Deer collision damage results in $6k repair. Insurance lessons learned

[bluesteel]

I had a night collision with a fairly small deer a little before Christmas (a rude gift). I saw it suddenly coming onto the road; slammed the brakes but was not able to slow down enough to avoid it. The road was not obviously icy, but I think I did skid a bit. It hit squarely in the front center. This was coming out of a small town with reduced speed limit, and I was speeding up to get back to highway speed on the two-lane. I'm guessing I was going somewhere around 40 mph at the point of impact.

Cost? A hair over $6,000 when all was said and done. The photos show pretty much all of the exterior damage (I didn't take any from farther back.) It needed a new bumper/covers, impact bar, grilles, ambient temp sensor, radiator and support, shutters, intercooler, one and headlamp.

This incident taught me NOT to submit a photo claim in the insurance company's app or otherwise. YMMV, but I am convinced this will almost always result in an unrealistically low up-front approved cost, then you end up leaving your vehicle sitting at the dealer and eventually undergoing a teardown until they can prepare a supplement request. The body shop also expressed frustration with this process and the fact that many major insurers are pushing it.

I ended up talking to my State Farm agent, and she got corporate to make an exception allowing the body shop to order all parts up front based on their OWN visual estimate, even though there usually is no "takeback" of a photo estimate. Considering I had already been waiting for awhile before that for a backordered grill to come in, I wanted to reduce the risk of another wait for something on backorder after the teardown happened. Thankfully, the grill was the only real wait. For whatever reasons, the whole repair did end up taking two weeks, though.

One hiccup was a used or aftermarket headlight that had a nonfunctional "eyebrow" DRL. After that happened, as the last part of the repair, SF agreed to a new OEM light (yay).

Silver lining: My radiators had a ton of crushed fins for some unknown reason. So at least I have that new. The main radiator was bent in really good after the collision. The back of it got to 1/4-1/8" of the front center of the cooling fan. But the radiator did not leak and remained effective at cooling, thankfully (winter may have helped). So vehicle was drivable until all of the ordered parts came in.

I like to think I've always been pretty attentive at watching for deer, and it would've been pretty hard to avoid this one - but after this reminder of the tremendous hassle of a wait and the deductible, I like to think that now I might get even better at it! (knock on wood)

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[dlhort1955]

I have Acuity ins. Just took my daughters car to an approved body shop (Boucher Ford) and they dealt with the ins company. No questions asked. Bill was paid and they will go after Progressive for the deductible. My daughter was sideswiped. 0 % her fault.

 

[Montana]

Deer are majestically derpy.

 

[Lone Star Proud]

I had a night collision with a fairly small deer a little before Christmas (a rude gift). I saw it suddenly coming onto the road; slammed the brakes but was not able to slow down enough to avoid it. The road was not obviously icy, but I think I did skid a bit. It hit squarely in the front center. This was coming out of a small town with reduced speed limit, and I was speeding up to get back to highway speed on the two-lane. I'm guessing I was going somewhere around 40 mph at the point of impact.

Cost? A hair over $6,000 when all was said and done. The photos show pretty much all of the exterior damage (I didn't take any from farther back.) It needed a new bumper/covers, impact bar, grilles, ambient temp sensor, radiator and support, shutters, intercooler, one and headlamp.

This incident taught me NOT to submit a photo claim in the insurance company's app or otherwise. YMMV, but I am convinced this will almost always result in an unrealistically low up-front approved cost, then you end up leaving your vehicle sitting at the dealer and eventually undergoing a teardown until they can prepare a supplement request. The body shop also expressed frustration with this process and the fact that many major insurers are pushing it.

I ended up talking to my State Farm agent, and she got corporate to make an exception allowing the body shop to order all parts up front based on their OWN visual estimate, even though there usually is no "takeback" of a photo estimate. Considering I had already been waiting for awhile before that for a backordered grill to come in, I wanted to reduce the risk of another wait for something on backorder after the teardown happened. Thankfully, the grill was the only real wait. For whatever reasons, the whole repair did end up taking two weeks, though.

One hiccup was a used or aftermarket headlight that had a nonfunctional "eyebrow" DRL. After that happened, as the last part of the repair, SF agreed to a new OEM light (yay).

Silver lining: My radiators had a ton of crushed fins for some unknown reason. So at least I have that new. The main radiator was bent in really good after the collision. The back of it got to 1/4-1/8" of the front center of the cooling fan. But the radiator did not leak and remained effective at cooling, thankfully (winter may have helped). So vehicle was drivable until all of the ordered parts came in.

I like to think I've always been pretty attentive at watching for deer, and it would've been pretty hard to avoid this one - but after this reminder of the tremendous hassle of a wait and the deductible, I like to think that now I might get even better at it! (knock on wood)

My deer hit cost over $8,000. Both light units had to be replaced.

 

[bluesteel]

It fascinates me how much smarter crows are than deer. Turkeys, too.

 

[dalola]

An open question to every state DNR supervisor:

Why exactly are deer hunting restrictions still so absurdly outdated???

(sorry about your truck OP)

 

[bluesteel]

An open question to every state DNR supervisor:

Why exactly are deer hunting restrictions still so absurdly outdated???

(sorry about your truck OP)

Funny thing is that deer harvest was WAY down in this area this past season (and it really hasn't been that great to begin with!).

 

[Bigbill27]

I feel your pain. $4500.

 

[bluesteel]

^ Somehow it seems to me that one should've been more expensive!

 

[MakinDoForNow]

County road 35mph in "road deer season". Highway 50mph. See a deer in road 25-30mph.

 

[SLH13]

Deer suck.
We have had to pay for way too much deer damage over the years!
I will say after my daughter put deer whistles on she never hit another one. Not sure if they work or if it was luck. She was driving home from work at night in the Adirondacks. She would see many deer every single night.

 

[JennyJoannSuebeeMcNash]

It fascinates me how much smarter crows are than deer. Turkeys, too.

I had a turkey fly at my car - thankfully he got enough loft before contact could be made. Looked like a bowling ball with wings coming at the car!

 

[homerdog]

An open question to every state DNR supervisor:

Why exactly are deer hunting restrictions still so absurdly outdated???

(sorry about your truck OP)

Hunter numbers are down, at least here in Michigan, and deer populations are going up. It's not the DNR fault that deer are breeding like rabbits. I'm pretty sure you can buy multiple deer licenses here also. I know you can buy at least two for the regular season and multiple more for the extended season. The entire season runs from late September until January 1st.
Slow down at dawn and dusk and you have a better chance of not running them over.

 

[goose2]

You got off easy! lol I hit a 12 point buck at 70+ mph on the interstate a week before Christmas. The body shop was at over $19k damage before the insurance totaled it. It was a 22 EB AWD and I had 76k on it. It was a great truck. Now I’m in a 24 EB AWD, 4k, BAP with lux. It took a little over a month to get everything straightened out and into a new Mav. I got lucky that I found a new one that was denied by someone on delivery. Glad you got yours straightened out OP.

 

[bluesteel]

You got off easy! lol I hit a 12 point buck at 70+ mph on the interstate a week before Christmas. The body shop was at over $19k damage before the insurance totaled it. It was a 22 EB AWD and I had 76k on it. It was a great truck. Now I’m in a 24 EB AWD, 4k, BAP with lux. It took a little over a month to get everything straightened out and into a new Mav. I got lucky that I found a new one that was denied by someone on delivery. Glad you got yours straightened out OP.

Wow! I do feel better now. Probably could've fit three or so of the one I hit into that 12-point. LOL

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