It has not been a great week, I ran into a fairly large doe while driving home from work Monday night in my F Type (Jessica). I was traveling northbound in the left lane of a 2x2 divided highway, the doe crossed the south lanes jumping the barriers and stopped dead in my lane (big doe eyes staring at me). I never saw her until it was too late, I hit her at approximately 45-50 mph. This is a case where I really wish that I had a dash cam, I would love to know if I could have done something different to avoid the collision. The good news is that no humans were injured, the doe and Jessica were not so lucky. We are dead smoke in the middle of the rut here in Georgia, she was probably being pursued by a big buck, this accident could have been much worse had the doe ended up in the windshield or if there had been traffic behind me.

I dropped Jessica at a Jaguar certified body shop on Tuesday and the insurance adjusters have already done an initial quote for repairs. Looks like a new hood a new front end and a new radiator. So far insurance has been very supportive, for example they recognized that the car has a ceramic coat and speed film, they said no issues having all of that redone once the paint cures. Looks like this will probably be close to $18K and then a check for diminished value (Agency’s are legally obligated to provide in the State of Georgia)

Attached are a few photos of the damage and of the car broken down at the body shop. Venison sausage anyone?

 

Uuuhhgggg....it hurts to see a wounded F-Type. I guess deer are natural prey for Jaguars. You said the hood needs replacement?...in the pictures it looks un damaged.
Sorry you have to go through the hassle but glad your OK.
CRS

 

If you look at the 3rd picture, it creased right where it meets the front end (you can kinda see it if you zoom in). I was very glad nobody suggested pounding out the aluminum given the hood is $2,550 unpainted.

 

Ouch. I'm not that far from ya and it feels like every other day I see another deer roadkill on my commute. Always makes me think of what poor car hit it...

 

Dude, sorry to hear of your misfortune. Glad you and others (other than the deer) are unharmed.

 

She shouldn't have been standing there.

 

Sorry for your loss...we have plenty of them here and I have to drive 20 mph through my neighborhood at dusk or dawn as they roam in herds.
Larry

 

 

Been there, done that. And while I didn’t get the T-shirt I did get the fender; aluminum and $1,500 at the time. (Oh yeah. I didn’t hit the deer but the deer jumped a fence and hit me).

 

I hit one while riding my motorcycle. I didn't get a t-shirt either, but I did get some cracked ribs and a ride in a tow truck. The paramedics got venison.

 

Deer are idiots. One of them bolted out of the woods and it ran into the right REAR of my car after i'd already passed. Note: I was not driving backwards. Deer hunting season needs to be 12 months, not 2. They're a menace.

Insurance companies should give you a discount for every deer carcass you deliver to the agency.

./rant

 

A few deer where I am (obviously feral, not native), but not much of a problem.
The main problem here is kangaroos, just as stoopid as deer and they often jump straight onto the road or into your car with no warning at all. Not quite as big as deer but a full grown male red can stand over 6' tall and weigh 150 lb and do a lot of damage.
The biggest problem is ignorant drivers swerving to miss one and running off the road into a tree, only a week ago a woman driver died on the outskirts of Adelaide for this reason.
Then of course there is the Outback and especially the Northern Territory where you have to watch out for all sorts of large feral critters on the road - horses, donkeys, camels, water buffalo.
Never mind the native saltwater crocodiles that grow to over 20', although they are not really a road hazard.

 

Pretty much every day on the way to work in the fall I see a new carcass. Sometimes they are on the shoulder, sometimes they are still on the road and have been run over a few times. I think that the county has a guy who's full time job in the fall is collecting deer carcasses and disposing of them.

 

You know what is even more stupid? Reindeer. Was traveling in a borrowed car (Volvo) near Kiruna, Sweden. A herd of the animals just decided to cross the road as I was rounding a corner despite laying on the horn. One bounced off the bumper but I didn't kill it - it got up and rejoined the herd. Surprisingly didn't damage the car. After the event the herd just kept moving across the road without flinching!

 

Glad you are ok! You should make sure they move the deer crossing! That's clearly not a safe place for it!

 

 

Jessica is back in action, wonderful work done by Performance Auto Collision in Alpharetta GA. My insurance company Travellers was awesome as well, they never hesitated on doing everything right (choose your insurance company wisely). These are definitely expensive cars to fix, a bit over $18K on the repairs and I still need to replace the ceramic coating and speed-film once the paint properly cures. So it will be close to $20K all in, for basic front end damage hitting a deer. Also, I will receive a diminished value payout from Travellers as well (law in the State of Georgia).

A pic of Jessica when I picked up the car earlier today, very nice company at Performance.

It was a long 5 weeks, now I just need the weather to clear up...

 

Congrats! Hard to be without for so long!

 

Congrats she looks good as new.

 

Seeing your pictures hurt me somewhere deep inside, holy crap. Glad to get to the end and see its looking good as new and #1 on your insurance wisdom.