me how I know. Years ago my wife skidded off an icy road on to someone's lawn and put ruts on the lawn. There was no damage to our car or anything else. My insurance company paid the owner about $250 and my premium increased about $600 for three years. I was furious!
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likegarden
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by likegarden »

I would love to pick this up, need that exercise. After sitting at home all winter staring at snow I would need this picking up, all the knee and body bends would get me a little in shape for yard work. I bet you are already spending more time in thinking and writing about that, than picking it up yourself, probably will take only half an hour.
Flashes1
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by Flashes1 »

In the time it took to take the pictures and post here---couldn't you just pick up the plastic pieces? It doesn't seem like a big deal. More concerning, is a drunk driver can just come barreling thru your front yard.
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celia
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by celia »

Do you have a long enough power cord for the kids to vacuum up all the white junk that was left behind? :D :D
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rob
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by rob »

I would think about investing in some big a** landscape rocks for the front so the next one does not HIT your house :shock:
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dolphinsaremammals
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

I don't like ruts in the yard, so one way or the other I'd get rid of those. With the debris, if it's not picked up, I'd worry about the lawn mower throwing them through a window or a life form.

If you plan on filing a claim, I'd take photos first, but it looks like you've already done some of that.

And you can get concrete barrier posts across your yard if the road setup is such that this is likely to happen again.
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saladdin
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by saladdin »

Flashes1 wrote:In the time it took to take the pictures and post here---couldn't you just pick up the plastic pieces? It doesn't seem like a big deal. More concerning, is a drunk driver can just come barreling thru your front yard.
Yes I could. But as I said, I'm too lazy to clean up another person's mess. Now, you can come back and make some remark about me being lazy but I'll be too lazy to read it. If this had caused more damage or had hit something my mood would be different. The post was made as a way to get others opinions in case I missed something. I mean, how many people have first hand experience with a car almost hitting their house?
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saladdin
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by saladdin »

Gill wrote:Insurance company will pay for it. Ask me how I know. Years ago my wife skidded off an icy road on to someone's lawn and put ruts on the lawn. There was no damage to our car or anything else. My insurance company paid the owner about $250 and my premium increased about $600 for three years. I was furious!
Gill
Buddy just dropped off the accident report. The ruts were caused by another (innocent) driver who had to avoid the drunk and went off the road into the yard (my address is quoted in the report). So, I'm not going to do anything to cause this guy any hassle (or insurance hike). Besides, the drunk was also ticketed for no insurance.

So when it warms up, the nephews earn some bucks.

Thanks everyone. Sorry it wasn't more exciting like a hooker was found in the trunk.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by ResearchMed »

saladdin wrote:
Flashes1 wrote:In the time it took to take the pictures and post here---couldn't you just pick up the plastic pieces? It doesn't seem like a big deal. More concerning, is a drunk driver can just come barreling thru your front yard.
Yes I could. But as I said, I'm too lazy to clean up another person's mess. Now, you can come back and make some remark about me being lazy but I'll be too lazy to read it. If this had caused more damage or had hit something my mood would be different. The post was made as a way to get others opinions in case I missed something. I mean, how many people have first hand experience with a car almost hitting their house?
Not us, but "almost"... the new McMansion next door, with the fancy white fence (everyone else has a wood picket or stockade fence, or most no fence at all) in the past 5 years... THREE separate cars plowed right through that fence into their front yard.
One took out a small tree on the way in.

We heard each crash.
Two of them were "single car" events, or, at least, if there was another car involved, it didn't actually hit anything and was gone.

Now there are new owners, and maybe their luck will be better.

No one in the owners family was ever involved, and in each case, the driver survived. Safer cars these days, I guess.

Our house is much closer to the street.........

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Doom&Gloom
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by Doom&Gloom »

saladdin wrote:
Flashes1 wrote:In the time it took to take the pictures and post here---couldn't you just pick up the plastic pieces? It doesn't seem like a big deal. More concerning, is a drunk driver can just come barreling thru your front yard.
Yes I could. But as I said, I'm too lazy to clean up another person's mess. Now, you can come back and make some remark about me being lazy but I'll be too lazy to read it. If this had caused more damage or had hit something my mood would be different. The post was made as a way to get others opinions in case I missed something. I mean, how many people have first hand experience with a car almost hitting their house?

Possibly more than you think. A few years ago a lady drove her SUV through the middle of a small stand of trees in my front yard one evening. Somehow she missed every tree until the final one before she would have popped out the other side. Fortunately, she hit a big one squarely and came to a stop although she was still spinning her wheels in an effort to move forward. As I reached her, an off-duty cop who had seen it unfold as he had been traveling in the other direction, was already at her door trying to get her to cut the ignition.

I was convinced she was drunk, but it turned out she has a seizure disorder and apparently was having some sort of seizure. I'll stack my laziness up against anyone's, but we later made a couple of trips out there loading broken car parts into plastic buckets to dispose of. My lawn-mowing was interrupted a few times by having to stop to pick up another piece. Eventually the debris all got picked up, and the ruts eventually resolved on their own.

No big deal for us. And it gave us an interesting story to tell as well as to ponder how lucky that we, our neighbors, and the oncoming off-duty cop had been. The looks on the faces of different responding officers and their asking, "How in the world did this happen?" was priceless.
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baw703916
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by baw703916 »

I'd suggest creating a replica of the Dogtown and Babson Boulder Trail close to your front property line. It would negate the momentum of any errant vehicles and also convey some good Boglehead wisdom "Keep Out of Debt".
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saladdin
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by saladdin »

OP here. I know you have more to worry about then my "accident scene" but I took a photo.
It warmed up so we cleaned up some pieces. This is only some of it.

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BrandonBogle
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by BrandonBogle »

Last Thanksgiving I had a similar incident, but the wreck occurred in my yard. One of the neighbor's kids "looked down momentarily" and went full speed through one fence/gate, across the yard (gf was letting the dog out and literally jumped out of the way of the car and the dog ran back into the house and upstairs to his bedroom cowering in fear), took out the mailbox, and crashed head-on to a tree on the opposite side of the yard and the adjoining fence. No ruts, so he never hit the breaks - the tree stopped him. I heard the crash and call 911 before even stepping out the house. Kid was banged up, but ok. Family quickly came and the car had to be towed away.

I asked the father what he wanted me to do since there would be repairs to the property, but I understand it was an accident and want to be neighborly. He said to go ahead and file against his son's insurance because the car would create a claim anyway. USAA was slow, but didn't object to anything. I even did some stuff myself (like replace the mailbox and post) and submitted an expense report of the IRS mileage for me to go buy the mailbox and post and time @ $20/hr. They didn't flinch at all and paid everything without any fuss. Total was only around $1k (the fence guy replaced both corner fences for $750. rest was mailbox and tree disposal since half the tree collapsed the next day, almost hitting our car). In the end, I would have been fine doing this out of insurance if he preferred. Easy to move on after nobody ended up hurt. Now, if my gf or the dog actually got hit, that would have been a different story.

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cherijoh
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by cherijoh »

BrandonBogle wrote:Last Thanksgiving I had a similar incident, but the wreck occurred in my yard. One of the neighbor's kids "looked down momentarily" and went full speed through one fence/gate, across the yard (gf was letting the dog out and literally jumped out of the way of the car and the dog ran back into the house and upstairs to his bedroom cowering in fear), took out the mailbox, and crashed head-on to a tree on the opposite side of the yard and the adjoining fence. No ruts, so he never hit the breaks - the tree stopped him. I heard the crash and call 911 before even stepping out the house. Kid was banged up, but ok. Family quickly came and the car had to be towed away.

I asked the father what he wanted me to do since there would be repairs to the property, but I understand it was an accident and want to be neighborly. He said to go ahead and file against his son's insurance because the car would create a claim anyway. USAA was slow, but didn't object to anything. I even did some stuff myself (like replace the mailbox and post) and submitted an expense report of the IRS mileage for me to go buy the mailbox and post and time @ $20/hr. They didn't flinch at all and paid everything without any fuss. Total was only around $1k (the fence guy replaced both corner fences for $750. rest was mailbox and tree disposal since half the tree collapsed the next day, almost hitting our car). In the end, I would have been fine doing this out of insurance if he preferred. Easy to move on after nobody ended up hurt. Now, if my gf or the dog actually got hit, that would have been a different story.

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Looked down momentarily - yeah right! The kid was texting no doubt. Hopefully he learned his lesson - that could easily have been a fatal "accident".
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BrandonBogle
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Re: Car Accident in Front Yard

Post by BrandonBogle »

cherijoh wrote:Looked down momentarily - yeah right! The kid was texting no doubt. Hopefully he learned his lesson - that could easily have been a fatal "accident".
Not that I disagree with you, but "looked down momentarily to change radio station" is what's in the police report.
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