Well actually it was more like the deer hit me.

Just driving to pick up my daughter and taking a short cut through a fairly wooded part of Monmouth county NJ and from nowhere a deer decided he's giving me 20 feet of braking distance in an 40 zone.

Thankfully no one going the other way so a sharp turn and I managed to get him from dead center aim sitting in my back seat, onto my front passenger corner and rolled him down the side.

Look in my rearview and he's running off into the woods, although knowing deer and adrenalin he probably went 50 feet and died of the broken neck.

Anyway, no physical harm.

Front headlight case is intact but the inside is smashed to pieces, makes me wander whats behind it that's been smashed.

Hood has a fold near the front right edge, I woudl bet it has a wave across it as well.

Passenger side door has a nice crease across the horizontal 'detail' that Evo's have in across the doors (just to make it really hard to fix.

General scrapes, scratches and deer **** down the side of the car.

My biggest concern is is there anything critical in the front right corner that I need to make sure is double and triple checked.

Also, do I report this to the police? How does the insurance work if I don't have a report? This will be just perfect if my rates go up because of this.

Anyone got any thoughts?



EDIT HERE'S THE PIX:

Passenger rear door dent:


Nice fold at the edge of the hood:


Inside of the headlight is pretty much trashed:



I think the deer pushed the headlight and the front of the fender in, which is my only concern, what's behind here that could have been damaged:



As you can see behind it the main beam plug has been crushed against the back, it looks like the headlight sits maybe 1/4" further back, although all the top brackets are intact:



Gotcha:



Can someone add a 56k warning to the thread title, thanks.

 

Sorry to hear about that man!!! Btw a picture is worth a thousand words

 

I'll get a pix up tomorrow first thing, it's way to dark right now, plus it's really not that much visible damage.

As I say I'm more concerned that the headlight was pushed onto the "Johnson Rod" which is now bent and driving with a bent Johnson Rod will destroy my engine and my car will be ruined.

 

I am a insurance agent, u dont have to report this to the police. Nor do u have "have" to report this to your insurance. If u want reinbursment for some damages would be the only reason to file a claim. Hitting an animal will be a comprehensive claim, wich u would have to pay your deductable. Comprehensive claims may or may not effect the rate. It depends on the company, your current driving information, and the amount of damages paid out. "normally in my opinion" if its your first violation in anyway shape or form, it "shouldnt" effect your rate as long as the claim is under 1000 dollars. No way to say for sure with out knowing the company and all your personal info.

Ps if u want to file a claim make sure u do it soon.

 

Geico.

Deductible is 5 bills.

I want to make sure that I catch anything that might be wrong well in advance, should I take the car to the dealer and ask them to do a mechanical once over? Or am I asking for a shopping list of nightmare do you think?

 

Called Geico, have an appointment Saturday morning with the Insurance assessor.

So planning ahead so I walk in with a ballpark:

New front left headlight and fittings : $800 (OEM ordered from Mitsu?)
Dent repair on the rear passender door (on the bendy bits) : $400 ?
Scratch and small dents on the front fender, front door, bumper : $200
Bent edge of the hood, maybe a wave in it: $400

The body work is based of my $600-$800 quotes for covering the holes in the trunk.

Of course Geico will match whatever the body shop says that they agree to, but I wouldn't mind an idea before I walk in.

Also, I'm thinking of going to Union Body shop on RT36. Mainly because if there's mechanical issues, Straightline performance is next door (who I've been told know their way round an evo rather well).

Or should I just get everything done by the dealer and have Geico pay?

 

Hey if I file an insurance claim does this mean I'll have a carfax report listing.

Bugger bugger bugger.

 

Stopped by Union Body shop in Union Beach on the way to work.

Funnily enough they had a Black MR on the front with a big AMS IC which is also in for deer hit damage. Whoever that was, i hope you found your wallet.

Anyway, they had a quick look, said ball park they think it's 4k of damage, mainly the headlight, the fact that the door will need to be "skinned" and the entire side of my car will need tobe painted.

 

Could have been a lot worse.

 

I'm starting to sound like a crazy person because I've said it to everyone today, but i sware if I'd been driving any other car (almost any) other than the Evo there was no way I would have swerved as much as fast and breaked as hard.

I'm fairly confident that thing would have gone bumper, hood, windsheild, me, back seat and come to rest.

It wasn't huge, just a nice fit for coming straight through the sheild.

 

While you have your headlight cracked open. What's in that ball (foglight on SSL EVO). Is it complete blacked out? Can you possibly converted to a foglight?

 

Once it's off and replaced I'll crack it open and investigate, I'll post pix of the autopsy.

The headlight still works which is impressive - well actually all the bulbs except the main beam. Which sucks becuase the main beam are my $40 HIR bulbs I only just brought.

By some freak of coincidence, my HID kit arrived tonight by mail. Freaky timing, it's like a knew it was going to happen.