Octavia Scout vs. Deer

[silver1011]

Just hit a deer tonight, had all but stopped from about 45mph, was probably doing 20mph at impact.

 

It hit just right of centre and the grill has taken the brunt of the impact smashing a few of the vertical fins, snapping off some of the lugs that clip the fins to the chrome surround and mashing up several chunks of the black polystyrene that sits behind the grill and bumper.

 

Luckily no damage to the lower grill, bumper or headlights as far as I can tell. I'll have a proper look in the light tomorrow morning.

 

As long as there isn't more hidden damage I'll likely fix this myself. I've tried to look online but does anyone know how the grill is supplied, is it one piece or is it possible to buy the black plastic backing / fins separately from the chrome surround?

 

Anyone any experience of removing and refitting a grill?

 

Finally is the Scout grill unique? It has the Scout badge on the grill where the vRS (and Greenline?) badge would also normally sit, it is glued or clipped on, i.e can I buy any grill and refit the existing (undamaged) Scout badge?

 

I'll take some pictures in the morning.

 

As for the deer, it bounced forward off the car and onto a very wide and soft grass verge. I got out to check on it immediately and feared the worst, it was writhing around in apparent agony. As it happens I think it was just badly winded. After comforting it for a few minutes my wife spooked it as she approached and it jumped up and ran off to the tree line where is stood and watched us (breathing very fast and heavily). Unfortunately it was limping quite badly. I'm hoping it's leg was strained rather than broken.

[silver1011]

Found this on eBay, it even has the Scout badge, £80 delivered...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-OCTAVIA-SCOUT-2014-2015-2016-GRILL-FRONT-BUMPER-GRILLE-BONNET-5E0853653-/222314520570?fits=Car+Make%3ASkoda%7CModel%3AOctavia%7CCars+Year%3A2016&hash=item33c2fa5ffa:g:JzIAAOSwBLlVWlHb

 

Looks to be more substantial than I realised.

 

I'll compare this to the dealers price in the morning.

 

Think I've got the part number from it too: 5E0853653

 

Anyone have Elsawin to check for me?

Edited 20 November, 2016 by silver1011

[Gaz]

Sorry to hear Silver - well done for knocking the speed off and reducing the effect on both parties  :thumbup:

 

Gaz

[silver1011]

Cheers Gaz, luckily I had fair warning, deer #1 skipping across the road ahead of me so I was already off the accelerator and hovering over the brake.

 

Common sense should have prevailed at this point and anticipated that deer rarely run alone. My bad!

 

Fingers crossed it's OK.

 

Unfortunately the grill seems like a bigger job than hoped, a lot of threads on here suggest it's a 'bumper off' job and that the grill is bonded or plastic welded to the bumper.

 

I'm hoping that the grill I found on eBay linked above proves that it is indeed separate from the bumper.

 

Not sure I can be chewed removing the bumper at home.

[silver1011]

Absolute madness Skoda!

 

The front grill is now part of the whole front bumper, it cannot be ordered from Skoda as a separate item.

 

So if you hit a pheasant or crack a single fin on the grill you need a £358 bumper plus painting and labour, i.e. close to £900!

 

Luckily this daft decision was relatively recent so there is stock of the separate grill out there, I've managed to bag one and will have it fitted by a local backstreet body shop.

 

Be warned guys.

[Gerrycan]

Dear oh deer!

[Auric Goldfinger]

Dear oh deer!

 

I think Silver was hoping for cheap parts but he thought they were a little dear.............

[norsko]

The grill is welded to the bumper and is not a separate part on mk3 Octavia.

The used one for sale is removed from the bumper by "destroying" the welded plastic pins. You can normally glue it to your bumper insted of welding.

The bumper must be removed from the car to get access.

[silver1011]

Thanks Norsko,

 

I've bought the grill as linked in post #2.

 

It is a lease car so as long as it looks OK that is the main thing, I've no issue with the body shop attaching it any way they can 

 

I'm guessing a 'bumper-off job' will see a good chunk of cost for labour time too 

[silver1011]

All fixed.

 

The garage had to heat up the plastic tabs along the top of the bumper to release the broken grill, but were able to heat them back up again to hook them back over the new grill.

 

Once the bumper was off it was discovered that the impact absorption material (polystyrene to me and you) was badly damaged, which I guess is a sign it did it's job.

 

Happily a brand new one was only £11.72 plus VAT so was ordered up and delivered to the body shop within the hour.

 

All in all I paid £80 for the grill and £120 for the labour and new polystyrene pad.

 

£200 down and not even a venison steak to show for it.

[ExSEAT]

All the above costs helped contribue to this reflex based right foot stomp a few months ago...

https://youtu.be/PeGxwxccAcg

[johnrowley]

Hi silver

Just seen this - you know I live in sproxton deer on the a170 at the north end of wass bank are a serious problem. Reason is that duncombe park feed theirs and the wild ones have to cross the road to get to the park and steal the feed , I've hit 2 1 in a Range Rover ( no significant damage to rr but killed deer outright ) and 1 in a Mercedes e class 19k to fix and an ex deer . If it should happen again I can give you the contact details if a butcher who will collect said animal and butcher it for you at reasonable cost

[silver1011]

£19,000! 

 

Makes my £200 feel a little more palatable!

 

No butcher required this time thanks John. We had two young kids in the car, Christmas was nearly cancelled after they very quickly came to the conclusion that Daddy had just run over Rudolf.

 

First chance to see the car in daylight today after the fix, looks like new again, although I did have to remove some fluff from the lower grill 

[silver1011]

Think I'll have to do some more digging into the manual too, I was on the understanding that during an emergency stop the brake lights flash rapidly, then once you come to a stop they stop flashing and the hazard lights turn on. I had to manually turn mine on.

 

Another discovery though, an emergency stop overrides the auto stop/start button. I had stop/start turned off and the car turned it back on.

[johnrowley]

Sorry typo £9000

Was an e55

There is some Scandinavian setting in vcds to do that - I'm not sure they do it as standard

My merc did however and have a video somewhere of itvin action

Talking about responses in the case of accident

In an e55 rolled it on the a1 near wetherby came to a standstill every panel bent and much damage , computer helpfully advises "proceed to workshop - urgent"

[PetrolDave]

Think I'll have to do some more digging into the manual too, I was on the understanding that during an emergency stop the brake lights flash rapidly, then once you come to a stop they stop flashing and the hazard lights turn on. I had to manually turn mine on.

Only if the BCM has been correctly setup, when I was looking at the (over 2000) adaptation channels I discovered that it wasn't enabled on my 2015 Octavia.

[pist0nbr0ke]

In an e55 rolled it on the a1...

 

And your user name is?  :p

[susi]

Sorry to hear about you collision.

 

Do you not need to report collisions with larger wild animals (i.e. deer and upwards)?

[johnrowley]

Nope there is a very strange list of animals that you have to notify if killed in a collision with a vehicle , cats but not dogs for example

[silver1011]

Yeah, it is a bit of a grey area. I found this useful...

 

https://www.gov.uk/report-dead-animal 

[susi]

We have quite extensive inctructions, even in English :  http://riista.fi/en/riistatalous-2/responsibility/what-to-do-at-a-game-involved-collision-site/

 

If a deer-sized animal gets hit here, usually a representative from the local hunting group will be informed, and they will track the animal (usually with dog), and check it's situation.

[gregoir]

Nope there is a very strange list of animals that you have to notify if killed in a collision with a vehicle , cats but not dogs for example

 

Not correct, I just looked it up. I had to as I'd forgotten.

The Road Traffic Act 1988¹ only gives rules around certain types of animals: dogs, goats, horses, cattle, donkeys, mules, sheep and pigs.

 

If you hit one of these animals you are required by law to report it to the police.²

[KenONeill]

Not correct, I just looked it up. I had to as I'd forgotten.

The Road Traffic Act 1988¹ only gives rules around certain types of animals: dogs, goats, horses, cattle, donkeys, mules, sheep and pigs.

 

If you hit one of these animals you are required by law to report it to the police.²

Not strange, when you realise that the list is of animals classed as "domesticated or livestock". Cats and deer are classed as "wild animals".

[johnrowley]

how very silly of me getting my cats and dogs mixed up ....

[MoggyTech]

Friend of mine many moons ago hit a stray cow in his Montego. Car written off and he had to pay the farmer for the loss of the cow! I mean, it's not like he drove into the field, the cow was in the middle of the road in thick fog.