Hit by deer

I had just pulled out of my driveway at Oh-dark-thirty this Wednesday, saw a deer cross the road in front of me, which is not unusual, and looked to see if any more were with it. Not seeing anything else, I proceeded carefully but heard a loud noise at the right front quarterpanel.

I never saw what hit me, but judging by the fur on the car, I know it was another deer. The front bumper was hanging off, DRL was separated, wheel cover was cracked and a couple of things under the hood were damaged, including the windshield washer reservoir. Don't know what else, as I never saw it in daylight. Just drove back to the house, switched cars and went on to work. Wife handled the rest.

Now driving a POS 2011 Nissan Altima that was filthy when my wife picked it up, French fries in the seats, childrens' drawings left behind. Dirty on the outside. My insurance company made the arrangements through Enterprise, and I will be complaining to both companies. The first thing when I got in the Nissan and headed to work, the tire pressure warning came on.

Body shop will also remove the front tire and see if anything else behind it got damaged, so I'll update if we hear anything else. Only $100 deductible, so it only hurts when I wish I were out of the Nissan and back in the Prius.

 

I was going less than 30 mph, but I don't think the speed was much of an issue because the deer pretty much hit the side of the car near the front. The wraparound part of the bumper popped out on the side, which is what caused the DRL to look like it was bashed in, but I think the light just stayed where it was, and the bumper moved forward. So there was really no damage to the very front of the car other than the bumper coming loose. No headlight or grill damage. Body shop is thinking about $1,600 if nothing else is discovered, which I thought was surprisingly low.

 

Well, this is a small-town Enterprise, one-person operation that had only one car available. Insurance pays $30/day. We're paying nothing, but I don't know if it's because the Altima rents for less than that or if it rents for more and the insurance company didn't have much of a choice.