<prompt> Human: So six days ago I submitted a story about how a good decision not to buy a house allowed my wife and I to stomach about 5000 in unexpected expenses. I considered the multiple financial blows to be really bad luck. I was wrong. Three days later my wife had a car accident. A bad one. Thankfully - and Im not even sure how - shes okay in every way that matters. No broken bones. No head trauma. Shes banged up - her legs are badly bruised, her chest is sore from the seatbeltairbag, and she has some cutsscrapes on her head. Im not going to type out the whole story, but she was on her way home from a friends place and had just merged onto the interstate. A witness in a car behind said someone tried to quickly change lanes, overcorrected, and hit my wifes car, causing it to spin out. While it was spinning, it was hit twice more, including one time head-on. Two other people went to the hospital. I dont think their injuries were life threatening. My point is this. I thought 5k in unexpected expenses was a big deal. Its not. Its just money. Were it not for a great amount of luck and the benefit of airbags, a seat belt, and good crashworthy design, I might have lost the love of my life. Thankfully, we have pretty decent auto insurance, and I just increased the medical coverage after we were married these elements of insurance are something I suggest everyone think hard about and review as part of an annual financial checkup. We got a rental car the day after the accident, and are working our way through the process of dealing with insurance and will be looking for a new car soon. Unsurprisingly, about all my wife cares about now in that regard is safety. So Ive learned a few lessons so far from the experience:- Value what is valuable; the health and safety of your loved ones is far for important than obtaining things. - Murphys law is in full effect; we just spent 1500 on her car at the dealership 3 days before the accident. When it rains, it pours - bad luck can come in waves; this is why savings are so important. - Your medical coverage on your car insurance is primary before health insurance kicks in in the event of an auto accident. You need to make sure you have enough medical benefit to cover - I believe - your health insurance deductible and potentially the deductibles of other people travelling with you especially if an accident is your fault. I had upped ours from 5k to 10k. Im hoping that covers the ER visit, CAT scan, and X-rays without her health insurance kicking in and us owing money from her deductible, but Im still sorting all of this out. - Having the savings to be flexible with buying her a new used car with better safety features and lower miles is a huge benefit. We got a reasonable offer from the insurance company on her old car, but I want to try to negotiate it upwards somewhat. Any tips in this regard are appreciated. In fact, if anyone has been through post-accident insurance dealings, any tips in general are appreciated. Well, thats about it. I just wanted everyone to know that life can really throw some curveballs at you. Since the accident my wife has really changed her tune about wanting a new place. Shes all for living more frugally and staying below our means so we have more freedom, security, and flexibility. I hope everyone keeps this in the back of their mind when making large financial decisions.  <response>: Paramedic here. Im glad your wife is not injured. Just some perspective on car wrecks we dont call them accidents, they are very rarely actual accidents. I am called to approximately 10-20 car wrecks on the job in most weeks. In 90 of the wrecks, no one is injured. In 90 of the wrecks where someone is injured and is transported to the hospital, it is only bumps and bruises. People just dont get hurt from car wrecks as much as they used to, although the damage to the vehicle often seems impressive.The severity of the damage to the vehicle, although dramatic, is a good thing. Modern vehicles are designed to absorb energy, rather than transferring it to the occupants in a crash. Also, the fact that she was struck several times is helpful too. Several small collisions is much better than one larger collision. It is a much slower dissipation of energy. This is why people walk away from rollover collisions, because the forces of the crash dissipated slowly over a large amount of space and time. As long as the occupants were properly secured and airbags were functional and no internal projectiles were present, people are much more emotionally traumatized than physically. Lastly, a collision to the front of the vehicle is best-case scenario. The vehicle absorbs the forces over a large area before it reaches occupants, and most vehicles have driver and passenger airbags. Compare that to being struck in a perpendicular manner, most commonly referred to as a t-bone collision. The impact is quick, close to the occupant, and many cars do not have side impact airbags. These collisions are where I see most injuries and fatalities to restrained occupants. Which is still far less than what I see to unrestrained occupants. The vast majority of fatalities and serious injuries that I see now are with unrestrained occupants. 