On our way home from our game retreat with our friends… our car got effectively totaled–meaning the damage to it is probably higher than what it was still worth before the accident. So while we’re fine, the car most definitely isn’t. We got very lucky still.
Details
We were 100m before our exit on the Autobahn when the car in front of us came to a sudden stop. My partner didn’t realize immediately because the break lights didn’t turn on (some kind of damage to the clutch(?) apparently caused this). We came to a stop about 2cm behind and slightly to the left of the other car as my partner swerved to avoid hitting them. He is a good driver and his reaction was as good as could be I think. We have a much heavier car than the guy behind us who should have seen our break lights (freshly repaired even the 3rd one) and … hit us from behind. He had lost some speed luckily so we aren’t injured but our car is. No wiplash, we’re certain. No symptoms at all.
Overall we got lucky because Autobahn accidents don’t usually come without anyone getting hurt especially not when 3 cars are involved. Although the car in front of us didn’t even get a scratch.
Of course from then it took a long time. The police had to come from the opposite direction and turn around to reach us… then waiting for 3 Abschleppwagen to transport the broken cars… luckily we were already close to home and the place where they took our car was even closer to home.
It was determined by the police that the guy who hit us was the only one at fault. So this will not even need to be discussed with our insurance. Small yay.
Still we weren’t planning on buying or leasing a (new-ish) car right now and no matter what we do this will put another hole into our already stretched finances from the still-not-finished renovations.
On the other hand, we are lucky that it is only about money and nothing else. We can share my dad’s car for a while. We don’t use our car all that much. We had no immediate plans for the future that need a car. I can go for groceries by bike and we work from home. We may have a few logistical troubles… and those didn’t need to be. But we can deal and I am glad that it we didn’t even need to call an ambulance to the scene.