General Hit a deer...

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General Hit a deer...

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Jun 23, 2014
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Morning all. My daily commute was ruined a bit today by the last second emergence of a muntjac from the foliage and into the front of my car.

Damage seems superficial, but the front bumper is cracked in 2 or 3 places and the front grill is broken on one side too.

Does anyone have any experience with similar damage and what action did you take? Am I best off taking it to a local bodyshop, garage or going through my local Fiat dealer (I'm guessing this will be the most expensive issue). How much is this likely to cost me?

I'm at work now, but if I get a chance later I will add some photos here.

This was in my 2015 500X, by the way.
 
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Morning all. My daily commute was ruined a bit today by the last second emergence of a muntjac from the foliage and into the front of my car.

Damage seems superficial, but the front bumper is cracked in 2 or 3 places and the front grill is broken on one side too.

Does anyone have any experience with similar damage and what action did you take? Am I best off taking it to a local bodyshop, garage or going through my local Fiat dealer (I'm guessing this will be the most expensive issue). How much is this likely to cost me?

I'm at work now, but if I get a chance later I will add some photos here.

This was in my 2015 500X, by the way.



I would just use your insurance approved repairer.
 
Morning all. My daily commute was ruined a bit today by the last second emergence of a muntjac from the foliage and into the front of my car.

Damage seems superficial, but the front bumper is cracked in 2 or 3 places and the front grill is broken on one side too.

Does anyone have any experience with similar damage and what action did you take? Am I best off taking it to a local bodyshop, garage or going through my local Fiat dealer (I'm guessing this will be the most expensive issue). How much is this likely to cost me?

I'm at work now, but if I get a chance later I will add some photos here.

This was in my 2015 500X, by the way.

Hi,
For a car that age you should make a claim on your insurance. You are obliged to tell them even if you don't make a claim. It's unlikely to be a write-off but could be expensive. Obviously if it is on PCP or similar you have to make sure it will pass the final inspection.

Robert G8RPI.
 
Really? How come?

Every car insurance policy I've had or seen has a requirement to inform them of any accident even if you are not going to claim. It's well know and publicised (google it). If you don't inform them and they find out later they could cancel your policy or refuse to pay out on a later claim. Most insurance assessors can spot previous repairs. I've had one try to refuse a claim based on a "poor previous repair". They changed their tune when I pointed out that they had paid for it a few years previously and it was done at a OEM approved repairer (at my insistence, they wanted to use a tiny "back street" shop).

Robert G8RPI.
 
Damage seems superficial

If the damage is superficial the cost of fixing it shouldn't be 'two deer'.

Actually, you were lucky. A neighbour of mine was travelling at speed at night on a dual carriageway when a deer appeared in front of him. There was a hell of a lot of damage to his car, which being old, was written off by the insurance company.

A word of caution - if you speak with your insurance company ask them for advice .. If you report the accident as such - irrespective of the fact that you're not going to claim - they may treat it as a reportable accident which can affect your NCD. I almost fell foul of that trap.
 
From my experience of mowing down wild life (which is sadly quite a lot) usually where the plastic cracks it opens and traps loads of the animals hairs in the cracks, this can make repairs a bit of a pain, however if the damage is superficial with some minor cracks then a local smart repairer are able to do a perfectly good job for a reasonable price. Likely to be a lot cheaper than your insurance excess. (Depending on your excess)

You'll want to be sure it's not damaged anything behind the bumper like parking sensors, wiring headlight washers or fog lamps.
 
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