Wow, that is an amazing story... Good news for you and I guess also for that poor women.
So whose insurance company pays for it. Your house or his car.
I on the other hand have had a very quiet Sunday, still in my PJ's.

Good grief what a morning you had!!!!!! Not only will you get a new porch but that poor woman will have peace of mind and a chance at a real life. Thank God he was caught. Take before and after pictures so we can appreciate how it looked.

Holy cow, what a story!!!

I need a new porch too. How can I get that couple to come have an argument in front of MY house?

Your ugly porch probably saved a life this morning! Poor lady. Hope she gets out of that situation and stays out.

Thirteen years ago, we owned a Taurus station wagon that we bought because we were taking care of someone. Well, that someone went back to where they came from and we had nothing but trouble with that car. We had next to no money to fix it with and it was in need of a new transmission and a catalytic converter. Then, when my daughter drove it to work one day, it began to smoke. She pulled over and ran into a nearby bakery to call her Dad. When she came back out, there was a crowd around the now-burning car and a man was trying to put out the fire with an extinguisher. It was totalled.
Yahoo!

Congratulations on beginning a new porch project.

Red

Truth is stranger than fiction!

I'm glad that no one in your family was out on the porch and that they are ok.

As DH came in through the front after taking it all in I was coming in through the back. We were at opposite ends of the entry hall and I swear it was almost like the end scene of a romantic movie. You know: the one where the couple is running slo mo across the beach at sunset w/ arms wide open to embrace each other as the credits roll. We hugged and I swear I saw a tear in DH's eye. DH and I are famous for saying the exact same thing at the same time and when we hugged we both said "We got a new front porch!".

And yes - please let that woman have common sense enough to GET OUT!!! She was lucky this time that our porch foiled his plans.

Holy cow is right. The Lord had a reason for your not getting that new porch until His time. Thank God and your porch for her life being saved. I too hope she carries on the rest of her life away from the abusive husband.

I'm gonna need a youtube video.
NOT of the crazy guy in the jeep hitting the porch. But the romantic ending where the two gorgeous young lovers run towards each other in slow-motion.
Please tell me he touched your face ever so gently and looked deep into your eyes........

Love it!

God is amazing on how He used a broken down porch to save a life and catch a potential killer - saved this guy from eternal damnation too. Maybe he will see the light while he spends time behind bars. And gave you a new porch!

So do you have a before and after picture of the porch?

Glad there wasn't anybody on the porch when it happened, too.

We had a similar (though not as dramatic thing) happen to us a couple of years ago. Roof was getting to that stage where it really needed replacing but it wasn't in our budget. We got a huge wind storm in our area that forced the issue and meant our homeowner's insurance paid for it.

What an incredible story. I'll never forget it. Everyone involved comes out better off than they had been before, including the perpetrator. And you will be supporting the local economy too!

Excellent story -- and brillant ending to an almost-tragic tale!

Well done on the new porch! :)

Time for a Porch Party!

Jan

That's quite the story and I hope this lady will be safe and this man will be kept for a long time. All's well that ends well and I am happy that no one in your home was harmed, and that you are getting the porch fixed. Gosh, you deserve it because you and your family were at risk to great harm had that vehicle come into your house.

About 1-1/2 years ago, hit-and-run our mailbox (which was brick), ran over our rosebed (which is stacked 3-feet high with concrete pavers), went over that and hit and took out 3 very old and tall crape myrtles before turning into our driveway within 8 feet of our bedroom and speeding away. Several people saw the end of the occurrence, but no one was able to identify the vehicle, except a dark truck and no one was able to get the tag number. It happened at 2 a.m. so by the time we got dressed, we were unable to read any numbers as it was very foggy as was the case with several neighbors who heard it and got up but the driver was speeding away. He apparently had some injuries as he totally destroyed a huge big brick mailbox and not one brick was unbroken and they were strewn for 500-300 feet. The local ER's could not give us that information as it is confidential, not even to the police department and one of the body shops in our area has questionable mafia connections, so they probably fixed his vehicle.

Our insurance deductible is pretty high so it was not covered, but it makes me wonder after hearing your story if there might have been something larger involved than just a hit-and-run because of intoxication or speeding.

WOW! I did not expect that when I opened this thread. I'm glad everyone is ok! Happy to hear you're getting your new front porch but what a way to have that happen!

Wow...what a great story and thread. Thanks for sharing. Divine intervention, indeed!

Glad everyone is safe.

Do you have a before (before the accident) photo to show us?

I do have a before picture and the after pics aren't loaded yet but I will post them.

DH and his construction buddies just got done shoring (? proper spelling?) up the front. I guess the news gets better!

They had all been in the process of planning out re-doing our front porch for the past 2 yrs now in the least expensive but pretty way using lattice and matching brick for the foundation, ripping new porch boards themselves and repairing the column. Closer inspection of the 2 shattered columns shows that they may actually be repairable as they split vertically up the natural seems. They are larger than standard columns so if we went that route we'd have to replace all 8 but we think DH can take the 3 to work and fix them. I'd always thought that they were solid but I guess not! I forgot that insurance companies don't care who you have do the work - they just send a check after one of their guys comes to inspect it. Hopefully we can save a bundle by doing the work ourselves, save some, and role over the rest into our tiny kitchen reno and put the house on the market earlier than planned!!!!! We'll see where the hole in the roof falls in to all of that. We have a family member that does roofing too but we've just never had the money since having kids and the hole was over an eave. The only thing better could be that windstorm someone else mentioned that hit their roof!!!! Okay - I take that back - I don't want to ish for too much and jinx it all.

I'd forgotten how the whole insurance thing works. Our homeowners ins. will take care of it and then they ill go after the driver (their ins. has already been verified as current). Our ins. promised ours wouldn't go up. We had a similar incident about 8yrs. ago when someone just missed our porch and took out a tree that we hated in our front yard. They had a check in the mail w/in days.

Could our needed home improvements be done faster than imagined and at little cost to us?!

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I'm outta here!

Years ago, our mini van rolled down our driveway and took out a huge pine tree that belong to our neighbor, but was one of many that separated our properties. I think our insurance company gave them $350-$500 for the cost of a new tree. Instead, they put in a puny tree, and used the rest to re-landscape their yard.

I love that! Just think if you had spent the 5K, and THEN they hit it - how ticked off would you be!? lol

Oh my gosh Ttodd, sweetie what a story! Isn't it just amazing how things work out sometimes? This one is a mind blower. Thank heavens nobody was seriously hurt. Looks like the gal who was intended to be his vidtim wins, and you win, and he deserves jail. Congratulations on your new porch-to-be!

Now you KNOW we need pictures. Tell us you took sa bunch today?

ttodd, fascinating story! Sounds like a win-win for everyone (except the would be murderer). Let's hope he gets what he deserves. Congratulations on the new porch and whatever else you can renovate with the ins money :)
I guess I missed the memo on "blue porch ceilings". Why are so many of us fond of blue porch ceilings? I love blues so I'm sure I would I would be fond too :) I don't think I've ever seen one but this is the second time in a month I've read about them. I'm having a terrible time with Swallows building their messy mud nests on my front porch. This has been an on going battle for 20 years. And for 20 years, they've kicked my butt! (lol) Those little suckers do NOT give up :o We're doing a major porch renovation that includes a stained v-groove ceiling. I asked the the bird watching forum for some tips on how to discourage these birds from making such a mess on my front porch (bird poop, mud splatters) Most were appalled that I didn't relish bird poop on my new tile and mud splattered all over the place but one of the suggestions for keeping them away was to paint the ceiling blue. No one knew if it actually worked tho. Do light blue porch ceilings coordinate with any color brick or wood home? If I knew for a fact it worked to keep the birds from building, I'd gladly forgo the v-groove (and the expense) and paint my porch ceiling blue :)
Monica

ttodd, I am so happy things worked out for you. What a story to tell your grandkids. monicakm, try a plastic snake first. I've reaad it works.

Monicakm,

Here's an article re. blue porch ceilings.

Here is a link that might be useful: Why So Blue? Color Graces Many a Porch Ceiling

Ok, my head first goes to..thank God nobody in your family was out on the porch at the time! Yikes!!

Great news about the new porch :)

My parent's were in bad need of a new roof last spring. But, way more then they could fork out. Then..the hail storm hit! $500 deductible...but, a 9K rook :)

Great story!

We too, had a wind/hailstorm a few weeks ago, and our ins. paid us for a new 9K roof, that needed replacing anyway. No questions asked.

Glad everyone is safe and sound.

That sure was some 'silver lining' for you and your DH. I'm still chuckling while rereading your OP. WTG!

And yes...hope she gets the h*ll out of that domestic situation.

One thing re insurance: I never would have expected this, but they did try to railroad us (when the tree fell on our house and got us a new roof) into using their preferred provider. The estimate from that person (who "works with the company all the time") was HUGE for much lower end materials--basically he'd pocket the rest, and we knew how much profit he'd be skimming from our project because of our research abilities acquired from previous home improvement projects--guess they're counting on folks being ignorant. We played along as if we'd use him until we got the check, then went with our own people. When they realized we weren't going with their little scheme, suddenly the negotiations for needed additions (which had been "just call and we'll add it) got a LOT tougher and basically illogically declined. Thank goodness we'd gotten the bulk of what we needed beforehand.

Lesson: Play your cards close to your chest if a 'preferred provider' comes on the scene. This was USAA, too, which we'd always thought was above such scheming.

flyleft: It seems USAA has gone downhill in the insurance dept. We had a very similar experience but unfortunately (due to lack of time, knowledge, etc.) went with their provider for our roof fix. Hubby kept insisting that USAA didn't tolerate bad providers and that we'd be fine. Well, the job is definitely sub-par. Not godawful but definitely not the best job either.

Yes, we complained to USAA and even withheld the payment until some things were fixed but there were still things that should have been better.

ttodd, thanks for the link to article about blue ceilings. I also did a google image search for "blue porch ceilings" and found many many lovely pictures of blue ceilings :) Our home is a brick ranch. I can't wait to see your porch when the renovations are completed :)
Monica

I am so happy for you . . . and for that gal, too!! I'd love to see the post-crash Before pics and am hoping you'll keep us posted as the new porch goes up (up? In? ON?) LOL!
Lynn

Ttodd,
So glad that it worked out for both of you girls involved!!
And (I'm thinking I have you correct) it will help when you sell your house:)

Smiles:)

What a story! How big will your porch be? I didn't know this at the time but when they built our new porch a few months ago, which is kind of large, they built it at a very slight slant so all rain water will run off. Even though it has a roof, when it snows or the rain blows on it, it's really nice to not have standing water!

How funny! My parents also had their roof replaced (or are in the process) after a hail storm hit their area.

pbrisjar, I forwarded your post to DH...I'm sorry you all experienced that and it does corroborate what happened to us. I thought that was only for "other" companies, not USAA. I will say that dealing with the car repairs (the tree fell on our car too--it was BIG) was a breeze, wonderful, no problem at all. Also through USAA. We had thought maybe it's just that one adjuster, or maybe just the house repairs part...we thought about it and there's got to be massive $$$ to be made ripping people off in their moment of crisis. Just so no one misunderstands, I'm talking flat out lies in quotes about the costs of very specific researchable materials, and inflated labor rates like I've never seen. It's got to be a scam. All accompanied by "I'm so sorry this happened to you -- we specialize in making it right" garbage.

Thank goodness your family was safe inside the house and NOT on the porch. That is one hell of a story!

What a story, you can't make this stuff up. lol

Dying to see your new porch.

So glad everyone involved is OK. Domestic violence is such a scary thing -- but in this case it sounds like justice is in the process of being done, the woman is safe, and you're getting a new porch, so it all works out!

Wow! That is truly amazing how no one was hurt. I'm so happy you and your family were safe inside. And I hope your new porch turns out as perfectly as you have always imagined. : )

Diana