-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
T boned by deer (graphic photo)
- Thread starter taurusking
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Model S
As others have said, comprehensive covers animal strikes, whether bird, raccoon, deer, etc. Everything except a human, which is covered by collision insurance.
Deer whistles don't work. Save your money. What I do is slow down, even to a stop, when I see deer if I think they could run out in front of me, and I beep my horn as I get closer to scare them off. I don't proceed until they all scatter away, cross the road, or otherwise declare themselves. I expect that one of the stupid creatures might panic at the last second and decide to run right into my car. Did I mention I hate deer? They destroy my landscaping and my cars.
I live in deer country. Sometimes there are as many as 10 deer in my fields / driveway between the house and road, a distance of about 2/10th mile. It's crazy here. I just hit one with my truck a couple months back. Nothing I could do, I saw it, slowed down and it waited until the perfect moment to run out in front of me so I could have $1400 damage to the front of my pickup truck! 1 1/2 miles from my house. It bounced off the road and I guess it kept going because I went back the next day and never could find the body.
I always carry zero-deductible comprehensive on all my cars, but the old ones don't get collision as the value diminishes. But comprehensive is relatively cheap and given my luck with animal strikes, it is a must.
Deer whistles don't work. Save your money. What I do is slow down, even to a stop, when I see deer if I think they could run out in front of me, and I beep my horn as I get closer to scare them off. I don't proceed until they all scatter away, cross the road, or otherwise declare themselves. I expect that one of the stupid creatures might panic at the last second and decide to run right into my car. Did I mention I hate deer? They destroy my landscaping and my cars.
I live in deer country. Sometimes there are as many as 10 deer in my fields / driveway between the house and road, a distance of about 2/10th mile. It's crazy here. I just hit one with my truck a couple months back. Nothing I could do, I saw it, slowed down and it waited until the perfect moment to run out in front of me so I could have $1400 damage to the front of my pickup truck! 1 1/2 miles from my house. It bounced off the road and I guess it kept going because I went back the next day and never could find the body.
I always carry zero-deductible comprehensive on all my cars, but the old ones don't get collision as the value diminishes. But comprehensive is relatively cheap and given my luck with animal strikes, it is a must.
Panoz
Member
brucet999
Active Member
Let's not get carried away with Tesla safety.
A 15mph side collision with a 180lb deer would have done less damage to any steel-bodied car and I can't imagine any car built in the past 90 years in which the people would have been injured.
- - - Updated - - -
Deer whistles? Are they ultrasonic? How do they work?
Super_Popular
Well-Known Member
EarlyAdopter
Active Member
Here in SoCal, just getting the rear 1/4 panel replaced (no structural damage, just a dent at 5mph) was $15K.
beeeerock
Active Member
Agreed. What I've drilled into myself and also my stepkids when I took them out learning to drive: If you see one, there is almost always at least one more, hiding in the bush, on the other side of the road... somewhere. Don't fixate on the one you've seen - start searching for the others as you try to reduce your speed to stop. You'll think you've avoided hitting the one you saw, only to run smack into the one you didn't see.
Hey, good luck to you with Liberty Mutual. They. Are. The. Worst. Have your claim escalated to a supervisor immediately. The claims adjuster will want to schedule with you fairly quickly, make sure you get his contact info and his supervisor contact info. Stay on them twice a day.
HankLloydRight
No Roads
Can you elaborate on this? What would have happened if the door mirror did shatter? It looks like it was snapped off.
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
rocketdallas
Member
Wow, that would have scared the hell out of me, coming out of nowhere. Hope your repair process is smooth.
HankLloydRight
No Roads
Electricfan
Active Member
Deer whistles make noise - would there be any chance they'd interfere with the car's ultrasonic sensors?
tinm
2020 Model S LR+ Owner
The other day I was driving along a long straightaway on a 2-lane rural road that runs parallel to Interstate 25 in New Mexico, and just a second or two ahead of me on the road, suddenly two mature ELK ran across the road, at full speed, in single file. These things were really booking, I reckon they were going 35-45 mph. (I looked it up and Elk can run up to 45 mph). They basically crossed the road in a flash, with their hooves touching the asphalt maybe twice in huge hops like deer.
Here's the thing -- they were headed south, but due south of this little rural road is the huge I-25 freeway, which was maybe 100 yards beyond the side of the road to the south. I was wondering where the heck do these elk think they're gonna go? I doubt they crossed the freeway, but who knows, they were moving so fast, any fence would not have been an impediment.
If one of those elk had hit my car, it would have been a real disaster. These things were as big as horses, prolly weighed 700-800lbs. Had no idea there were wild elk in these parts. Ever since I've approached this area with more caution.
Here's the thing -- they were headed south, but due south of this little rural road is the huge I-25 freeway, which was maybe 100 yards beyond the side of the road to the south. I was wondering where the heck do these elk think they're gonna go? I doubt they crossed the freeway, but who knows, they were moving so fast, any fence would not have been an impediment.
If one of those elk had hit my car, it would have been a real disaster. These things were as big as horses, prolly weighed 700-800lbs. Had no idea there were wild elk in these parts. Ever since I've approached this area with more caution.
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
To you and the others who pointed it out: thanks, didn't know that. I totaled a car a few years ago with a deer — the most common cause of accidents here — but since the car was 20 years old I didn't have collision/comprehensive on it and I just rented a tow dolly and towed the car to the local metals recycling center and scrapped it. Qué será, será.
The problem with deer here is that our "highways" are all single lane in each direction so on-coming headlights make seeing deer impossible. I never saw the deer I hit until the impact, being blinded by truck headlights. Now I try even harder to never drive at "deer-o'clock" and to slow way down when I do have to drive at night. If people want to pass me, fine. I've also tried to train myself to not swerve when I see a deer; running off the road, over-correcting, and losing control leads to more serious crashes than just trying to brake and plow through a deer. But hitting an elk or moose would be bad news. Lots of elk (and deer) migrating here in the next few weeks...
Last edited:
Thanks Cyclone...Yes I meant driver's window...the small triangle piece of glass broke and shattered with some pieces thrown inside the car...
Had the big window shattered then I would have swerved to the right and hit the metal reinforcement on the bridge.
- - - Updated - - -
I hope so...Thanks
