[Holton345]

Well, I hit a deer. Drove home. Went to the clinic. "We don't do vehicle accidents here. Sorry, it's an insurance thing." FFS - What???

Set up a meeting at a body shop to meet a USAA claims adjuster for tomorrow morning. Back hurt all morning quite badly, but got much better with some of that Salonpas gel that my wife rubbed into my lower back, where there was a small lump. It is gone now and I feel more or less fine - just a bit stiff.

To burn off my anger at the morons at my local, small town clinic I spent the rest of the a.m. looking over my 2015 Accord. It will be okay, but I have like a $500 deductible. I am guessing this will be about $4,000 above my deductible.

After some time on my back letting my back calm down I went back out and spent about four hours working on my 2001 Accord (300,000 miles) replacing four small coolant hoses for the EGR, throttle body, IAC and the large heater hose pipe that all live between the firewall and the block. I do not have a cherry picker to raise the engine out, and my large forearms and hands got all cut up from repeatedly running my arms up from under the car, then down from up top, futzing with the dang hose clamps, which I reused. I will probably - some day, perhaps, maybe - get new ones. I used Gates hoses from RockAuto.com (a website which I love). Note that the Gates hoses have a larger OD, so the hose clamps DO NOT SLIDE OVER THE NIPPLE BULGE IN THE HOSE without much cursing, rending of clothes and gnashing of the teeth. Seriously. If you used Gates hoses, BUY NEW HOSE CLAMPS THAT FIT! The Honda hose clamps won't make you smile, and in the super-tight, frustrating spaces some of this stuff lives in you will sorely regret having hose clamps that are too small to slide over the bulge in the hose after having been installed. And there is not any room for you hand or a tool to try and have the clamp on the pipe until you get the hose up to it. I tried it. You have to be able to rock the clamp back and forth a lot to walk it over the end of the hose. No room. Sorry.

What a lousy day. But the 2015 is covered. It *will* be whole again one day. I hope. ;-) And the 2001 is *finally* ready for its first actual drive of more than the distance around my block after three years of being parked. I did a ton of cleaning and replacement to this car. It now runs as smoothly and quietly as the 2015.

I love my Hondas..

 

[Lowniss37]

Always sad to see a damaged Accord. Glad you walked away..not sure if the deer did. I love the 2001 you have. Toss some rims and tires on it and *drool*

 

[salcuta]

Glad to hear the insurance is taking care of it. Did the deer make it?

 

[VFR4Lee]

Venison for dinner, I hope.
The car could look worse. Could look better.
Hopefully you are OK.

 

[redline2011]

Sorry to hear about the accident, but damn that is a good looking 300,000 mile accord!

 

[Holton345]

1.) Deer - See that dent in the hood? That was the poor girl's head. She died on impact. I actually dragged her body off the highway and apologized. I felt terrible. The rest of her group made it across, though.

2.) Doctor - My back hurts. I will go to a different clinic tomorrow and hope they will see me. The one today told me they would ONLY see me after a vehicle accident if I paid cash UP FRONT. Seriously? How do you bill out medical services before you know what they are? And CASH? That will be like $400+ dollars ($85 for the office visit, plus X-rays, drugs, etc.) and you want me to pay in full and get reimbursed by my car insurance company? I have used my BCBS there for the last decade. I am a regular, too, as I have diabetes. I think I will be spending my time and money elsewhere. I am not hurt. I just need some muscle relaxants. Unbelievable...

3.) 2015 - I think the 2015 will be fully restored. I just need to figure out the deductible funds, which will be a challenge, but not impossible. Bad time of the month to have to suddenly come up with that much cash, though. Unfortunate...

4.) 2001 - Thanks for the comments. My experience with Accords (1982, 1994, 2001, 2010 and 2015) has been that at 250,000 miles everything starts to die at once. If you start preemptively replacing stuff around 200,000 miles (as needed) and stick to a schedule of parts purchases you can keep up, and as with my 500,000 mile Volvo 740, eventually the cycle of death stops and you have what amounts to a new car, mechanically. This one has a new radiator, the tranny is a dealer-installed reman from some reputable place like Jasper or some such. The tires are new and good. I am currently sanding all the silver paint off the plastic wheel covers and painting with Krylon Fusion for Plastics rattle can paint. It works very well. I am also stripping and repainting the 14" 4 bolt steelies, which look as bad as the wheel covers did before all the work. I will polish up the headlights again. The first time we had this done they ended up looking like new and that lasted for five years. A repeat os definitely in order as nothing makes a nice car look "old" more than crappy light lenses. Also, that is a budget paint job, in the 2012 Civic color called "Dyno Blue Pearl 2" which is a great color, I think. (I got tired of the banged up 2001 and its faded silver paint. These guys did a nice job on the body work and a so-so job on the paint.

When the 2015 is fixed up I will post some photos. If I am happy about the work I will share the name of the shop. If not, I will sit around and swear at the television for awhile. ;-)

Thank you all for the comments. I needed a place to vent. I love my Accord and this one is my favorite so far (next to the 1982 I had back in the day). I am *very* sad to see it all bashed up like this.

 

[rookie]

Glad you are okay! That sucks [emoji20]. You might be a little low in your estimate a you need a new hood and grille too hmm. But yea all can be fixed.


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[UnknownJinX]

Sucks that happened to your car. Hopefully, there is not any mechanical damage.

You know a clinic is good when they refuse to treat you because they want to know if you have insurance first. Hope you feel better soon.

As for the deer... I have heard some people telling me that they are not exactly the smartest when it comes to avoiding vehicles. I see a couple of them around at night and luckily, I drive slow enough to brake for them and they are also smarter than I thought. Also heard that if you hit a moose(insert Canadian jokes here), you might die while the moose walks away.

 

[wghummel]

My experience with Accords (1982, 1994, 2001, 2010 and 2015) has been that at 250,000 miles everything starts to die at once.

Uh oh, I just hit 250k last week...

 

[Holton345]

Uh oh, I just hit 250k last week...

Dude, RUN! It's gonna blow!

Glad you are okay! That sucks [emoji20]. You might be a little low in your estimate a you need a new hood and grille too hmm. But yea all can be fixed.

Initial estimate today was $4700± from a strictly visual (no disassembly) inspection. My deductible is the same whether they find mechanical damage or not. USAA has always been really great to me in times like these. I am fully covered. There is some structural damage to the A frame that runs around the radiator and upper fender edges. The subframe seems to be fine. The car drove about 120 miles today without issue, save for the new and exciting lack of aerodynamics. I hear more engine sound, too. The hood is bent up on the driver side, but it seems to be audible from the passenger side, so maybe something in the exhaust was tweaked loose? Whatever, they will fix it.

I am betting that this will come in @ $5500 total. All that paint, the windshield, the steel panels and all that plastic, and internal damage, to boot. Ugh...

 

[HondaBob]

As for the deer... I have heard some people telling me that they are not exactly the smartest when it comes to avoiding vehicles. I see a couple of them around at night and luckily, I drive slow enough to brake for them and they are also smarter than I thought. Also heard that if you hit a moose(insert Canadian jokes here), you might die while the moose walks away.

Yeah, can't imagine hitting a moose. Deer are bad enough and they can actually kill you too. That's why my personal speed limit at night here in the wilds of central WI is 45-50 MPH. I figure that gives me a fighting chance to avoid them.

 

[seldomseen]

That's the same sort of deer damage I had to one of my previous cars, repair cost was around $7,000. It's amazing how much damage a suicidal deer can cause to a car!

If you get a cool appraiser they may be willing give honest feedback on body shops that do excellent work.

 

[Miker]

Glad to hear the insurance is taking care of it. Did the deer make it?

Your question reminds me of this Chicago Legend and his animal stories.

 

[Merc6]

Initial estimate today was $4700± from a strictly visual (no disassembly) inspection. My deductible is the same whether they find mechanical damage or not. USAA has always been really great to me in times like these. I am fully covered. There is some structural damage to the A frame that runs around the radiator and upper fender edges. The sub frame seems to be fine. The car drove about 120 miles today without issue, save for the new and exciting lack of aerodynamics. I hear more engine sound, too. The hood is bent up on the driver side, but it seems to be audible from the passenger side, so maybe something in the exhaust was tweaked loose? Whatever, they will fix it.

I am betting that this will come in @ $5500 total. All that paint, the windshield, the steel panels and all that plastic, and internal damage, to boot. Ugh...

Yeah hopefully it pulls though, hope your pain is also going away soon. USAA is good at getting stuff fixed but took ages to total out one of my cars. I still have them for most my stuff. a few companies came close to cheaper rates but it all went to hell when they couldn't match my renters insurance.

Sucks that happened to your car. Hopefully, there is not any mechanical damage.

You know a clinic is good when they refuse to treat you because they want to know if you have insurance first. Hope you feel better soon.

As for the deer... I have heard some people telling me that they are not exactly the smartest when it comes to avoiding vehicles. I see a couple of them around at night and luckily, I drive slow enough to brake for them and they are also smarter than I thought. Also heard that if you hit a moose(insert Canadian jokes here), you might die while the moose walks away.

Deer here are like people, Smart on their own but idiots when in a group. When I see 1, it usually stands on the side of the road and waits for me to go or come to a complete stop at a stop sign. I remember when I saw one and I stopped because I didn't trust it. That deer took 2 minute to get across that frozen over road looking like Bambi. Wish I had a decent phone to take a pic then, Moto V505 was cutting edge back then.

As for the crashes, people end up hurting themselves more or others when they swerve to miss the deer. I'm not saying I'm pro mow the sucker down, just saying don't kill everyone else trying to save an animal who is gonna repeat this process over and over till it's finally killed.

 

[qman]

If you put that deer in your freezer it pretty makes up for the deductible.

 

[Holton345]

if you put that deer in your freezer it pretty makes up for the deductible.

bahahaha!!!

 

[Das Chicken]

1.) Deer - See that dent in the hood? That was the poor girl's head. She died on impact. I actually dragged her body off the highway and apologized. I felt terrible.

If the deer is dumb enough to run out in front of a car at speed, it deserves whatever comes next. I just cannot understand how animals like deer are scared away at the sight of a person, but are completely unfazed by a MUCH LARGER and LOUDER car coming towards them. Adding to that, their reaction while sitting on the side of the road is to run out IN FRONT OF DANGER, instead of AWAY FROM DANGER (forest). I just don't get it. They also do the same for trains, which are a whole other level of BIG SCARY AND LOUD, yet they still manage to kill themselves with their own stupidity.

Animals.....Pfttt...

 

[Merc6]

If the deer is dumb enough to run out in front of a car at speed, it deserves whatever comes next. I just cannot understand how animals like deer are scared away at the sight of a person, but are completely unfazed by a MUCH LARGER and LOUDER car coming towards them. Adding to that, their reaction while sitting on the side of the road is to run out IN FRONT OF DANGER, instead of AWAY FROM DANGER (forest). I just don't get it. They also do the same for trains, which are a whole other level of BIG SCARY AND LOUD, yet they still manage to kill themselves with their own stupidity.

Animals.....Pfttt...

I think that way too, is there a part of nature somewhere that feels like a roadway with lines painted beneath their hoofs? As for scared away by people, the ones here are used to us. I had one in my driveway blocking us from getting in. I literally drove at it (A FEW TIMES) broad daylight and it still wouldn't leave. Eventually I got it back enough to get into the house and it finally left.

 

[200366HFP]

If the deer is dumb enough to run out in front of a car at speed, it deserves whatever comes next. I just cannot understand how animals like deer are scared away at the sight of a person, but are completely unfazed by a MUCH LARGER and LOUDER car coming towards them. Adding to that, their reaction while sitting on the side of the road is to run out IN FRONT OF DANGER, instead of AWAY FROM DANGER (forest). I just don't get it. They also do the same for trains, which are a whole other level of BIG SCARY AND LOUD, yet they still manage to kill themselves with their own stupidity.

Animals.....Pfttt...

So you've obviously never heard the phrase "Like a deer in the headlights".

Apparently, deer have not been trained to "look both ways before crossing the road".

You'd really think after thousands of killings, they would learn from their mistakes! LOL

 

[enne]

Until they develop the ability to pass information on to other generations, we'll just have to assume all deer are just suicidal.

You'd think they'd see/smell their dead brethren on the roads and stay away. Or the loud roars coming from the highways. Horses can smell death, and it will make them turn and run, I don't know why deer don't do the same.

If their natural predators hadn't been all but eliminated in North America, they would still be afraid of things. Our reward for killing off and driving away those predators is severe overpopulation, agricultural damage and vehicle accidents/deaths caused by deer.

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