EXETER — On March 8, Erin Shriver, a military wife and mother, was having a normal evening, getting her six children ready for bed.
Around 7 p.m., she heard the sound of skidding tires and a loud bang outside her Linden Street home. A driver with multiple drunken driving convictions fleeing police had crashed into the family's 2011 Honda Pilot that was parked in the driveway, totaling it.
“Other nights, that’s when I’m taking my kids out of the car,” Shriver said. “Thankfully that happened to be a night we weren’t going out… I’m glad that we weren’t hurt but it had cost us in a whole lot of other ways."
The crash has put a new burden on her shoulders. It destroyed the Pilot and three child car seats inside. It also damaged her fence and garage.
Her husband, Andrew Shriver, is in the U.S. Army and is currently deployed to Poland.
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Finding a car with enough room to fit all six children and three car seats is now her main priority. The Shriver's SUV was insured, but she only received the fair market value of $12,000. That is nowhere close to the prices of SUVs or a minivan in the market.
To help make up the difference, Shriver set up a GoFundMe page.
Shriver said the Pilot was an efficient vehicle that fit her whole family and was paid off. The family hadn't planned on a new car loan.
"This has been a very hard year on my children who already miss their deployed father, and witnessing this accident out of our front window was very traumatic for them," Shriver said.
It's not just the money, it's a problem of logistics.
“The problem is that my (Honda Pilot) had a back row and fits eight,” she said. “The new Pilots that they make do not have a back row. So in order to have an SUV like our (Honda Pilot), I’d have to go up into another pay range.”
Car prices are skyrocketing because of delays in the supply chain, in part due to a shortage of microchips, necessary for manufacturing.
The family is currently on a waiting list for a Honda Odyssey, scheduled for a May delivery.
Without a car, Shriver has to run day-to-day errands on foot and by bike. Luckily, most shops are within walking distance.
With small children, she worries about not having wheels in case any emergencies come up.
But she has managed to keep a sense of humor.
“In the meantime, I was able to find a cargo bike. It has a bucket on the front where I can put my kids in. So I at least have something faster than a stroller and my legs,” Shriver said with a laugh.
Over the past 15 years, the Shrivers have moved eight times. In 2020, she and her family moved to Exeter from Washington, D.C., hoping that this would be their last stop.
Although she moved to Exeter almost two years ago, she never really got the chance to make friends because of the COVID-19 lockdown.
The one bright side of the accident, she said, is that it has shown her what a caring community Exeter is.
In the hectic moments just after the crash, her neighbor helped out by taking photos of the wreck and keeping the alleged drunk driver from fleeing. First responders were kind and professional, she said.
Her GoFundMe page has raised over $2,000, mostly from strangers.
"I felt like I was in really good care being new to Exeter," she said. "When your spouse is not in the United States and you don't have family support, these kinds of things can be very scary."
