So this happened. North of Boston, 6:00 pm, dry conditions, full daylight, country road 2 miles from home. I've driven that road thousands of times and seen plenty of deer – but never this close. In an instant it was suddenly at/on the front fender, big thump, face appears (you always see the face), then up and off to the side. As I slowed I saw it scamper to its feet and run back to the woods. Seemed ok. When I got home, thinking that damage would be minimal, I was greeted by this. $4K says the appraisal. Replace and repaint fender, new headlight, some minor parts. Everything is in stock. Nothing structural. Will be repaired next week.

 

Ugh - all will be repaired and back to new soon enough. Glad you have pics of the damage, if you ever choose to sell that should put buyers mind at ease.

 

Dang! Glad everything seems straight forward on the repair.

I live on a rural road that is chock full of deer, hogs, wild turkeys, etc and while I haven't had to dodge one yet, I fear it's inevitable, especially at night. My wife has a Macan and she's come close a couple times since we moved here 2 years ago.

 

The fact it looks totally isolated to the fender is amazing and very fortunate. No hood , door or bumper cover damage? They could fix this in an afternoon since headlight and fender is just bolt on. Fuel intake hose adds some labor but, wow, for a deer strike I'd be very relieved it was so contained. And with a black car you'll never have a paint mis match.
If you find a good enough PDR pro they might even be able to pull that and repaint. no new fender needed.

 

Take these pics print them off, keep them in with your 911 files. A picture is well worth a thousand words to a potential buyer.
Do you have stone chips?
You pick the shop to do the work. At least where I live. If your car is anything like mine, stone chips on the front end are something I’d love to get rid of. If it was me, personally I’d ask if the shop would respray the front end, hood and bumper. It’ll cost you but not nearly as much as if you didn’t already have a claim with he shop.
Just a thought

 

That's what I'm planning to do - there are plenty of stone chips and front bumper scuffs that could be improved. Then it would actually be worth it to use a clear film to protect it.

 

Yes, I definitely was lucky. No damage to bumper, door or windshield. Could have been far worse.

I honestly think the slope of the hood was key to minimizing impact. Some part of the deer (shoulder?) made contact with the headlight, there was body impact to crumple the fender, but then it slid off. I feel like I instinctively swerved a bit left as well, but it all happened so quickly.

 

Just think what the deer is telling all his buddies right now

Could have been worse (happy for you)... definitely look into the respray of bumper and hood.

 

Bad luck, but if you hit the deer head-on it would have really racked up the bills. I assume you have comprehensive coverage. In this state,
such claims can not be used to raise your insurance rates.

I have friends in SW Montana and when we drive there at night we do not exceed 45-50 mph even with very bright headlights. Hit a moose and more that your car will be damaged.

 

I had almost the exact damage from a deer two years ago. The repair required replacement of the fender, painting the fender, and blending the paint across the hood, the door, and the bumper. I wish I would have known that every little paint chip in the hood was going to become a magnified divet as the blending paint filled them. It looked much worse than the chips ever did. Since it was an insurance job there was no payment for sanding out the chips and the shop never suggested that I should have them removed for a perfect job. I would have gladly paid for the extra work.

 

That's bad, but the good news is it helps me remember how much I like those wheels.

 

Glad you're ok - I hit deer years ago in Volvo sedan and it blew windshield into passengers compartment and wound up in culvert on side of road.

 

Oh man, hate to see this. But you're right about good luck & evasive instincts. Could have been so much worse. Driving in TN can be interesting from a wildlife perspective. I've had everything from chipmunks, beavers and deer shoot in front of me.

One time I was driving down a lazy, straight 30 MPH road near me and came upon a small deer carcass near the side of the road. There were 6 or 7 huge vultures tearing it apart. As I was passing the carnage, most of the vultures shuffled off away from the roadway, but one got startled and burst into flight directly in front of me. He couldn't have been more than 2-3 feet off the ground when I hit him. He whacked the bumper and went straight under the right front tire. KA-THUMP. Feathers in the rear view.

Fortunately, I was driving my trusty 2004 CRV.

 

Off and on topic. What did you do with the remains? I know a guy who lives east of I 75 out in the woods and inevitably, he hit a deer some years ago. Didn't fly through the windshield but did some damage to the front bumper and the hood. Deer was killed though. This guy had never butchered a deer before but he spent many years as a chef for a pretty high end restaurant in the area so he went home, got his pickup and then went back to get the expired deer thinking he could get a lot of good meat out of it.

I'm sure he did but then he made a bad decision after putting the meat he wanted in the freezer. He's got a good size lot...close to 2 acres I think and he disposed of the remains what he thought would be a safe distance from his house thinking the vultures would take care of the rest. They did but they also recognized that his property was a good place for an occasional dinner party. End result is that he's had around 15 vultures on the roof of his house since he invited them for dinner the first time. Not only are they waiting for their next meal (they're patient), his roof is also their bathroom.

He's had 3 exterminators who told him they're hard to get rid of once they've had a good meal nearby a house. Especially since the vultures could obviously trace the smell of this meal back to the house in question. He admitted he should have taken additional precautions. Translation: He left an obvious trail of where this meal came from. These birds clearly think another big meal like this is coming from the same house so they hang around. Beats nibbling on dead squirrels on the road.

Sure would hate having 15 vultures living, crapping and pissing on the roof of my house.

 

Sorry to see this, but best case scenario, considering. Amazing he missed the mirror.

He was coming out to tell you your wheel center caps weren't indexed properly (crest point aims at the valve stem).