I had just pulled out of my driveway at Oh-dark-thirty this Wednesday, saw a deer cross the road in front of me, which is not unusual, and looked to see if any more were with it. Not seeing anything else, I proceeded carefully but heard a loud noise at the right front quarterpanel. I never saw what hit me, but judging by the fur on the car, I know it was another deer. The front bumper was hanging off, DRL was separated, wheel cover was cracked and a couple of things under the hood were damaged, including the windshield washer reservoir. Don't know what else, as I never saw it in daylight. Just drove back to the house, switched cars and went on to work. Wife handled the rest. Now driving a POS 2011 Nissan Altima that was filthy when my wife picked it up, French fries in the seats, childrens' drawings left behind. Dirty on the outside. My insurance company made the arrangements through Enterprise, and I will be complaining to both companies. The first thing when I got in the Nissan and headed to work, the tire pressure warning came on. Body shop will also remove the front tire and see if anything else behind it got damaged, so I'll update if we hear anything else. Only $100 deductible, so it only hurts when I wish I were out of the Nissan and back in the Prius.
I was going less than 30 mph, but I don't think the speed was much of an issue because the deer pretty much hit the side of the car near the front. The wraparound part of the bumper popped out on the side, which is what caused the DRL to look like it was bashed in, but I think the light just stayed where it was, and the bumper moved forward. So there was really no damage to the very front of the car other than the bumper coming loose. No headlight or grill damage. Body shop is thinking about $1,600 if nothing else is discovered, which I thought was surprisingly low.
yes, that does seem reasonable. my daughter had $5,000. in damage, but she was going 55 and caught the deer on the right front fender. all the best!
Though this might not be very important to you, when I hit a deer (many years ago), my insurance company said that was one of the few exceptions to having to pay the deductible. Maybe that's not true now, but it might save you the $100. Mike
We were riding with our friends in New Jersey a few years ago and a deer ran into the passenger side of the car, just about at the same point as the OP.
Years ago in my Camry I had a bird flew sideways into my passenger side when I was moving 40 MPH. No damage except for the bird. It must had been flying drunk.
What gets me is that enterprise DOES have Prius' to rent. So why does the insurance company not give you something comparable? Unless your daily rental rate coverage is too low. In which case that expains the POS rental, though not the fries.
Well, this is a small-town Enterprise, one-person operation that had only one car available. Insurance pays $30/day. We're paying nothing, but I don't know if it's because the Altima rents for less than that or if it rents for more and the insurance company didn't have much of a choice.
They can "ship" in other cars. You'd just have to wait for it. I think the Prius would require the maximum rental coverage though @ $40/day. Not positive though as during the 3 months of rentals I had they not once gave me the Prius I asked for.
On a side note enterprise gave me a Chevy ion as "comparable" needless to say the next day when they had other cars it was traded in. We had been smashed into from behind while stopped and there was no way I was driving around that little toe car.
