Your Most Expensive "Emergency"?

[tripods68]

Surely we talked about this before, we all need an "Emergency Fund".

I remember maybe 5-6 years ago, I backed out my garage accidentally when it was not completely open-- on the way to pick up our dinner from Pizza Hut. The replacement cost was around $650 + $25 pizza. Safe to say, it was a expensive dinner, Alright!

What is your most expensive "emergency"?

I'm not talking about replacing your AC that you already knew it needed replacement or an upcoming home renovation. I'm talking real emergency.

[corn18]

Biggest single emergency was $2,684 in vet bills for our dogs after we boarded them for vacation. Both got deathly ill and needed emergency care. I would have sued the boardee but it was my mother.

2nd biggest was a new computer for $2,247. I tried to upgrade the HDD in my perfectly good iMac to an SDD and all I managed to do was break it beyond repair. Does stupid count as an emergency?

3rd biggest was a series of plane tickets in short order for my wife when her dad was dying. $2,000 or so.

Tom

[disneysteve]

The biggest use of our EF was in 2000 when I quit my job and was out of work for about 3 months. We ran through about 15K or so. I don't remember exactly.

[dawnwes]

Not sure, but the termite issue comes to mind. $4,000.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Dislocated shoulder in 1992 while surfing at Diamond Head, Hawaii, about 2 miles from the world famous Waikiki beach. At the time I didn't know what a dislocation entailed but I was in tremendous pain. After the dislocation I went home to lay down think with bed rest it would go away. That same night I could no longer tolerate the pain so I went to Queens hospital emergency room which is one of the major trauma hospitals in Hawaii. Later I got the bill for $800 even though I had insurance. Apparently Queens ER doctors didn't have an agreement with the insurers and ER visits had to be paid in full without insurance. Anyway, I have to emphasize the pain when suffering a dislocation. It's a "10" on a scale of 1 - 10.

[msomnipotent]

Unfortunately, I have a lot to choose from. Most recently, our furnace broke on the coldest day of the year last winter. It was minus 10 or something silly like that, and our furnace just had a check up a few months prior and it was fine. So that was $5,800, and I later found out that they sent a salesman when I specifically asked for a repair, so it was an expensive lesson. That was our biggest surprise in the shortest amount of time. Then there was the time when my neighbors threw rat poison in our yard twice and caused over $6,000 worth of vet bills in less than 2 months. The cat died within a week, but the dog seemed to get better and then took another turn and rung up another $2,000 or so before dying.

[Nutria]

Not sure, but the termite issue comes to mind. $4,000.

Ditto with us. About the same cost, too.

[MonkeyMama]

I generally only consider catastrophe or prolonged job loss for emergency funds. I wouldn't consider foreseeable repairs as an emergency (as most tend to). Like I would not consider any car repairs as "emergency" - we have a separate saving fund for that and insurance for accidents.

From that standpoint, I don't know that we have really had an emergency. Bills for emergency room, of course, though also covered by insurance. But with a $3k deductible I suppose we have had several $3k emergencies. (Including my dh and I both needing surgery exactly one year apart for random health scares). My eldest spends a lot of time in the emergency room.

I'd say the closest thing we have had to an emergency, otherwise, was when a pipe burst in our yard. It was a $5,000 fix. When we got the first quote we said, "As if!!" But the quotes got progressively worse from there.

[rennigade]

Nice tripods...so now you're stealing ideas from other sites...keep it classy

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/your-most-expensive-emergency-82238.html

[disneysteve]

Nice tripods...so now you're stealing ideas from other sites

What's wrong with that? I think it was a good question. We always talk about needing an EF but hardly ever talk about actually using it.

[disneysteve]

I generally only consider catastrophe or prolonged job loss for emergency funds. I wouldn't consider foreseeable repairs as an emergency (as most tend to).

I agree completely. Most of what people call an emergency really isn't an emergency. Having to fix the brakes or get new tires on your car is not an emergency. You know that's going to happen and you can reasonably predict when.

Unforeseen medical problems qualify. We had no idea my wife was going to need emergency gallbladder surgery years ago. We had no plan for her to tear her ACL and need surgery for that. Sure we expect a certain amount of medical bills each year but not major stuff like that.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

$5k dog at vet for emergency week when he was dying. Possibly more. I couldn't bear to look at the bills and to this day still haven't i just charged it and paid it in full later. I didn't look at the bills it was too busy.

[FLA]

Then there was the time when my neighbors threw rat poison in our yard twice and caused over $6,000 worth of vet bills in less than 2 months. The cat died within a week, but the dog seemed to get better and then took another turn and rung up another $2,000 or so before dying.

please tell me something happened to those neighbors

[cypher1]

Five years ago got a nasty stomach bug which my roommate was almost convinced I was turning into a zombie from the chills and discoloration of my face. That led to an ER visit for chest x-rays, an IV, and throwing up in the trash can of the front desk. Ended up costing between $2200-2400, and luckily had a chunk of the cost in an HSA.

[tripods68]

Nice tripods...so now you're stealing ideas from other sites...

"Emergency Fund" discussions is not limited to one public forum site we cannot share or talk about here. After all, we have common interest as member of this site--to bring topic, ideas that we might find interesting from Dave Ramsey baby step principle to Bogleheads site on investment allocation.