September 18, 2012 - Deer vs. Car

 In a terribly ironic twist of events, C hit a deer on his way up to Wyoming for his annual hunting trip. For deer. As it turns out, hitting an 80ish pound animal in a PT Cruiser going 75 miles per hour down the highway (in the dark) is pretty bad for all parties involved. C is okay. The deer and the car? Not so much. No, we didn't get to keep the deer, because my husband was not going to trek back down the highway in the dark to find it. So a new car is in our future, and our PT Cruiser is dead. *sniff* I loved that car. We put 160,000 miles on that baby in the 6+ years we had it. It brought both our kids home from the hospital. It came with us when we came home from our years in Washington.

If you want to know what happens when you hit a deer, here are pictures of our car.

  The engine casing is cracked.

The radiator is busted. There are hoses completely destroyed.

Not to mention the body work.

In sum, parts or labor alone would total the vehicle, and while the mechanic said he "could" get it running again, "it would die in about 10 miles" so it's not really fixable. Total bill would have been $7000+. We'll be getting a new car.

Also, just in case you're curious, here's how the insurance, etc went down. We have State Farm, so obviously I can't speak for other carriers. Our agent and his office are fantastic. The corporate people are less fantastic, but they do listen.

They had some communication issues with their sub-contracted tow company and the garage, and we had to intervene in to get the car to the mechanic. Fortunately the mechanic knew the guy that my dad and C hunt with (yay for small towns!) so that wasn't as hard as it could have been. If you are ever in the Sheridan, WY area and need auto work, I highly, highly recommend Xtreme Auto Body. The guy actually even covered the towing bill while State Farm's corporate (or whatever) office was trying to figure out their shit.

Anyway, once the car was at the garage, the shop made a list of what work needed to be done and how much it would cost. The insurance adjuster looked at that and at the car, and they made us an offer for the value. They calculated the value based on NADA and the features we had/didn't have. We had comprehensive coverage, and they subtracted our deductible ($1000) from the total they gave us.

So...for the moment, we're going to borrow my mom's car. Since she's in Hawaii for the next 6 months for work and doesn't need it.

P.S. C got his pronghorn and 2 (additional) deer, just like always, so we're set on red meat for the year.