Car accident? What not to do.

A few weeks ago, my husband was hit while he was driving to work. It was clearly the fault of the person behind him, thank God. And my husband was fine (except for a sore neck).

However, it looked like our Honda was a hair away from being totaled and we did NOT want to buy a new car. So before we called any insurance companies, I did a bit of research.

In addition to Googling like crazy, I called the Consumer Action Center at Clark Howard’s radio show. It’s a pretty cool service—2nd time I’ve used it. Trained volunteers answer consumer questions off the air all day about everything from what to do after a car accident to how to use your cell phone overseas.

Here’s what I learned not to do:

A small victory in eldercare insurance

As if managing our own little family’s money wasn’t hard enough, I’m also in charge of my elderly dad’s financial life. He’s in his 90s and has pretty severe dementia, so it’s absolutely necessary that I step in.

Last fall, Dad developed pneumonia and ended up in a rehabilitation center for a couple of months. I kid you not: The insurance hassles related to a rehab stay are mind-boggling. Enough to make an adult kid want to find ANY solution other than a rehab stay for an elderly parent.

One good thing came out of all this, though. By pure luck (ok, and maybe some divine intervention of some kind!), I found a folder in my dad’s papers titled “Tricare.” I had a vague sense that this was an extra insurance program my dad had through his federal government pension. But he rarely used it when he was of sound mind. There was only one piece of paper in the file–coverage for some long-forgotten dental services.