Posted by: Phaedrus
Surviving a Car Wreck - 01/03/21 07:46 AM
Well, 2020 did its level best to kill me! After 36 years of having a DL, I guess I was finally due! I was in a wicked car wreck on the way home from Xmas and totalled my car! 
It was quite a ride but luckily I was uninjured. My car is trashed, which is a bummer. IIRC I only had four payments on it, was really looking forward to having it paid for while I still had 40,000 miles of warranty. Oh well, you know what they say...if you want to make God laugh tell him your plans.
Tip one- wear your seat belts! My air bags didn't deploy but it was quite a crash. My car rolled once and ended up on the top. I was shaken up good but since I was buckled in I wasn't injured. Well, despite my best efforts to avoid it, I did wind up falling on my head a bit when I unbuckled my belt.
Glass Breaker: I didn't need it but I had it! The A-pillar was crushed just enough that I couldn't open my drivers side door. For a second I had that panicky/claustrophobic feeling but my passenger door was fine. Still, I had a glass breaking tool hanging around the steering column, accessible no matter the attitude/angle of the car.
Winter Gear: It was cold with driving snow and wind, but I had plenty of winter gear. The wreck was at my exit so the HyPo's were there pretty quickly but I had water, warm clothes, sleeping bags, etc.
Insurance: I could have helped myself out a bit! At some point in the last year I guess I dropped rental coverage from my policy. In retrospect that was a bummer! It cost me $250 to rent a car for a week while I shopped for a new one. Hmmmm, well, guess I should crunch the numbers. It's $10/month or so, so three years of payments was about the same money. Of course, if it worked out that I needed a rental longer it would have been worth the coverage. On my new car I did opt for rental coverage!
It does suck! My new car is a bit more expensive than my old one and I didn't get as good of promo financing on it. I shopped for three months last time, so I got a better deal! Still, I'm alive and unhurt! There are problems and expenses- if money can fix it, it's not a problem! Looking back a small change in trajectory could have meant a really bad crash, perhaps fatal (probably not but it could have been). I could look at this as a crappy deal but I could also consider myself pretty lucky to be typing this from home instead of the hospital!
It was quite a ride but luckily I was uninjured. My car is trashed, which is a bummer. IIRC I only had four payments on it, was really looking forward to having it paid for while I still had 40,000 miles of warranty. Oh well, you know what they say...if you want to make God laugh tell him your plans.Tip one- wear your seat belts! My air bags didn't deploy but it was quite a crash. My car rolled once and ended up on the top. I was shaken up good but since I was buckled in I wasn't injured. Well, despite my best efforts to avoid it, I did wind up falling on my head a bit when I unbuckled my belt.
Glass Breaker: I didn't need it but I had it! The A-pillar was crushed just enough that I couldn't open my drivers side door. For a second I had that panicky/claustrophobic feeling but my passenger door was fine. Still, I had a glass breaking tool hanging around the steering column, accessible no matter the attitude/angle of the car.
Winter Gear: It was cold with driving snow and wind, but I had plenty of winter gear. The wreck was at my exit so the HyPo's were there pretty quickly but I had water, warm clothes, sleeping bags, etc.
Insurance: I could have helped myself out a bit! At some point in the last year I guess I dropped rental coverage from my policy. In retrospect that was a bummer! It cost me $250 to rent a car for a week while I shopped for a new one. Hmmmm, well, guess I should crunch the numbers. It's $10/month or so, so three years of payments was about the same money. Of course, if it worked out that I needed a rental longer it would have been worth the coverage. On my new car I did opt for rental coverage!
It does suck! My new car is a bit more expensive than my old one and I didn't get as good of promo financing on it. I shopped for three months last time, so I got a better deal! Still, I'm alive and unhurt! There are problems and expenses- if money can fix it, it's not a problem! Looking back a small change in trajectory could have meant a really bad crash, perhaps fatal (probably not but it could have been). I could look at this as a crappy deal but I could also consider myself pretty lucky to be typing this from home instead of the hospital!
