Ok..after 23,000 miles, Dear Prudence, my 2008 package 6 was hit by a deer. I was going 25 mph and this dear came out of nowhere and ran into the side of the car. Lucky for me the car has only very minor damage...a small scratch that I think will buff out around the right side rear door handle...and 2 small dents on the right side A pillar. Lucky for me i have the clear paint protection film on the A posts as that is where the abrasion was and so no paint damage on the pillar. My question is this...should the post be fixed? as in...does it present a safety issue?
animal strikes fall under 'comprehensive' and not 'collision' so your insurance company won't "raise your rates" or "count it against your renewal" i put it in quotes because i heard some people got raised anyway. just get it fixed and make sure you explain to the insurance company that it was an animal strike aka "an act of god" and get it fixed on a side note, i think people that post attention getting headlines like 'prius vs deer' should be scolded for not posting pictures of said prius or said deer
Can't take a picture of the deer...it took off fast. I attempted to take pictures of the A pillar and the dents can't be seen in pictures well.
Thanks, That was what I was worried about. The dents are so hard to see and the paint is good that I have to point out the areas before people 'see' them.
Orlando has deer running around? I worry about this when I'm in northern Wisconsin for the summer, but Orlando? Not exactly where I would have thought to watch out for deer...
Yes, we do have deer and bears. Depending on where you live, they are quite common. We also have big killer whales and a talking mouse.
Georgia has a surplus of deer also, including the Atlanta fringe counties. We drove from Atlanta to St. Simons on the coast and saw numerous deer carcases along I-16 going into Savannah plus one live sighing. Fortunately we had no physical contact as I spotted it in time. With suburban development cutting into habitat and no natural predators other that automobiles collisions are very common here in the southeast.
Well, isn't that strange! I live in Orlando too (well, Chuluota, by Oviedo, north of Orlando), and I had a deer run into the side of my car off 419. Slowed down to let other deer pass in front of me - and WHAM! Big impact in the driver side door. I have a picture of a deer running along saying 'hey watch me!' and running into my car... Deer survived to run off, but based on the damage to the car, I'm not sure how well it will be doing. About $2300 of damage (because of my forward speed, big dent if door, with smaller dents in other panels). Courtesy Toyota (office in Oviedo) fixed it better than new... Told other folks, apparently it just happens... pat
Lotsa wildlife around here, too, though I wouldn't call them 'surplus', and they don't tend to hurl themselves at passing cars. Deer only have to look at people with their big brown eyes to get them to roll down the window and offer them food. If a big bear wants in, he'll just slice open the roof.
Florida has fairly liberal gun laws. You should keep a gun handy to administer a quick coup de grace to hooved rats that have the temerity to run into the side of your Prius. Deer are really really dumb. One T-boned my Honda Prelude 1 1/2 year ago and did over $4000 in damage. He literally committed suicide on the side of the car when I was traveling 65mph and there was no way I could have avoided it, only saw him a nanosecond before the impact.
