Hitting a deer in North Idaho – the lessons and the economics

I have lived in Northern Idaho for over three and a half years now. I have personally had two road incidents with animals. The first was with a domestic cat that I hit will driving on highway 95 near the border of Bonner and Boundary county. I was going about 55 mph, and the cat came running across the road before I could even react. It was killed instantly. Because of snow banks and the location, I was unable to pull over immediately, but had to drive half a mile to a pull out.

When I got out of the car, I was SHOCKED!

About 1/3rd of my bumper was completely gone. The splash guard around my tire remained but it was catching the air and pushing back on the tire. Luckily, I had a pair of strong scissors in my first aid kit and was able to cut the thick plastic away. The car was still driveable, so I continued to work. I was able to order a bumper on Amazon that was painted to match the color of my car. I also ordered a splash guard to replace the one I cut.

All total, this cost me about $350 to repair. I didn’t make a claim on my insurance because me deductible was $500.

Fast forward about a year and a half. I’m driving to work early one summer morning. The sun has just peaked over the mountains in the east so the light is coming through the trees on my left. I had just passed some hay trucks on the five lane highway, and was probably going about 63 miles per hour (speed limit on the highway was 60 mph). The sun is coming through the trees and then their are breaks in the trees so what I am seeing is light, then shadow, then light, then shadow.

Then deer.

It happened faster than I could scream. Just boom and my hood crumples up, I scream out. Getting my bearings, I start to decelerate and move over to the side of the road. Steam was immediately coming out of the car. I pull over and catch my breath. I get out and start snapping pictures.

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Here’s a breakdown of the damages:

• Hood damaged beyond repair
• Bumper destroyed (in the same place the cat destroyed it)
• One headlight damaged
• Honda symbol and grill usually below the hood, missing
• Radiator crushed and pushed in (fluid leaking on ground)
• Both side panels damaged (it was hard to open the driver’s side door)
• Windshield cracked from hood coming back

Miraculously the air bags did not deploy, and the car engine was not damaged. It was undrivable because it would overheat without the radiator working.

The lessons

Lesson 1 – I hit the deer on the stretch of highway that my wife and I had called “the gauntlet”. During our time living here, we had seen many dead animals on the side of the road in this area and had deemed it the most dangerous stretch of the highway. One evening coming home from a Christmas party, we had found a deer still alive with mangled back legs in the middle of our lane. We stopped and I pulled it off the highway, then called 911. Bottom line was, I knew this was a more dangerous area but commuting on it every weekday had made me less vigilant.

Lesson 2 – Three people stopped when I was on the side of the road. You can see the first person to stop in this picture. He was going the same way I was, so he had to flip around twice to get to me. He was a bit rough around the edges but very kind. He wanted to make sure I was okay and see if I needed a ride. One other local person pulled up checking on me as well. To this day I am moved by their compassion, and it really impressed me that it wasn’t anyone in a fancy vehicle. It was the North Idaho natives who cared enough to stop.

One other road maintenance vehicle stopped, but all they asked was if the deer got away. They didn’t seem concerned about me, or my plight.

Lesson 3 – It took about 50 minutes for the tow truck to get there. I had only a light jacket on, and my phone was low on battery power. The lesson for me here was to always have enough warm gear to be comfortable in the weather, and have the phone fully charged.

Lesson 4 – THE BIG LESSON – When I got to my work, I went to my insurance companies website and tried to file a claim. They would not accept it. I had paid cash for this car and thought I had sufficient coverage with liability and collision. I learned that most if not all insurance companies DO NOT cover animal strikes unless you have full coverage (aka comprehensive) on your vehicle. Apparently “collision” does not cover collisions with animals. This seems insane to me. When I looked at the cost of upgrading to full coverage it would have been $60 more a year. This was a painful, and expensive lesson to learn. My car was undrivable, and the repairs would have been more than the value of the car.

A word of advise, if you are considering moving to North Idaho, either choose comprehensive for your vehicles, or invest in a brush guard to minimize damage.

The economics

Here is a breakdown of the economics:

• I paid $4,100 cash for the car about 18 months prior. It was a hybrid, and my savings on gas was significant. I probably broke even because I saved so much money in those months of driving it.
• I spent $900 on snow tires for this vehicle, and the rims to put them on. I still haven’t found a buyer for them. Currently listing them on Craigslist for $299.
• I called Clyde’s Towing in Ponderay and they were able to hold my car until we could come and get it the next day. The cost was only $112 for the tow (since I was just outside of Ponderay) and they dropped me at my office. Super happy with their service.
• My father-in-law was able to find a junkyard that would take the car and even pay us $500 for it. I split the money with him since he did all the hauling and unloading. Not to mention taking it about 75 miles to the yard.

I hope this has been educational. The story does have a happy ending, as this turn of events made me start working from home, and I was able to get a replacement car for a pretty good price. A 2016 Toyota Corolla that my family has been very happy with so far.