So on Saturday night a deer ran across and basically t-boned my front driver's corner. She died instantly she hit so hard. Limped the car home a couple miles as it was bleeding coolant and parked it. Damage includes fender, likely front bumper as it's no longer centered, driver's door won't open past 3 inches, and of course radiator/ac condensor not too mention possible suspension and structural damage. I am taking it to a great shop here in Alpharetta but want to make sure the adjuster doesn't under cut me on parts needed for perfect fix. I love this car but don't want a half-*** fix. Any advice? Any experts want to throw out an estimate?


I've had this car 6 years, 157,000 original miles of which 87k for me as I'm second owner, and I maintain and repair this baby myself. She's in great shape but not sure repairs won't be enough to salvage her. Thanks for any input.

Pete

 

Sorry to hear it. Glad you were not hurt.

Just had this happen last summer. Needed hood, door, fender, wheel, and body work on the rocker. Also got new rad and condensor and headlight. Cost was almost $10000.

I am guessing you are in the same ball park.

The question is what is the salvage value of the car and whether they will total it for that cost.

My car appraised at $28K at the time.

 

Ok thank you for the feedback! I was figuring mine may be in the neighborhood of $8,500 - $10,000 so thanks for sharing the cost for yours which sounds like you had a bit more damage. How many miles were on your car at that time if you don't mind sharing?

 

Easiest part of a whole car in terms of a collision to fix. You are lucky. Radiators are cake and so is the fender, door, and associated parts. It will be expensive to fix but thankfully it wont really depreciate the car a whole lot.

 

1999 Carrera 4 Cabriolet with 40K at the time.

 

My insurance guy went through the what it takes to total it equation. It will depend on the value they appraise the car at but I don't think you will be close to totaling it. To get the value they looked for recent sales of similar cars in the area. Here in Ohio they could not find comparable comps so they used some other tool to eval the value.


I am guessing the car will appraise for $18-$20K and they will fix it.


And you will get all new shiny plastic parts up front. Those take years off the car.


I am still in the process of finding a headlight that matches though.

 

Ok cool, thank you for the feedback. Yes it's not worth much to anyone but me at this point so I am not too worried about the car's value as she has so many miles and we all know the market for this car. :/

 

Yes I think that is likely what they will appraise it at although the market for us that know is likely softer for this car especially given my mileage. Still want to keep her but obviously don't want a screwed up 911 either. Funny thing is I just did the front bumper in October as a refresh. :/

 

We are living parallel lives. I hit the deer on a Friday. The weekend before I removed the front bumber and polished it and repaired the chips as best I could and cleaned the radiators, etc. Took an entire day. It was time well spent with the kids.

Then firday night... BAM.

 

That sucks man! I had just waxed her on Saturday. After loading the tow truck just now I noticed rocker damage too. :/

 

They can't replace the rocker (unless you have one of hte aftermarket ones on there) so they have to do filler/texture.

 

That's what I was worried about... Apparently adjuster will not be favorable for me. May need some market value support.

 

Ideally, you may have a camp with a winch and a frame, or a tractor with a lift or bucket to lift the deer up. You will also want plenty of clean water available, preferably from a potable water system with a garden hose and sprayer.

Tie a strong rope or strap around the animal's antlers, or under the head as high up the neck as possible. Some hunters prefer to hang their deer by the achilles tendons with the head down, but generally, the steps are the same.

Hanging head up makes removing the stomach, intestines, and bladder a bit easier, and is less likely to contaminate the meat when this is done...

 

Haha!!! This made my day man! Yes, well I know how to harvest an animal but unfortunately this deer was run over and drug another 60 feet by a couple DuraMax diesels in the time I was standing there watching! The cop who eventually showed manned up with his gloves and drug her to the curb, grabbed the leg that was left behind, and wondered why he smelled like ****!

 

Here's where I drew my inspiration: http://urlybits.com/2010/03/why-men-...dvice-columns/