Hit A Deer

[kaze0]

Just hit a deer on the way to work this morning. Just wanted to vent and cry.

[Andrews Chalmers]

Just hit a deer on the way to work this morning. Just wanted to vent and cry.

Sorry to hear - I presume that you are physically ok? How is the car?

[kaze0]

I'm ok. My hand is just burned a little from the airbag.

The windshielf is cracked, lost the passenger side view mirror. The hood and side panels are pushed up and smashed in, passenger side door hits something when you open it, leaking anti freeze, radiator looks like it was damaged and pushed in. It drives though...

[shakoz]

awww...i am sad for you, the deer and the car.

[keanucosmo]

I can definitely sympathize with you. Hit a deer in my Vette last August. Glad you are OK.

[blindsnyper]

I can definitely sympathize with you. Hit a deer in my Vette last August. Glad you are OK.

holy crap, a moment of silence for the vette...and the V

[Great White Versa]

I can definitely sympathize with you. Hit a deer in my Vette last August. Glad you are OK.

That looks more like you bumped something while trying to park. How slow were you going when you hit it?

As far as deer hittings go, these sound like you two were pretty lucky.

[reyes1212]

That looks more like you bumped something while trying to park. How slow were you going when you hit it?

As far as deer hittings go, these sound like you two were pretty lucky.

There's what looks like deear hair on the cracks by the side.

[bucksnort]

I'm reading this while eating some venison wieners. Tasty. Got any pics? Did you keep the deer? I remember a couple of years ago going across the Pinelands of Jersey at about 4 AM on the way to the shore and there had to have been hundreds of deer along the road in a 35 mile stretch. They were only little golden retriever size. Not the brutes we have in Wisconsin. I've hit plenty of them, in fact the biggest taken not with a gun but a shiny grill.

[kaze0]

Doesn't look as bad in the picture as it does to me.

[keanucosmo]

That looks more like you bumped something while trying to park. How slow were you going when you hit it?

I was doing 45-50 when I first saw it, not sure about when I hit it. I was braking as hard as I could. The Vette is so low, it took the legs out from under it & then the deer hit the hood & went flying over the car. There is a hoof scrape on the top just behind the windshield. I feel very lucky that it didn't come through the windshield.

Yes that is deer hair in the cracks.

Complete Pics are here. http://picasaweb.google.com/jlmayo1/DeerWreck

[Xtrykr]

Well, at least you can salvage the deer for its parts and get another Versa with the $$$!

[frankoV]

[Doesn't look as bad in the picture as it does to me.

Looks bad enough. Tears for the car (even if it is a hatch).

[Ever Victorious]

That does look pretty nasty, actually... Between your air bag popping and the obvious damage, that's going to be a pretty hefty bill to your insurance company. I don't think a deer is big enough to cause frame damage, but if it did... could POTENTIALLY edge your car towards totalling.

[SpeedyV09]

My question being kind of odd but would you say that the Nissan Versa lived up to its amazing safety reputation??? Odd but being a new driver and being in a somewhat populated deer area I'm just curious???

[kaze0]

I guess so. I didn't really make any contact with the airbag besides my left hand, or perhaps I was just so shocked I didn't realise the airbag hit me?

I didn't lose control at all.

And didn't get hurt at all except for my left hand which I seem to have made worse today. Ripped some skin off by using a band aid that was too strong. oops.

[keanucosmo]

That does look pretty nasty, actually... Between your air bag popping and the obvious damage, that's going to be a pretty hefty bill to your insurance company. I don't think a deer is big enough to cause frame damage, but if it did... could POTENTIALLY edge your car towards totalling.

It does look pretty bad.

[daan]

I killed an Explorer with a deer once. I love eating them (venison, not Explorers) but I hate that they are everywhere so I always have to worry about nailing them. I hit one in Oct or so, the truck got fixed, then hit another one in March with the same truck. The insurance guy said it's considered "act of God" and doesn't count towards my premiums so my insurance never went up. Oh yeah, sorry to see your crunched Versa, at least you're OK. Cars can be replaced, YOU can't! And deer are like cockroaches, if you see one, there's 543256432 more you can't see.

[kaze0]

$11,000 worth of damage. They won't total it. Any suggestions on how to fight this with Geico? I want it totaled.

I want to cry.

I don't want this car for the long term, is it best to get it repaired and trade it in towards a new Versa or hold on to it for a year or two then trade it in?

[bulld0g]

$11000 hmm.....carbon fiber hood.....sport grill.....sport package front bumper

[frankoV]

How much are you willing to lose on the trade?

[kaze0]

A few thousand? Is that unreasonable? Ugh, I have $17,099 on my loan. And buying someting new I'll lose tax, title, etc.. again $600 is gap insurance, which I guess I can get most back if I cancel it.

Is there anything I can do to make this not feel like a total trainwreck?
Modified by kaze0 at 7:09 PM 4/23/2008

[Andrews Chalmers]

$11,000 worth of damage. They won't total it. Any suggestions on how to fight this with Geico? I want it totaled.

I want to cry.

I don't want this car for the long term, is it best to get it repaired and trade it in towards a new Versa or hold on to it for a year or two then trade it in?

Why don't you want it for the long term??? If Geico is willing to pay for the repairs, get it repaired and keep driving it.

[kaze0]

Why don't you want it for the long term??? If Geico is willing to pay for the repairs, get it repaired and keep driving it.

I don't think it's going to be as problem free as I would like. And whenever there is a problem, I have to figure out if it's a Nissan warranty issue or warranty issue with the repair shop.Plus there's chance I'm moving out of state soon, so if any problems arise out of these repairs I can't really do anything about them. Is that being too picky?

[Ever Victorious]

I wouldn't say that's too picky. My first V didn't drive right even after almsot $8000 in repairs. Cracked torque rod, and Nissan never ended up getting the replacement part for it. I couldn't wait around for it, so I ended up trading the car out for a used Subaru (basically even trade, I walked out of the dealership with the Subaru's title in hand, no loan, and only $200 light in the wallet).

Ended up getting another V after finding that the seatbelts in the old Soob wouldn't fit my kid's seat, but that was 6 months that I was allowed to build up a new down payment for a new V.

$11,000 should be totalling... MOST insurance companies, if a car gets to 75% of replacement cost, will total. Your GAP insurance would eat the difference between the total settlement and your loan amount. Geico MIGHT be doing this because they think you owe too much on the car and that totalling it would hurt you financially.

[bucksnort]

Tell them you're taking it to the fancy pants auto body repair place and see if they change their minds. Something about extra things found during disassembly will bounce the price. At the least get the car fixed at a place that has a nationwide warranty.

[kaze0]

Is there anything tax wise that I'll get a break on they wind up totaling it? I'd hate to have essentially paid double the state tax for a new car.

[keanucosmo]

Is there anything tax wise that I'll get a break on they wind up totaling it? I'd hate to have essentially paid double the state tax for a new car.

Maybe. I was in the same situation last year and had to pay sales tax each time. I did not have to pay the annual Ad Valorem tax. They said if you bought a car within 60 days of when it was due, that you were exempt.

If it is fixed & you want to trade it, I would do it immediately, hopefully before it shows up on Carfax. Once that type of repair shows up there you will probably not be able to sell or trade it without taking a real beating.

Also in Georgia, insurance companies have to pay money for diminished value. That might be a clincher for it being totaled. It might be worth talking it over with a lawyer.

[kaze0]

Called Geico's adjustor today and was told they don't have a threshold value or actual cash value for the car cause it's so new. I emphasized that I'd prefer it be totaled. So we will see what happens.

[Ever Victorious]

Called Geico's adjustor today and was told they don't have a threshold value or actual cash value for the car cause it's so new. I emphasized that I'd prefer it be totaled. So we will see what happens.

Interesting, since there have been at least 2 other Versas on this board that HAVE officially been totalled by their insurance companies. And my insurance company (Pemco) was easily able to come up with a threshold value when V#1 was wrecked (though my repair was easily under it). In October 2006.

Sounds like the Gecko is giving you some bad service.

If they DO total it, swallowing the sales tax on the new car is a very small price to pay for getting out of the car clean (thanks to your GAP insurance). You're talking what, $1500 at most? As opposed to having the car totalled with no GAP, you'd be looking at somewhere around $5000 you'd have to pay off, and you'd still have to pay tax on whatever car you bought.

Edit: There's a relatively easy way to show your insurance company the cash value of your car. Just go to autotrader and look up used versas with your trim level and transmission. That will give you a ballpark. Find a couple with similar mileage, and there's your value. There should be enough of them available used to show a pattern to Geico.