Taupō house severely damaged by crashed car

The Rifle Range Rd property was severely damaged by the crash on Thursday night. Photo / Bryan Deuchar

A man has lost his “retirement income” and two people were injured after an out-of-control car ploughed through a holiday rental in Taupō, ending up in a bedroom where a guest was sleeping.

The Rifle Range Rd house was seriously damaged, and may not be salvageable after the vehicle ploughed into it, just after 1am on July 21.

Owner Bryan Deuchar, who lives in Tauranga, said three men were staying in the house at the time. They were from out of town but had come to Taupō as part of their work.

Deuchar said police officers knocked on the door of his Tauranga home at about 1.30am on Friday to tell him “someone’s parked inside your house”, he said.

The car made impact with the corner of the house, coming to a stop in a bedroom. /Bryan Deuchar Taupo car crash Rifle Range Road Whakaipo Avenue

He left for Taupō that morning, arriving to discover the property was extensively damaged.

He said the car had gone through several rooms of the house, which was sitting on piles about one metre off the ground.

It came to a stop four or five metres into the property, having hit the bed one of the men was sleeping in.

“I can’t see how he’s survived.”

Deuchar said the driver had returned to the scene on Monday to recover some items from the vehicle and had spoken to him about the incident, seemingly unaware that Deuchar was the property’s owner.

“He was a bit shaken up, by the look of it.”

Deuchar has owned the Lockwood property for about five years and rented it out without incident.

“It’s a very popular Airbnb.”

He has cancelled all future reservations, which amounted to about 25 stays, and that would have financial consequences.

“This is my retirement income gone ... it’s about $1000 a week.”

The property was insured and he said it would now be up to the insurance assessors to determine whether the building could be salvaged at all, but given the scale of damage, he was not optimistic.

Taupō Police confirmed that two people were injured and taken to Taupō Hospital by ambulance.

Deuchar said the injured guest stayed the night in hospital before returning home to Auckland.

One of the injured people was the driver of the car, said Detective Sergeant Andy Livingstone.

He said the incident was still being investigated.