The day started badly for my wife today. Only about two miles from home, she had just gotten her car up to highway speed when Bambi's mother decided to cross the road. This turned out to be a fatally bad decision for the deer and was more than a bit hard on my wife's new car. Thankfully, the only injury was to Bambi's mother. My wife limped the badly damaged car home, took the car my daughter normally drives and went to work. I got on the phone to the insurance people, got the car towed to the shop and had a rental car delivered. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Hertz will deliver a rental car, by the way. I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that we did not have a rental rider on our policy (since corrected now that the horse has left the barn, so to speak.)
I'm beginning to suspect that the deer are after my family, though. Just doing a rough count in my head, this is something like the sixth or seventh deer that has departed this vale of tears on the sheet metal of my wife's or my oldest son's cars through the years. It really is getting worse, too. We have deer running all over the place out where we live. A large herd is often visible down the road, not far from where my wife had her accident today, in fact. A couple were wandering through the backyard a few weeks ago. (Probably casing the joint.)
Anyway, a word to the wise. Check your coverage. A towing and rental rider for three cars only adds about $100 a year to a policy. It's cheap enough and it will lessen your out of pocket damages when Bambi finally catches up to you. And he will. My wife can't get them all, you know.
Thank Heaven your wife is alright.
Glad your wife’s all right. Jokes about conspiracies aside, the encroachment of wild animals on populated areas is becoming a serious problem. I fear it will have to get very bad, though, before people finally demand a change to hunting laws.
Yup. The sheetmetal can be fixed. So long as she’s ok, I can laugh the rest off.
Gaius -
Glad the Mrs. is a-okay. That can be very dangerous.
I don’t know where you are, but I believe the state where I live, if you hit a deer on certain roadways (state highway?) the state is at least partially responsible for damages … AND, in some instances, you are entitled to the deer!
My best friend’s daughter slammed two years back … 8 point buck!
Her dad hauled the buck home, and the antlers are “on display” …
Glad to hear its only a repair to the car. NJ has more deer now than 200 hundred years ago. Some towns hire professional hunters.
Your chances of missing a deer ago down dramatically as the speed goes over 50mph. Unfortunately you can’t go 50mph on a highway.
Another well known tip is if you see one look for the next one.
But a new car, drat! I can truthfully say I have never owned a new car that didn’t get damaged in someway within a month. One time a bear dragged a steel garbage can over the hood of a 2 day old car and scratched the whole hood.
I’ll see if I can get a picture up. This was a big, big deer – she was lucky as heck. Funny thing, though. Even with the heavy damage, her airbag didn’t deploy. I guess she hit it just right.
And yeah, it had to be the new car, not my 12-year old truck. (Of course, I might not have noticed hitting it in that beast.)
Glad the wife is okay. About 10 years ago or so, I installed whistling devices to my in-laws car up in NW New Jersey because of the deer. They have adhesive and you place one on each side of your front bumper. As you drive air is forced through and there is a barely discernable (to human ears) whistle that alerts the deer of your approach. I don’t remember where I found them but they worked well.
Here is a timely article about a local hunt in a fairly heavily populated area on NJ. Of course someone was screaming about Bambi.
http://www.1010wins.com/Hunt-in-Essex-County-to-Cull-Deer-Population/1542102
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If you hit the deer it is the deer’s fault.
If you miss the deer, go off the road and damage your car it is your fault.
This will put you in a position where you will more than likely get a ticket for any number of violations.
The best thing to do is brake in a straight line.
Do not try to avoid the deer.
“in some instances, you are entitled to the deer!”
This is (or was when I lived there) true in New York. I used to know a couple of guys who lived in a small town called Hemlock, NY that every year went out and bought themselves the cheapest junk car they could find that would pass inspection and could be licensed. They would take that car and purposely go out looking for deer to hit because they were allowed to keep any deer they hit. These guys would get 6 to 10 deer a year that way. Kept their families and several other relatives in meat all winter.