Last year I was on my way home from work. I normally take back roads as they are less crowded than the main roads. Anyway, I going down the road doing maybe 40 mph when there was a loud BANG! I looked over and my driver’s side mirror was gone. I knew what had happened since I had had this happen once before. A deer had run into the side of my car. I never even saw him. About a quarter mile down the road, I pulled off to the side. I got out, and the saw what the deer had done to my Civic. It had caved in the driver’s side door, dented in the rear door, dented the front fender and dented the rear quarter panel. There was even a little bit of deer hair stuck in the door handle. It had munched the entire driver side of my car. I got back into the car, and now the driver’s side door wouldn’t stay latched. I drove down the road holding the door closed. Actually I really only needed to hold it closed when I braked, or when I turned to the right. Then it would want to swing open.
My Allstate insurance agent’s office was on my way home, so I stopped. My agent wasn’t there, but one of his associates was. He said that I needed to call the 800 claims phone number.
So when I got home, I called the claims number. They would send a tow truck to come pick up my car. I needed to pick a place to do the repairs. They had a recommended shop. I really had no preference, so I said okay to their recommended shop which was a Pontiac dealership.
My car was quickly picked up. They assessed the damaged and to my surprise, they didn’t declare my car totalled. They gave me a time estimate for when the car would be ready. They had to order new parts including a new driver’s side door, a new skin for the back door, a new mirror, etc. It was going to be a week or slightly longer.
So while my car was in the shop, my wife and I shared one car. It was a pain, but I didn’t want to have to pay for a rental car.
A week came, and the car was still not ready. It took a little longer than they thought to get the parts. Then they had to paint them, and install everything.
I eventually got the car in close to two weeks. Everything looked good. Then spring came. I found that the window didn’t roll down smoothly. No need to roll down the window in the winter. And the first time I washed my car, I noticed some overspray on the rocker panel. And when it rained hard, and was windy, water would drip down through the weather seal on the driver’s door. I called them up and made an appointment for them to fix these things. They had the car for a day, and I picked it up. The rocker panel was fixed. I found the window was still not right. It rolled down smoothly, but cocked when I tryed to roll it back up. I took it back, and they tried again. After several tries, they got the window working okay, but not as good as it had been before the deer hit me! I also found they broke the little plastic cover for where the sideview mirror adjuster is, and had used double back tape to hold it on. It fell off. I got tired of taking my car back to the Pontiac dealership. In hindsight, I regret having chosen them to do the repairs, and will never use them again! I wish I had chosen the Honda dealership where I normally have my car services. I think they have a body shop.
Since then, I had the driver’s side door handle break. Actually was a connector inside the door. I took it to Honda, and they found a plastic part appeared to have been exposed to heat, and had failed. There was also a metal part that was bent or twisted. I am guessing this was related to the deer and following repair. It cost me about $270 to get fixed. The good news is that my window works better. I am guessing the part was bent when the deer crashed into the side of my car.

Posted by Rob in My Car on May 7th, 2009 | No Comments