I'm not too happy right now. A couple of months ago I had gotten almost every dent out of my car from a hail storm (the PDR guy was going to do the last two dents really soon) and then last night a deer decided it wanted to run into my car.

You heard right. It ran straight into the side of my car. Luckily I wasn't going too fast at the time (about 45mph, had just turned off of another street) so the damage isn't too terrible, but it is still quite depressing. It looks like I may need paintwork done as it has cracked in several places, and the thing that sucks the most is that I really don't have to money to repair it right now. I'd rather not turn it in to insurance, as they just recently paid to have the hail damage repaired.

At first it was going to be a MINI:1 , Deer:0 but after about ten to fifteen minutes of grunting the damn thing sat up and stumbled into the woods. I was hoping that I would have at least killed the thing to even out the damage that it caused.

I guess things could have gone farther south had the deer ran in front of my car, but definately not a good start to the Christmas Season.

Pictures:





-Chase

 

The tuff of hair in the trim is a nice touch. I'd have clubbed or kicked the deer as retribution. Would have been easy with it lying there grunting.

 

My mini vs. deer was similar to yours in that most of the damage to my car was to the side, not the front. Based on the estimate to fix my car, I bet yours would be in excess of $4K.

 

How big was the deer? I'd still contact the insurance, that damage is big enough and if the paint is cracked you don't want to wait. Seems like a tie to me, if it got up and walked away after a bit. Glad you're okay, the MINI can be fixed!

 

I would submit the claim. It should fall under your comprehensive insurance, so you rates shouldnt be affected. Look at it this way, if you go 5 years with out a claim, will they give you money back? The hail should have also fallen under comp. Just my thoughts

 

I thought that I might keep it as a bit of a trophy! (Actually, it is in there pretty good, I'll have to take the trim off to get it out)

oh god, I hope not. I'm going to go to some repair places nearby to get estimates...

Thanks :D I was especially worried about the paint when I got up and looked at it in the daylight today. I don't want to drive it around too much for fear of moisture and rust development.... I'm also not sure that I could stand driving the car around in this state for very long any way.

oh, and the Deer was a full grown doe, I was a little afraid to go and collect my mirror cap from near its belly

Thanks for going ahead and saying that. It puts a better perspective on it, and really does get me to think twice about submitting it to insurance.

-Chase

 

That is literally a hit and run, or maybe walk/stumble. Anyway, I would definitely turn that in to insurance. That's alot of damage, and I'm sure it's going to be a pretty penny to repair.

 

My son had a deer (actually a bambi- stupid animal) run into the side of our Lotus after he had stopped as he saw it coming. It was a baby and still smashed the windshield and broke off the side mirror. It didn't survive or I may have killed it myself too.

I think that is a no-fault type claim as far as insurance goes- I'd turn it in- hail wasn't exactly your fault either...

 

Wow. Sorry to hear about your car. At least you're OK.
If you're on the fence about whether or not to contact insurance...
How 'bout driving your MINI off a nearby cliff?!?
That way it's CLEAR you'd get your money's worth and not be anywhere close to simply the deductible amount....

<Joking disabled>: Again, at least you're OK. Could have been worse.
Good luck with the repairs.

 

If the Body Shop replaces those 2 panels, you're looking at about 2800 or you can get a bondo job for about half that...In NC last year there were 18,000 deer/car incursions,,,,that's thousands with a T

 

There, uh, can't be many more of them, right? I mean, they're almost killed off, right?

 

Hey hey...it could have been a lot worse! Count your blessings....like the fact it didn't go through the windscreen.

 

Turn in the claim, and make sure you leave the fur intact. If they send out an agent, that's proof positive that it ran into you. The sooner you get that fixed, the better.

 

yes, leave the fur in, if u haven't removed it already. When a deer ran into my mother's car, it was the blood and fur left in, that helped them determine that it was in fact a deer and not a person, object, or vehicle. Also, the location clearly shoes that it was not your fault...as your MINI can not drive sideways
A deer is considered by auto insurance as an "act of God." It will not affect your rates. The probability of colliding with a deer/animal is typically part of the criteria used to determine everyone's beginning insurance premium for a given demographic region. Even if they make you pay a deductible, it will be much less than the cost of repairs judging from the pictures.

sorry about your luck. deer are truly dumb creatures, and overly paranoid and nuts around this time of year.

 

Chase, sorry about the bad luck.

Go ahead and turn in the comp claim to your insurance company. Don't worry about having two claims in such a short period. They're both Comprehensive claims and no insurance company in the world is going to (or is allowed to by State regulations) to cancel you for those two comp claims.

Might you see an increase in premiums due to the two comp claims ? Yes, it is possible, but it would be negligable. Trust me, it would be nothing compared to how much you'd pay out of your pocket to repair this damage.

 

Well, as everyone has said, turn in the claim, leave the hair and any blood.

As for it hitting you broad side, I've seen it before. In fact, it happened to my mom when I was around 10. I remember we were coming to the top of a hill near a golf course, and cars were slowing down for a group of deer crossing the road. So we slowed down, and kinda looked around. Then, at about 35mph-40, WHAM! Deer hit the Side of the car, flew up and then, physics be damned, straight back behind us.

Deer are stupid, and the white tale has made WAY too much of a comeback in Missouri.

 

Do let us know how it works out, and pray for deer season. Yep, they look great, but there are too many of them (we've driven off all their predators, except those of the four-wheeled variety) and I'm on the side of intelligently hunting them for meat.

 

Agreed. Feed them to the homeless.

Where I am deer are nearly as common as squirrels. Its not uncommon to have a herd of 8 or more in the yard. Yes, they are fun to look at, but they are destructive.

 

Sorry to hear about the collision. I'll second the opinions here to turn it in to your insurance. I hit one two or three years ago with my wife's car. It's a comp claim, as is the hail. There should be no increase in your premium.

When I hit one with the Murano, it was a similar angle but the bugger just managed to catch the HID light, front fender and driver's door. The light added cost. There was hair stuck between the wheel and the tire. The deer died within a couple of minutes after hitting it. Some guys in a van stopped, asked if I was taking it then loaded it into the back of their van.

A groundhog took out my A/C coil earlier this year on the Mini. He ripped up the lower lip, broke the plastic grill, etc. $900.

Thankfully, my MINI is in storage until April. No deer in a pole building.

 

I was run into by a deer in this exact same manner six years ago in the '98 Neon R/T I owned at the time. Surprisingly, the Neon didn't suffer any damage.

Deer = Cows of the Forest

 

Count you blessings, it could have been worse!

The BMW hit the deer at 140 MPH on the AutoBahn.

 

dang! right into the side of the car! Did you even see it coming out of the corner of your eye?

Anybody further north ever hit an animal bigger than a deer? say a moose? I'm just wondering b/c I've always heard of people hitting them in Canada.

 

Uhggg... Looks like the worst part of the BMW incident is that it doesn't appear to have totaled the car -- meaning someone had the pleasure of going in and fishing out all of the deer jello...

{I don't have the hurling emoticon in my inventory}

 

Don't click on this if you just ate....

http://jalopnik.com/5111077/nsfw-che...soup-at-75-mph


I am an insurance agent and the comp claim shouldn't be an issue for you.

Ric

 

So much for the new IIHS side impact rating on the MINI.