Tonight, on the way back from the grocery store, I had a run in with a deer... and here's the sad result:


I was driving on a rural highway, going about 55 mph (the speed limit!). There's a ditch on the side of this road, so I didn't see the deer until it ran up the ditch -- slammed on the brakes HARD (I smelled burning brakes after getting out of the car), but still hit the deer .

Damage was pretty much concentrated on the front passenger side. From what I could tell in the dark, the hood is gone (obvious from the picture), front passenger headlight assembly is trashed, bumper probably needs to be replaced, right front fender is messed up, windshield washer fluid reservoir was damaged and leaking (at least, I hope that's what it was), and it looked like the radiator was pushed back. Airbags didn't go off.

My friend and I are ok -- guess on the deer versus car battle, the car weighs more. On the positive side, considering the speed we were going at, I think the Fit held up pretty well. My friend was pretty impressed too.

I had the car towed to the local Honda dealer which does good work, and I'll see about getting an estimate tomorrow and some better pictures. It's probably not totalled, but anybody want to guess how much it's going to cost to fix?

 

$2900 just guessing. Glad you're ok.

 

well my damage was less than yours after a deer ran into me and it was just a tad under 4K. I needed new passenger mirror, door panel, rear door panel and fender. It can be quite costly. At the time I hadn't even put 3000km on my car. I do have specific insurance though that requires my insurance company to only use new OEM parts for the 1st 3 years I own the car.

 

That's horrible! I'm sorry, I hope it's not totaled. You never know with these unibody designs.

 

Very sorry to hear that. My Fit was totaled a couple of weeks ago.

I'm no expert, but I'll guess $4600. These things add up quickly.

 

awwww sucks! looks like it took some damage. but look on the bright side! jdm conversion time! haha

 

Definitely not totaled, I'm in the 4K-5K range for a guess. My Integra was right around 4K but that was not for OEM Parts. Make sure that they are using all Genuine Honda parts. Even Dealers have access to non OEM Parts.

Remember, when you talk to your insurance company, the Deer hit you, you didn't hit the deer.

~SB

 

Thanks for the kind words all! I couldn't sleep last night at all I was so pumped up on adrenaline.

I contacted my insurance company and I should have a quote by Wednesday at the latest. I made sure to say the deer hit me, though I don't think that made a difference at all, since it's under comprehensive anyway. At least, the claims agent kind of dismissed it.

I'm using a "non-preferred" body shop with respect to my insurance -- am I just asking for trouble? The insurance company's preferred shop isn't too far away from where my car is now, but it's attached to a non-Honda dealer, and when my friend went there for a rear end collision, they missed one broken rear bumper support...

I'll head to the shop this afternoon to get some belongings out of the car and take some pictures.

 

It's still your choice as to who repairs your car. As I understand it, in NY, deer hits are considred "not at fault" incidents, and go against your comprehensive, not your collision, so your rates shouldn't increase.

Over the years I've lived in upstate NY, I've hit 5 deer. That makes me an ACE!

The last one was in January, with my Fit. Fortunately, I saw the first deer cross the road and I hit my brakes, expecting a second deer. The second one popped out of the ditch not 10 feet ahead of me, and I nailed him dead center at about 20 MPH. Even as slow as that, the deer flew end over end. My Fit took the entire hit in the hood, so I got off easy-only $1200.

 

How's the deer?

 

After flying a bit, it got up after a few minutes and limped away (continuing to cross the highway in fact)... the officer that responded couldn't find the deer, but it had to have taken a lot of damage...

 

Well, sorry to tell you this but welcome to the club.
In my case the results is new hood, left light, bumper and dead deer on the other side.

 

Sorry to hear about another damaged fit. I hope your repairs come our well

 

I went to the shop and took some pictures in the daylight...

So sad


Note the damage to the passenger fender. And yes, the hood is closed...


Driver's side fender -- the hood was pushed sideways and it pushed into the fender.


Some hair the deer left behind:

 

Well on a totally selfish positive side, you are making me feel a LOT better about the minor damage I recently had when someone didn't stop and rear ended me at a stoplight. I was pretty upset but comparitively? Your Deer Damage is much worse...

 

Glad to hear damage was as little as it is. Few people realize how many (probably in excess of 1 million) deer-vehicle collisions occur in the US every year. I try to avoid driving/riding at night, but still managed to total a motorcycle at 12:45 in the afternoon 3 years ago when a deer ran out of the forest.

 

i saw a deer get nailed this morning. Lady was in a new impala. She was going pretty fast and the deer ended up pretty much all over the place. The car was pretty messed up. Not sure how the fit would have handled that.

 

I love riding at night, but very seldom do anymore. A friend of mine was killed a few years ago hitting a deer on his bike. The drummer in our band hit a deer on his motorcycle some years back and got messed up pretty badly.

Hitting a deer with a car sucks enough, but hitting one on a motorcycle...well, that's gonna be a bad day for sure.

And, yeah, most of my close calls have been in broad daylight.

 

That's good your insurance company covered the damage. Last week a friend of mine hit a deer, she had full comprehensive but it was NOT covered. I don't know why. It was GEICO.

What insurance company do you have?

 

Insurance law varies by state. In NY, deer are covered under comprehensive on your auto policy. In CT it may be different.