Last week, our neighbor (whose driveway and our yard share a boundary) accidentally drove her car into our house, took a chunk out of it, hitting our gas line. Luckily, we were home at the time. She appeared confused (per my husband, I did not talk to her) so I am not sure if she would have called 911 had we not been here. I can only hope, had she not, someone would have smelled the gas leak and called 911. We had to evacuate the house with our dogs and could not go back in until the gas line was capped.
We have had contractors out to make repairs and our insurance will be pursuing their insurance to cover the damage.
About two years ago, something similar happened. She did not veer as far to the right with her car and did not hit our house, but hit a wall on her property and plowed over some of our bushes and dented our trash cans. We did not file any reports, which in hindsight may have been a mistake.
Her adult children have been around. Her car is no longer in the driveway. It likely is just out for repairs. But she is still living alone. And, frankly, we are scared this could happen again and to a scarier degree (hitting one of us? more house damage? another gas leak, when our dogs are home alone?) And also, I worry she may hurt someone else out on the road, not just in her own driveway. When the cops were here, we let them know something similar happened before and another time she left the house with eggs on the stove and alarms started to go off.
Is there anything we can do? Any options? I feel like we are at the mercy of her children. The first time, she claimed it was because, in her new car, she had a hard time determining if she is in reverse or drive. She offered little explanation this time and barely an apology.
My husband spoke with neighbor and daughter after it happened, and daughter was a bit hostile and resistant initially to providing insurance information. So, I doubt a discussion about her mother’s driving will go better.