This is the inside view of the temporary repairs my son and I did to support the Garage door header.

 

The skid mark tells the story - she somehow got off to the right and came in a bit of an angle - the skid started when she threw the Exterra into "Park". If she hadn't, the Z would probably be fully pushed into the house and she may not have been around to feel bad about the whole thing. FYI - we are fine (wife and I and marriage will survive this just fine) - the son & I went looking @ c5 vettes just to speed my own healing process - I know, I should stay with the Z - but it does make me feel better to go out and car shop a bit.

 

Top row left is my daughter - (Exterra daily driver - took my Jeep Cherokee front end out ~ 5 years ago - good driver since) - has serious boyfriend who asks for the Z keys when they come to visit.
Top row 3rd from right - My son (no accidents! good golfer - really good ice hockey forward - not that I'm proud or anything).
Top row 2nd from right - Me
Cute person on far right, middle row - my wife ("notches"
include my old Lebaron convert rear fender + mailbox (damn blind spot), and of course, this little incident (older forum members will remember Audi "unintended accelleration" issue of the '70's)
Bottom row - other relative's little headaches

As all of you have correctly said - nobody's hurt, car's and house parts can be replaced. I wouldn't trade any of these people for a million bucks - but at this rate I'll be working forever to keep paying for these ocassional little "oops" events.

 

Maybe you guys should sell everything and get a couple of Volvo's.. J/K!
Glad to hear everyone is ok and you're not totally pissed off.
Accidents happen and this one's a doozie!

 

Glad the people are okay. Sucks about the damage to the cars and your property. I'm sure you had a family discussion already; hope you came up with some rules to help avoid this stuff in the future. Again, glad everybody's okay.

 

so how long has the wife been driving?

 

Since 16! This is the first accident of any consequence - just a freak occurance.

 

Sorry to hear about this little accident. Thank G-d that everyone is ok and only the SUV, garage, Z, ladder and wall were hurt (wow, thats a long list). All of that can be fixed in no time.

 

You're the man.

Hope everything works out for you.

 

You sound like a real nice guy. Just make sure there is a lesson learned form this.

 

bummer - that is the worst scenario when you hit your own car and then on top of it demolish the house - ughhhh... I bet insurence companies love you after this....

 

you know... in like ten years over a hot cup of joe and sitting on your porch.. you will look back upon this and have a good laugh with your wife..

its not she did it intentionally... stuff happens.

good thing your insurance agent is cool ... best of luck

 

Your wife is a VERY lucky woman.
If I did that to my husband's 350Z, I wouldn't be alive for very long.
There wouldn't be a place on this earth I could hide from him either... He'd find me....

¤'´`'¤Steph¤'´`'¤

 

You can believe that my dear! For those wondering that's my wife. Her pic is in my avatar.

 

Sir, you should win the Nobel Peace Prize for grace and humility under such dire circumstances.

 

I agree with DBZ !!! My question is this:

So, who did State Farm find at fault ?

You
Wife
Kid
or the House for not trying to avoid an accident ?

 

Yes I must admit you're a wonderfully patient husband. You definately deserver some husband of the year award.

 

Man, that is some kind of record. She took out:

• 2 vehicles
• garage door
• 2 walls in your house
• front of your house
• ladder



My wife was in an accident and took out 5 vehicles, plus her own.

 

Holy moly. You are a much nicer, patient, understanding, well-balanced person than I am or ever could hope to be. My hubby knows he would at least have gotten a couple of punches.

 

My thanks to everyone who posted to this thread, it really has helped me stay cool.


The damage:

Cost to repair my poor Z: $11,500 (less than I guessed). Cost to repair the Exterra: $4,500 (way more than I guessed as it was driveable - body shop says plastic grill parts were hiding a lot of damage- a/c condenser, front structural elements, etc.) Repair time - Exterra 2 to 3 weeks My Z 5 to 6 weeks. House damages yet to be priced out, but the restoration company seems to be really good and had a person out Saturday to get the garage door up (to remove our unhurt minivan and then sealed down to keep critters out.

Next on my agenda is a conversation with State Farm on "diminished value". The body shop guy (approved by State Farm) advised that on a total loss, I would have got a check for just under $30k (based on retail). The Nissan salesmanager (same dealership group as body shop) advises that he would have allowed minimum of $27k in trade for a new Z if in undamaged condition. After repairs he will only be able to go $20k because all the repairs will need to disclosed to any (even wholesale) buyer and the car will be very hard to sell, even if it comes out comestically near perfect. By the way, I agree that such work should be disclosed - but in my eyes I am about to take a $10k bath - would you be confident running through the gears, cornering agressively given the amount of damage and the unknown factor of possible hidden damage/weakened components with no outward sign of damage? I bought this vehicle to enjoy it. I need to take a few fresh test drives and the will figure out whether I'm headed back to a new Z (I hate the idea of buying into tire feathering when a suspension redesign may be coming in 6? months)or something else (2004 Corvette @ invoice or better and a good sounding BOSE may be tempting).

Time to cancel the extended warranty and will possibily post a one week old set (4) of Blizzak WS50's and beautiful Milemgla alloys with 2 whole weeks on them. Peace.