I'd also get a couple of landscapers' opinions on restoring your landscaping. Mature shrubs and trees are expensive, and they do add value to your home. You might find that the re-landscaping costs are 1/4 to 1/2 of the amount you've already been quoted for house repairs.

Good luck!

Sorry this happened to you.
How did they drive away when you had that much damage?
You would think it would be totaled.

We're having 1 landscaper give a quote - the same one that gave us a quote when a car hit our wisteria tree out front on the other side of our house yrs. ago :O). It's mostly lawn, daylillies and a rose bush that we'll get a quote on.

Roselvr,

He basically hit the porch at just the right angle w/ a lot of speed. The Jeep was at a dead stop in front of another car (domestic dispute) and then he floored it tried to go out around the car stopped in front of him and ended up coming up onto our property w/ alot of momentum (there are tiremarks all over our yard and sidewalk). It was a Jeep Cherokee and he hit the 1st wall by the steps that 2 of the columns rested on, smashed that wall and snapped the stone platform that the columns were on in 1/2, drove over the steps hitting the wall on that side of the steps ripping out that stone platform and those 2 pillars which then shoved the porch banister so hard into the end column that it partially dislodged that column and created a vertical split in it on both sides from top to bottom so 1/2 of the column is lower than the other 1/2 dropping the porch roof down a few inches on that end. That wall ended up shoving into the rest of the foundation causing cracks in the mortar and crushing and dislodging stone. He came down off the the other side of the steps but like one of the contractors explained all of the old houses in our area were built so tightly and solidly that it was like a chain reaction and everything shifted. Everything about the front porch was original to the house so all of the woodwork (columns and banisters) are now pretty much custom pieces nowadays. They will salvage what they can but it will all need sandblasted to repaint.

Ironically the damage to the Jeep was pretty much damage to the headlight casing and the underneath part of his bumper cut ripped off and is on my porch.

The crash was so loud that all of my neighbors up and down the street came out. The fire department and police made us leave the house until the Code guy came out to make sure that the house itself was safe for us to go back in.

I've always sworn by Jeeps!

Gawd I wish you all the luck in the world and hope you are able to get the repairs made to your satisfaction - you certainly SHOULD be fully reimbursed. But...... a few years ago my DH was driving his work vehicle (a big, heavy crew cab 4WD pickup) and a woman backed out of her driveway so fast, without looking and hit him so hard it knocked the back end of his truck up on the curb! Her insurance was Allstate. Their first line of defense of their insured was to tell my DH hs was 50% responsible "because he was driving at that moment." I kid you not. So following that line of reasoning don't be surprised to hear that your house is built in the wrong place so you are 50% liable! It was a huge battle, he never did get fully reimbursed and ended up eating a portion of the repair. As I said - I wish you all the luck in the world. Maybe it will be different for you because you are the insured - I hope so.

Well I just got home from work and found this lovely notice taped to my back door (because of course I can't get to my front door w/o crawling over rubble): 'LEGAL NOTICE (blah, blah, blah) all persons cease, desist from and STOP WORK at once to construction, alterations or repairs to these premises'. Reason? No permit. HUH? Are they seriously kidding me?! I don't know what this particular code enforcement officers beef is w/ us (she's tried writing us up in the past but when we've challenged her and tried to make her show us proof she's admitted that she's never even gotten her fat-you-know-what out of her car) but doesn't she even realize that her friggin' boss was the one who came down when it happened?!!!!! That office will never open fast enough for me tomorrow.

dlm, we'll see how this all pans out because first our HO insurance covers the repairs to our house and then they sue the insurance of the owner of the Jeep, which wasn't the person that was driving. At least the owner is insured according to the police. It was her lunatic ex-boyfriend stalking her that cut her off in her Jeep, got in the Jeep and kidnapped her (hitting my house in the process) and tried to kill both her and then himself w/ a pair of scissors! Kicker? HE DID THE SAME THING LAST YEAR!

A couple things to think about...

First, the minimum auto insurance coverage in PA for property damage is something like $10K. I would be surprised if this guy has more than that. So his insurance is only going to pay that $10K to your insurance...your insurance is on the hook for over that. And if they end up stiffed, your premiums might go up. Yes it's unfair. But I'd ask up front about that, before you get too far down the road.

Second, I'd be surprised if they pay to put the porch back exactly like it was. Unless you have a super spankin' top of the line insurance policy (generally offered for historic homes where the millwork is custom and hard to replace), they're going to fight tooth and nail to just build it to "standard workmanship" - meaning a concrete block foundation, standard off-the-shelf columns and balusters, etc. You can try to get what you want, but I wouldn't be surprised if you get big pushback. We used to live on Swede Rd in a 200 year old former-mill that was about 6 ft off the road. While we lived there, a car hit the stone wall in front of the house and demolished part of it - his auto insurance paid to fix and we had a friend of ours who was a mason do the work. But after we sold it, a landscaping truck skidded out and took out aqbout 100 ft of wall and the corner of the porch. They fought with the insurance for about 3 years before they got the wall rebuilt - the insurance company pushed back hard against paying for the stone wall to be rebuilt using the original stones. And I think they ended up using new columns and new porch floor that wasn't an exact replica of the original.

You can go in demanding what you want from the insurance company, but realistically, I doubt you'll get it, and the process of fighting them could take years. And yes, I know that sucks because it totally wasn't your fault that any of this happened (but having been on the victim end in more than a few auto accidents, I've learned that insurance companies pretty much don't care.) Since you're planning to sell the house anyway, maybe this is the time where you pick your battles (definitely hold out for the paint job, but maybe give up on the custom millwork and just do everything new with standard components).

Good luck!

lkplatow - I know where you used to live! Talk about a small world. Good to know about the auto insurance. I will try to find out. Thanks for the information - I just went over it w/ DH on the phone. Very helpful- thanks!

DH asked straight up what the repercussions might be on our end, specifically regarding potential of our premiums going up. I know that our house is insured for quite a bit due to much of the historic stuff (specifically all of the stained glass). I discussed w/ one of the contractors where I would be willing to give and DH said that he's worked w/ public adjusters when he's given ins. est. for furniture and cabinetry damaged by fire or flood. He said they take 10% of what they get for you from ins. but if the difference may be $10K he said he'll do it.

I just read that the Historical Architectural Review Board just went into effect this yr. in town and from reading over the rules and regulations it seems as though they are saying that even if your home is visible to a HARB district that it may fall under more scrutinized review for any repairs, additions, anything. I have to go and check but I think that we fall w/in very close view of a HARB district.

Re the painting: one phrase to know and use is "line of sight", or "line of vision". You are entitled to have anything within the line of sight repainted to match the fixed area. We had that with the front of our house. (We have to do the sides and back, but the entire front facade was repainted because of the relatively few new pieces of siding that had to be installed).

Well that was unexpected! Ins. sent us a check for exactly what it would take to repair the porch to exactly what it was before! Custom milling (which in this day and age it all has to be custom milled) and all! They emphatically stated w/ no repercussions to our policy.