My wife unfortunately hit a deer last night. Luckily she's ok. She was driving her Land Rover Discovery (glad she was driving that tank of a vehicle) and nailed a deer at 75 mph on a major highway (she said it came out of nowhere). Needless to say, the vehicle was heavily damaged.

We have to wait till monday for the insurance adjuster to take a look at it. But the dealer she bought it from says that the damage is pretty bad, and thinks they might total the car.

However, if they decide not to do that and pay for all the repairs he is offering to do a trade in on it.

Here's the deal. My wife was totally in love with this car.

If the insurance company decides to fix it, will this truck ever be the same again?

What have your experiences been with vehicles after sustaining damage like this and being repaired afterwards?

All input appreciated.

What year is it?  Doubt they will total it.

Glad to hear she's ok!

Was there mechanical damage or just sheet metal damage ? If the running gear or frame got twisted up it probably will not be the same. If just sheet metal damage you may be OK.

 S-I

When I was a kid, we hit a deer at pretty high speed in our family car - a Volvo.  It had to be totalled.   If it was a big deer and it was hit head-on, I could easily imagine substantial damage to the Discovery.

If there is damage to the frame, I would definitely be urging the insurance dude to recommend totalling.  If there is serious damage, my experience is the car will NEVER be the same.

I hate deer - long-legged rats is right.  They eat my roses like it's a all-you-can-eat buffet.

I hit a deer while driving my wife's 00 Impala LS at about 50mph earlier this year. Damn thing jumped right out in front of me. I never thought the car was totalled, but it did receive some fairly extensive sheetmetal damage. Anyhow, a new hood, bumper, headlight, fender, door, and about $3000 from the insurance company later, I swear the thing looks better than new. And we have a lifetime warranty on the repair work.

If your frame, steering, and suspension aren't damaged, I'd say the your car will seem the same after being fixed. And if you work with the shop, it may even come out a little better.

I just hit a mule deer going 65 last month in my 1997 Subaru.  Did about $6,000 in damage.  the didn't total it, but it was close.  It is almost as good as it was before it went in.  Need to get one gap looked at.  The front end looks NICE now.  It was getting pretty worn.

All depends on the skill of person making the repairs AND whether the insurance company will pay for what is REALLY required to fix it!!

I have a 95 Z28 I bought as a total.  Had 4k miles on it and the left door post into the transmission.  I defy you to tell me it was hit.  Drives just fine, thank you.


NO aftermarket JUNK parts and highly skilled people result in a quality repair.  Cheap Taiwan parts, poor paint work, sloppy assembly, lazy frame machine operator, tight wad insurance company that refuses to pay PROPER price for repair equals a crappy car.  Lots of luck!

Did the air bags deploy? If so, its about $1,000-1,500 to replace them, and you can't go to the salvage to get one from a junker either. If they did deploy, your chances of getting the insurance company to fix is a whole lot less.

Good thing the misses is okay. I have heard stories that some people have been killed in a collision with a deer, because during the collision the deer flies over the hood and thru the windshield and kills the front seat passenger(s).

How would you like to have been the guy driving this Durango?

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The insurance company is your friend.....until you actually have a claim.

Have a mechanic (not a body & fender guy) check it over thoroughly and write a list of the mechanical stuff that is bad on the truck.

The adjustors is there for one thing:  to get their client/employer off the hook as cheaply as possible.  Have a witness there.  Ideally, I would put them off until you can get a solid estimate from the dealer.  What they WANT to do is press you into taking their lowball first offer.

When you do have to deal with an adjustor, ask if they have an adjustor's license, and if so, have them sho you evidence of that (it may be printed on their business card).  That may give them the idea that they better deal with you fairly.

On a valuable vehicle, if it looks like they they can save some dough by ignoring or not probing for mechanical problems, they will.

Example:  When my truck had some damage to the front, the guy didn't even look under the hood.

Guess what?  Even though it wasn't gushing coolant, the radiator  was screwed up, as I discovered later.  The asshole didn't even look under the hood.

On the other hand, if they think they can screw you better on ACV ('actual' cash value), they will pound ther numbers high enough to go over that.   It's a funny business.

I would insist on an estimate from a dealer's body shop, too.  (Give them the mechanic's list & estimate)

My bet is the adjustor is going to tell you that you have to accept aftermarket parts,   like the replica bumpers made overseas out of shit metal and half as thick.  This is when people start to get agitated.
It would be good to see what a lawyer says about that, but I believe in some states, insurance companies have lost in court over that.

The dealer will estimate repairs using OEM parts, but you better specify so.  If it's not driveable, the dealer may even offer to tow it there for estimate/repairs or have someone come out and look at it.

Think about that.  Do you want your wife driving around depending on the quality of some suspension part or front bumper made by someone in Seoul or worse, Peking? (fu** the PC spelling!)  That OEM front bumper may mean her life someday.

Be sure and mention how aftermarket parts diminish the resale value of your vehicle and how that's unacceptable to you.

Meanwhile, make sure and take advantage of the rental coverage if you have it, and make sure you tell the insurance company about it.  You want them to know their register is ringing every day.

Make sure they paint all the front panels, or you will be sorry down the road when the new paint and the old fade differently - ask the body people about a guarantee on the match.

Now then, your question about trading it in or selling it.  Just ask yourself whether you would buy it as a used vehicle knowing the damage it had sustained.

In spite of the repairs, I think you will have problems down the road.

It's a 98.


Thanks for the input guys. PRK, lots of good info, much appreciated.

We're all happy to help.  Good Luck

Damm they really do come thru the window.

There's a nice little piece of antler you can use for a knife handle lying on the floor.

If the vehicle is heavily damanaged it will never be the same no matter how skilled the person working on it is.  The doors & hood will never line up properly again.  This will let the seals will leak letting in water, cold air, and will make noise.  With an impact at that speed the frame might have twisted, tie rods get bent, the vehicle may shake and the tires will wear out faster.  If you like having a good newer vehicle I would suggest trading it.

You should have a full frame under the body so your odds of getting it fixed right are much better. As for the cost of repairs buying those genuine parts will not be cheap. (Are they made in the US or in england now days?)
For you city folk one of the reasons your rural cousins have those big a$$ bumpers and brushguards is because of this. A full size guard with guards all the way up to the hoodline can deflect a heck of a lot of animal not to mention the lesser brush and trees they sometimes see.
Another benefit of lifting your truck is deer tend splat against the bumper/grill instead of sliding under them. Much safer to bounce them that way than to take out the legs and have them roll into the windshield.
OF course if you catch them in mid jump (Like the dakota seems to have done) not much will help.
Every year quite a few deaths in Maine are from people hitting moose. Even Semi's lose when they tag of of those big boys.

Even moose lose when they play tag with me. [:D]

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Regardless of wether they total it or not the truck will still be "the one that killed a deer" in your wifes eyes. Hope they total it and get a new one. When I lived up north it happened fairly often and I know several people who have hit deer. The wives always were freaked about driving the vehicle after that. Get rid of it.

[beer]

Wow, your friends must have some really sappy wives. My wife could care less that her car literally blew the guts out of a deer at 50mph. Like I said, the thing looks better than new. If anything, I think she was glad to a lose a few rock chips up front.

Well recently I tried to take out a tree with my 96 ranger and I lost.. The estimate was for about 3800.00 and the truck was valued at about 6500.00 to 6600.00 and the airbag had deployed.. The ins co decided to total it.. I liked that truck had it since new in 96 with on 50k miles and 3 more payments to make

My answer to the thread topic is yes.

My best friends dad hit a deer one night back from their cabin in their 69 cougar. He clipped the deers feet and sent it flyin above the car and over it. All the deer did was leave a footmark on one side of the bumper.

Oz

And I'll chime in with another yes answer.  I hit a deer two years ago with my truck, and came out of it with just a bent running board on the passenger side.  I came over a hill at about 55 and saw three deer standing in my lane.   I hit the brakes, swerved into the other lane, and saw the deer that was furthest from the side of the road getting ready to run in front of me to the other side of the road (it was in the middle of the right lane to begin with...stupid deer).  I laid on the horn, hoping to startle it so it wouldn't run toward me.  No such luck.  BOOM! from the front.  THUD!  from the side.  "AWWWWWWWWWW......" from the driver's seat.  I pulled off in the next intersection and sat in the truck for a few seconds because I didn't want to see what damage had been done to my truck.  I dug out my flashlight, walked around the front of the truck, turned it on and looked.  And looked again.  And looked closer.  I finally figured out that the bumper hit the deer in the head, breaking her neck, and she spun around and got caught by the running board.  She was very tasty, although I did take some crap about eating roadkill.  

Hick [:E]

[b]Can You Hit A Deer, And Your Car Be The Same Afterwards?[/b]

Yes.

A few years ago I was driving a month-old Taurus wagon (company car) 60 mph down a two lane highway near home.  Two deer came up out of the ditch.  There was no time to brake nor much road shoulder to veer to, so I aimed the car for the little gap between the deer.  I hit one of them in the ass.  Fortunately there was a house with a yard light near the scene so I pulled in and inspected the car for damage.  No dents, no blood, no hair.  I couldn't believe I'd hit a deer and got away clean.  Of course, I couldn't find the deer either.  We both lived to tell the story!
 

I used to ramrod a ranch near Luckenbach in Gillespie County, Texas (deer capital of the world). My ex wife and I hit 22 deer in 1 year between Boerne and Fredericksburg (a record I hope will last for a long time)
One time she hit a deer in her 4runner and had a rental while it was in the shop, then hit another deer with the rental a few days later, got another rental and hit another deer and got another rental and hit another deer......for a grand total of 4 deer in about 3 weeks.

Another time I was driving my truck back to the ranch about 2am and a deer started to run across the road. So I decided to scoot in behind him and at the last second he stopped and turned back. The truck hit him and kind of launched over his body like a ramp and when it came back down started skidding sideways. I was trying to steer out of the skid and praying that the wheels wouldn't catch .......then of course they did and I started rolling and there was a 40 foot tall embankment on the side of the road. The truck hit the embankment and rolled up the embankment..........teetered upside down at the top of the embankment........then rolled back down the embankment!!! It made for a very interesting ride.  It ended up on its side. I grabbed my .45 and my flashlight and I had to climb out the passenger window. I found the deer and put 4 rounds of.45 hydra-shok into his head. Then walked 6 miles home in the dark in the middle of nowhere. Fun night!

Dude, you could build a video game around that story!