Rough repair costs following car/deer interface?

[Blue Oval84]

Friend has had a meeting with a deer this evening, and it didn't end too well for the deer...





Damage is that the bonnet is pushed back by a good 9 inches (and therefore kinks upwards quite a bit, but you can't see that in the photo), the bumper is clearly smashed, and the panel behind it is bent out of shape. Also he reported that there was a hissing noise at the scene which suggests to me the radiator is mullered too.

Any recommendations for cost effective places in or around Brighton would be appreciated, I was thinking that by avoiding anywhere too expensive it may still be economical to repair...

[Buff Mchugelarge]

Oh dear.

Portslade panelworks will do the trick.
Tell them Matt and Brian from the marina sent you

[MG CHRIS]

Hissing sound could well be air con leak as the air con rad is in front of the coolant rad. Without taking the bumper off it's really hard to tell how much damage it's done.

[Blue Oval84]

Thanks Buff, have passed that on!

MG Chris - the radiator at the front is bloody huge so I figured it was the coolant one, you're saying the one in front is the air con one? In that case he'll be laughing as he reckons it's definitely the one in front that was hissing, and there is no water on the road (couldn't be sure it didn't drain away on the drive home)

[MG CHRIS]

Blue Oval84 said:

Thanks Buff, have passed that on!

MG Chris - the radiator at the front is bloody huge so I figured it was the coolant one, you're saying the one in front is the air con one? In that case he'll be laughing as he reckons it's definitely the one in front that was hissing, and there is no water on the road (couldn't be sure it didn't drain away on the drive home)

From that picture yes I would say the front one is the air con rad most are situated in front of the coolant rad and you can see another rad behind it which is bigger (coolant rads are bigger than air con).

If the coolant did leak out it would of overheated.

[ecsrobin]

Blue Oval84 said:

Thanks Buff, have passed that on!

MG Chris - the radiator at the front is bloody huge so I figured it was the coolant one, you're saying the one in front is the air con one? In that case he'll be laughing as he reckons it's definitely the one in front that was hissing, and there is no water on the road (couldn't be sure it didn't drain away on the drive home)

IIRC when the civic decided it was hungry and ate a fox on the A1 the aircon radiator cost alot more than the standard rad.

[Blue Oval84]

Having had a look in daylight it does indeed look like the engine radiator is at the back, the only reason I say this is a good thing is that it means the car is still drivable without cooking the engine!

[Welshbeef]

If the bonnets possible to beat smooth will likely need painting
New bonnet latch
New slam panel
New grill
Any brackets broken on front bumper? If so new bumper + painting
New radiator


Any damage to the crumple zone? If so ... Gulp.

It might have buckled the chassis - unlikely but you don't know.


When I hit a deer visually all it had was a loose headlamp and a small crease on the bonnet and a dent in the wing.

It cost me £1.6k

New wing + painting
New headlamp
New wing liner - round the wheel
Headlamp washer
Brackets bent/ cracked.

I was not happy and I didn't go through insurance route I paid for the whole damage myself.

[Auntieroll]

That bonnet is scrap, where it's damaged is double skinned and would be impossible to panel beat flat without separating the pressings, the hinges and their mountings may also have suffered, did the deer hit the roof on its last journey?, if so...

The driver was extremely lucky to escape so lightly, when the wife of a mate of mine hit a deer the hooves and legs punched a large hole in the screen narrowly missing her, she was very late for work that morning.

[ShaunTheSheep]

ecsrobin said:

when the civic decided it was hungry and ate a fox on the A1

(poor fox btw, hit one myself once and had to go back over it again to put it out its misery, all while the GF was crying hysterically in the passenger seat... not nice!!)

[Skyedriver]

Had two deer strikes, not pretty. Can still picture the large head/antlers of the red deer as it peered at me through the windscreen, before sliding off. That was 8 years ago. Second was a roe that ran into me.
A friend on Skye, Rob (still there are you?) had a dee strike in his Caterham - now that was scary. Antlers punctured the ali bonnet before hitting screen, side, wings etc

[ecsrobin]

ShaunTheSheep said:

ecsrobin said:

when the civic decided it was hungry and ate a fox on the A1

(poor fox btw, hit one myself once and had to go back over it again to put it out its misery, all while the GF was crying hysterically in the passenger seat... not nice!!)

I had to drive from San Diego to the Grand Canyon a few years ago last minute. I did the majority of driving but by 2pm I was shattered so handed over the driving to a colleague. In the middle of nowhere a deer and a doe jumped out and we hit the doe. The driver was extremely shaken and he'd only been driving for about 30minutes. Luckily we were in an escalade and that was all damaged.

The next thing we hear an awful crying noise so assumed it was still alive. Me and another colleague had to crack out the knives and torches and go put it out its misery. When we came across it it was dead and it was the parent calling out. To this day I can still hear that awful sound and now I hate driving on dark country roads, if I can I will go a slightly longer route.

A month later I narrowly missed a deer on the A32 near Alton. That was a heart stopper as it was HUGE!

[Dave200]

Having seen the results of a gentle (<mph) front-end impact, that is likely to be expensive. The way that the panels are inter-dependent at that end of the car means that you are likely to have to repair/replace wings (inner too), slam-panel, bonnet, bumper. Not a cheap way to crash...