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

[JennyJoannSuebeeMcNash]

I saw a dead turkey on I80 from SF to Sacramento, it was huge! People dodged it dangerously..

They get really big, much like the deer in the Northern states.

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[bluesteel]

I paid more attention to the turkeys crossing the road while I was out today. Yes, they were in the road when I approached, and they moved slowly, but as someone mentioned earlier, they don't just run in random directions apparently oblivious to the oncoming vehicle!

 

[Blinky]

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!

I smacked an owl once, years ago. I felt so bad but traffic was heavy and he just swooped in front of the truck. A muffled clunk and feathers went everywhere.

Up here one of the big threats is porcupines, they're this dark brown "dirty road" color and damn near invisible in the dusk. They get BIG and they're solid as a brick so you do NOT want to hit them. I narrowly skimmed past one and the bugger left quills embedded in my tire, a friend hit one and tore the radiator to heck.

 

[JennyJoannSuebeeMcNash]

I smacked an owl once, years ago. I felt so bad but traffic was heavy and he just swooped in front of the truck. A muffled clunk and feathers went everywhere.

Up here one of the big threats is porcupines, they're this dark brown "dirty road" color and damn near invisible in the dusk. They get BIG and they're solid as a brick so you do NOT want to hit them. I narrowly skimmed past one and the bugger left quills embedded in my tire, a friend hit one and tore the radiator to heck.

I would think that's one of those animals you never imagine hitting, but they're out there. Here in FL you have to worry about skunks and possums.

 

[Huchipapa]

I've "enjoyed" 2 deer strikes...one at 75 mph in upstate NY, and another on Mustang Island in Texas going 15 mph (seriously...the deer jumped out of the tall grass). The first rendered my car inoperable but rebuildable (Isuzu Trooper), the 2nd the car was certainly able to keep going but the repairs ultimately cost close to $5000 (Saab convertible). Deer are like the rodents of the forest....vile creatures...

 

[Charles T.]

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)

 

[Blinky]

I would think that's one of those animals you never imagine hitting, but they're out there. Here in FL you have to worry about skunks and possums.

Yeah, porcupines get to around 35 pounds and 2-3 feet long so no bueno.
Lots of skunks here too, but they're at least reasonably smart and don't seem to hang around in the road.
Coyotes are another common strike, I've had more close calls with them than deer.

 

[IHateSpeedbumps]

Up here one of the big threats is porcupines,

Around here the big threat is wild hogs or cows that have gotten past a fence.

 

[Grabber Rick]

Hit three deer in the 10 years I lived in upstate NY. The one time was in my Honda Civic. F'er came up onto the windshield and I thought for sure my daughter and I were goners. Nope. Ripped off my side mirror, huge dent in left front quarter panel. Second time was in my Honda Element coming home from a work function. Cracked my front grill but nothing too horrific. Third time was coming home late from Naples, NY and one was coming down off the side of a mountain and I slammed right into him head-on. Got home and realized the front grill was completely f'ed. Got up the next morning and called Geico to come out and assess the damages. By Monday I was getting it fixed in the body shop. PITA!!

I have hit 5 deer in the past 40 some years. 2 times with mt 07 Focus. Second time they totaled it. I bought it back and fixed it myself. Still driving it today had 153,000 miles now it has 259,300. 2 of my deer hits were 2 miles from my house. Almost hit one with my Maverick. It was the first time I had to drive it to work after my Focus would not start from (oil leaking into spark plug wells). All better now yeah!

 

[JennyJoannSuebeeMcNash]

I have hit 5 deer in the past 40 some years. 2 times with mt 07 Focus. Second time they totaled it. I bought it back and fixed it myself. Still driving it today had 153,000 miles now it has 259,300. 2 of my deer hits were 2 miles from my house. Almost hit one with my Maverick. It was the first time I had to drive it to work after my Focus would not start from (oil leaking into spark plug wells). All better now yeah!

All of my deer strikes were 2 miles or less from home as well.

 

[Deweyordeweynot]

Around here the big threat is wild hogs or cows that have gotten past a fence.

I was driving from CA to NV one night and my coworker spotted them before I did: a small herd of cattle, just standing in the middle of the highway. We were able to stop in time, thankfully. I think they were attracted to the asphalt, which was warmer than the ground. It was a first for me...not alot of free range areas in Michigan!

 

[IHateSpeedbumps]

I was driving from CA to NV one night and my coworker spotted them before I did: a small herd of cattle, just standing in the middle of the highway. We were able to stop in time, thankfully. I think they were attracted to the asphalt, which was warmer than the ground. It was a first for me...not alot of free range areas in Michigan!

I have found both cattle and horses roaming the neighborhood. Chickens are common too. There are a few that hang out at a bus stop outside of the neighborhood.

 

[dlhort1955]

All of my deer strikes were 2 miles or less from home as well.

Maybe you need to move about 2 more miles so you are not near any deer.

 

[JennyJoannSuebeeMcNash]

Maybe you need to move about 2 more miles so you are not near any deer.

Solved my issue by moving out of NY.

 

[dogtruck]

State Farm walked away from me for a homeowners claim. I sued.
There are better options out there....anybody is better.

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