Got a deer tonight, first one in 12 years of driving, only a muntjac mind. The little bugger caught me a bit by surprise, barely registered it was there before I hit it.

In short, its cracked the front bumper in 2 places, smashed the fog light assembly and busted the headlamp washer on that side. Fortunately it doesn't appear to have damaged the radiator or anything else as it hit the corner not the middle.

So the ultimate question, how much? What do you reckon it'll cost to fix it. Need to decide on whether it'll be an insuramce job or not....

I took out a muntjac deer in my Mk 1 Octavia 4X4 Estate. It was a head on hit at less than 40mph and the deer went straight under the car. The repair involved a new bumper, radiator, air con condenser and a piece of undertray plus a small dent on the front of the bonnet. I claimed on my insurance and paid the first £200 of the £1200 bill. While it didn't affect my protected NCB the premium increased by 25% the following year. I had to declare the no fault accident for 5 years on my car and it affected my wife's car insurance premium over the next 5 years as I was a named driver. In hindsight had I known what the repair bill was going to be I would have paid it myself rather than claim.

It depends if the bumper can be repaired.

 

Insurance companies will simply swap the whole thing.

 

Chips Away etc. are now getting very good at plastic bumper repairs, do not under estimate what they can hide.

 

Assume a few hundred quid for a mobile repair, £20-£30 for a new foglight and £15 for the headlight washer cap, plus painting.

 

You might find that once bits are being stripped off more damage may become apparent.

theres a couple of cracks, but may be worth a shot. I didnt think they could be repaired!

I'd avoid the insurance unless it's really going to be a lot. More hassle than it's worth.

 

I run a big excess becuase I know I'm only going to claim if it's massive damage.

 

Still was the deer tasty? Mate of mine clobbered a roe deer the other week. Damaged his van but he's a bit of an outdoors man so he dressed it at the side of the road and in the back of the van it went. Every cloud etc

Edited 16 February, 201511 yr by Aspman

I had the same thing as DJW ( Dennis). Claimed on my insurance. Didn't affect my NCB as it was protected but the premium increased by 25% next renewal and I had to declare it a no fault accident for 5 years. I t makes shopping around for quotes very difficult. I would avoid the insurance route.

Edited 22 February, 201511 yr by Discusb