Deer me!

[14emerc]

well, just got the car back, has taken just about 3 months!
We were driving back from Kent after a lovely day out and a enjoyable meal. At about 20.00hrs just as it started to get dark, we were driving along through the lovely Kentish country side, a deer runs out in front of the car. Lucky for all, I was only doing about 30mph but still not able to avoid hitting the animal. The deer disappear into the wooded area and I pulled over to make checks. Damage to bonnet, headlights, grill and side wing. The air bags never went off as it was more of a glancing blow to the deer, thank goodness.
And then the game starts with the insurance and getting the car booked in for repairs. One of the surprising things that I found out is, 40,000 - 75,000 deer accidents per year in the UK, with around 12 fatalities , makes you think!

 

[richard]

My wife just avoided one the other day. And luckily she remembered advice that has been given to her by a police driving instructor when same happened 10 years ago on a Mercedes training day... which is "They often come in twos" - and sure enough another one came bounding out.

Richard

 

[magpiemalemerc]

I hit a muntjac deer in mine with only a few months of ownership...My insurance was quick turned the car around in 2 wks, new lower bumper, plastic tray underneath,re-spray redo the sensors on the bumper, silver trim...

 

[rf065]

I hit a muntjac deer in mine with only a few months of ownership...My insurance was quick turned the car around in 2 wks, new lower bumper, plastic tray underneath,re-spray redo the sensors on the bumper, silver trim...

Yet no mention of how the deer fared? Not an animal lover then?

 

[daveenty]

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[Mustang99]

well, just got the car back, has taken just about 3 months!
We were driving back from Kent after a lovely day out and a enjoyable meal. At about 20.00hrs just as it started to get dark, we were driving along through the lovely Kentish country side, a deer runs out in front of the car. Lucky for all, I was only doing about 30mph but still not able to avoid hitting the animal. The deer disappear into the wooded area and I pulled over to make checks. Damage to bonnet, headlights, grill and side wing. The air bags never went off as it was more of a glancing blow to the deer, thank goodness.
And then the game starts with the insurance and getting the car booked in for repairs. One of the surprising things that I found out is, 40,000 - 75,000 deer accidents per year in the UK, with around 12 fatalities , makes you think!

It's good that nothing happened to you guys. Still, it's sad that it took so much time, but probably there are a lot of frauds going on lately...
As well, maybe they should implement new ways of keeping the animals away from public roads

 

[14emerc]

My wife just avoided one the other day. And luckily she remembered advice that has been given to her by a police driving instructor when same happened 10 years ago on a Mercedes training day... which is "They often come in twos" - and sure enough another one came bounding out.

Richard

Having told friends and family, others also have had the "near miss". Got to say, it's quite frightening when it happens, I have a screen dash cam but forgot to plug it in...would have made interesting viewing.

 

[14emerc]

It's good that nothing happened to you guys. Still, it's sad that it took so much time, but probably there are a lot of frauds going on lately...
As well, maybe they should implement new ways of keeping the animals away from public roads

So lucky. It's a big animal and looks solid. Fur tufts were left in parts of the damage and I can see now how bull bars are needed in places like Australia.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Its a shame its illegal to pick up the dead beast and get it butchered, that would be some compensation for the damage while waiting for the insurers.

 

[markjay]

Its a shame its illegal to pick up the dead beast and get it butchered, that would be some compensation for the damage while waiting for the insurers.

I suppose this is to stop people from buying old bangers then going around ramming deer as a form of 'legal' poaching?

 

[14emerc]

I hit a muntjac deer in mine with only a few months of ownership...My insurance was quick turned the car around in 2 wks, new lower bumper, plastic tray underneath,re-spray redo the sensors on the bumper, silver trim...

I wanted MB to carry out the repairs, I turned down the insurance garage offer and then the dance started!

 

[artyman]

I was returning home from the body shop having just had a repair to the wing sorted having been damaged whilst in for a service. A deer shot out of the undergrowth and was punted into me by another car who didn't stop! Unfortunately for the deer it went under the wheels and suffered fatal injuries, it's hoof chipped one of my newly sorted wheels. Left me a bit shaken and sad.

 

[markjay]

I wanted MB to carry out the repairs, I turned down the insurance garage offer and then the dance started!

Interesting. I had the opposite experience with Aviva when my wife's Renault needed a repair due to an at-fault accident.

Aviva referred me to a garage they work with - Solus Accident Repair - apparently they are a national network of body shops that work almost exclusivity with the car insurance industry.

I booked an appointment, drove to their nearest branch which was anything but near - 45 minutes drive away in heavy traffic.

It was based in large premises, very busy and with a big car park packed with dozens of accident-damaged cars awaiting repair.

I arrived at the time I booked, reception was abandoned and I waited for 15 minutes in front of an empty reception desk.

When someone finally showed-up, he said they had no reference of my booking, and also said he had no paperwork come through form Aviva either, so could not go ahead with the estimate.

After some back and forth they agreed to inspect the damage anyway, but I had to wait for an hour until an 'engineer' became available.

When the engineer finally materialised, he walked around the car, made some notes, took some pictures, then said the report with the repair quote will be ready in two days.

I spent the next two weeks trying to obtain the report and quote from Solus... finally they gave up and told me they must have lost all the paperwork as they can find no trace of my visit or the engineer's report... and they still didn't get the paperwork from Aviva anyway... so they asked me to arrange another visit and have the damage inspected by an engineer all over again etc etc.

Needless to say I politely declined and informed Aviva I was taking the car to my local Renault dealer (10 minutes drive from my home - close enough to leave the car with them and walk back!).

Aviva said I will be charged £200 for having the car repaired in the garage of my choosing, above my usual excess, and that they will not provide a guaranty for the repair.

I said fine, then took the car to the Renault dealer. Aviva sent one of their loss assessor to visit the garage and agree the repair cost with the dealer, which they did.

The car was repaired to my full satisfaction and in a timely manner.

And for some unknown reason I was not even charged the additional £200 on top of the usual excess.

So all's well that ends well... and as for Solus Accident Repair - never again.

 

[ph47mf]

my friend hit a hedgehog the other day going round the bend, it was only a little bang and it went through the bottom grill of his c-class. when he got out he could see the poor thing limped out from the bottom and went back into the woods. probably won't last the day.

 

[zipdip]

A few years ago I had to travel twice a week to South Wales,and needed to be there by 6.00am,so in the dead of winter I am on the M4 ,I soon learned to stay in the middle lane at 3am in the morning, because for miles there is a large deer population,who seem to enjoy bounding across the motorway,I used to see them at least once a week,only once did I have to stop sharply because the last few were still coming onto my side of the road,I reasoned that in the middle lane I could go left or right to avoid them,I am not surprised there are over 40,000 deer accidents every year,as to how strong they are there is a video online of a Ram attacking a decent size male deer,the deer made mincemeat of him.

 

[BTB 500]

If a deer shoots out from undergrowth etc. by the side of a narrow road you have no time to react - one hit the car in front of me a few years back (broad daylight). I guess with wider verges you have more chance of seeing them coming, but not necessarily at night!

 

[clk320x]

A few years ago I had to travel twice a week to South Wales,and needed to be there by 6.00am,so in the dead of winter I am on the M4 ,I soon learned to stay in the middle lane at 3am in the morning, because for miles there is a large deer population,who seem to enjoy bounding across the motorway,I used to see them at least once a week,only once did I have to stop sharply because the last few were still coming onto my side of the road,I reasoned that in the middle lane I could go left or right to avoid them,I am not surprised there are over 40,000 deer accidents every year,as to how strong they are there is a video online of a Ram attacking a decent size male deer,the deer made mincemeat of him.

I often do this route at 4am in the morning. Thanks for the tip

 

[st13phil]

As well, maybe they should implement new ways of keeping the animals away from public roads

Deer have been around longer than the roads and tend to follow "runs" across the land that have been established (by their ancestors) for centuries. They are also very capable of jumping fences...

Hitting one when driving a car is bad enough, but hitting one when riding a motorcycle can be catastrophic. I had one run out on me while riding on a road in France. I was on a fully laden Honda ST1300, two up, travelling at around 60mph and the guy following me said at the next stop that he wouldn't have believed that an ST1300 could get air under the back tyre if he hadn't seen it himself

One of the big dangers is losing control while trying to avoid hitting the darn animal. A couple of tips I've been given are:

1. If it's too big to eat in one sitting then take evasive action, otherwise keep going even if that means hitting it
2. Aim for where the animal was when it first ran into your path - deer have a habit of stopping or changing direction and you have less chance of a collision if you aim for where it was, rather than trying to second guess where it's not going to be!

 

[SpoonJar]

my friend hit a hedgehog the other day going round the bend, it was only a little bang and it went through the bottom grill of his c-class. when he got out he could see the poor thing limped out from the bottom and went back into the woods. probably won't last the day.

When I first read started to read this, I thought the hedgehog went bang. Like driving over a crisp packet.

 

[Chrishazle]

Be thankful we don't have camels on the loose here! Years ago a friend was driving back from Dukhan to Doha (in Qatar) at night in a small Alfa coupe, camel wanders into road, he could not avoid it, so quickly ducked across the passenger seat. Car hit camel's legs, camels' body hit windscreen and roof, flattened the roof onto the seat backs! If he hadn't ducked across the passenger seat he'd have possibly been killed, instead he survived shaken but unhurt.