So on my way back home tonight
a deer popped in front of me.
Tried to avoid it as much as possible,
But was on the expressway going 71-72.
I veered left and hit it with my passenger headlights
Impact speed was around 45 (thanks brembos)
Even damaged my rear bumper somehow?

Sad sad day no issues in 6 years of ownership.
Never had to go through insurance before,
Any advice?

Edit:
Sigh... Forgot I recently just switched my full coverage to liability.
I was ready to put the car in the garage for winter too.

Everything will be out of pocket. What's most cost effective way to fix my car?

From my quick look over these are the damages:

Passenger fender
Headlight
Rear bumper

And this frame needs to be straightened



Edit:
Next day pictures

 

Man I am sorry to see that.

 

that is the radiator support, no big deal. this is about 5-7k depending on when the sheet metal comes off the car. my father owns a tier 1 body shop just to support my numbers
gl

 

Wow I do not like that estimate lol. Sadly I just switched my full coverage
to liability 2 weeks ago Was going to store for winter so didn't think I would need it. So, everything is going to be out of my pocket.

I was thinking I could do it myself? Just need to pickup used parts in the classifieds.

Is it pretty difficult to straighten out the radiator support or can I just replace it too?

 

Unless you have previous autobody experience, and a pretty impressive garage setup, this really doesn't look like a DIY kinda project.

 

So better to have a body shop straighten/replace it out? Then I can install everything else? Can't be too much pounding it into shape right heh?

 

So sorry man.

 

Kind of offtopic but did the deer make it? I always take backroads where I live, and the deers pop up more often then you would think. The loud exhaust seems to help clear the way sometimes.

 

Its mostly gonna be prep and paint work that generates the bulk of the labor bill. You can source the panels yourself though since parts from the OEM will be $$$$. You wont have to worry about color since you will be repainting everything anyway. Replacing the radiator support would be one of the things you could do yourself, if you have welding gear and some experience welding.

 

Sadly it did not make it tried my best to avoid it. Weird thing is I was thinking about venison jerky the other day. I think this is a sign.
Exhaust didn't work this time It just stood there frozen and watched me bump him.


IF I purchased paint matched used parts already, what prep/paint work is there to do?
I am so busy this weekend so I guess I will wait till next weekend to tear it apart.

 

Don't worry, you did the best you could. This is just the struggle of mother nature and modern day inventions.

That radiator support portion that bent right above your headlights can almost always be bent back using a towel and some elbow grease.

Depending on your deductible, you might be able to get away with bolting on a new hood, pass. fender, headlight, and rear bumper yourself. Although those parts all cost a good amount painted.

-pal215

 

even if you found all the panels in the right color, it still probably wont be the right color. For every paint code there are variants. They would still need to be blended otherwise you would be able to tell they where a different color.