Stupid Deer - Trying to figure out the damage

[naiku]

Yesterday we hit a deer while driving into town, last night I got around to taking a look and it seems that it did a fair amount of damage. What I can't tell for sure is what all is damaged. At the moment it looks like the bumper has broken clips along the drivers wheel well, the 5 screws at the top of the grill had all popped up some and one is missing entirely, the airdam on the bottom of the bumper popped out a little (looks easy enough to pop back in), there is a crack through the grill, one side has popped out and the chrome is all wrinkled up, additionally something behind the bumper is pretty well destroyed, but I can't figure out what this is.

What is this...

Bumper hanging off:

Wrinkled chrome:

Crack through grill (sorry, blurry picture):

Airdam popped out:

Grill popped out:

Assuming I need a new bumper and grill, what is that piece behind the bumper all smashed up? It does not appear to be part of the bumper, but looks plastic. I am trying to determine if I should replace the parts myself or go through insurance.

Most annoying piece is I hit a deer in our other car a couple weeks ago, not as much damage, just a fist sized dent on the hood, but annoying none the less.

Thanks.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Can you post a full picture of the front ?

Depending on you deductible, I would check salvage yards for the front clip in same color. It may be cheaper. If your deductible is $ 500, then it would be close and may be worth a body shop do it.

PS: How did you post the pictures ?

 

[naiku]

My wife just left to head to work in it, but I will try to get a full picture of the front later today. From what I could tell there are no obvious panel gap issues, the hood closed a little differently which I suspect due to the grill being pushed up. My deductible is $500 (99% sure it is anyway!!) which is why I may start checking salvage yards / eBay etc. assuming that front clip is easy enough to remove.

Is the smashed up piece behind the bumper just some plastic molding that is easy to remove? or part of the bumper?

Pictures are hosted on imgur...... Used to use photobucket until they screwed every forum on the internet!!

 

[Explorer_PL]

I don't remember details anymore, but I took my whole front end off 10 years ago when I mounted my snow plow on it, it would probably take an hour to remove. Headlights are easy, then just bunch of clips, some bolts. I recall the biggest pain was the wheel flares/trim pieces, and the wheel liners.
If you can find same color bumper cover, for around $ 100, then it's worth it. If it costs close to $ 300, I'd let shop do it and pay deductible.

Are you talking about the actual bumper/absorber piece ? Don't recall what's in there, but I assume that's the piece that should take the blunt of impact in the collision.
That may cost extra.

 

[naiku]

The piece in the first picture, whatever that is may be the line between insurance or paying out of pocket!! I may try removing the bumper and seeing what else may be damaged behind it, especially if the bumper comes off fairly easily.

 

[tripplec]

Odds are higher that the pieces snapped off and are not popped. Mounting point are likely broken.

Take it to a body shop for an estimate and go from their.

 

[96firephoenix]

Based on some quick googling, there are 4 major components up there that you'll need to replace based on your pictures (in addition to any broken lights): the plastic bumper cover, the impact foam (you mentioned something broken inside the bumper), the header panel (the headlights mount to this), and the grille insert.

The wrinkled chrome is hiding cracked plastic or fiberglass.

This was roughly $200 worth of junkyard parts on my explorer (including a headlight), but I would expect it to run into the $5000 range at a body shop, and possibly total out your explorer if you submit to insurance.

 

[naiku]

Well, it gets dropped off at the body shop Monday, total so far is a little over $1,680 for parts and labor. They said it may go up some when they start tearing into it (pretty much to be expected, the headlight, for example, has no visible broken tabs, but it was pretty loose) and that it should take 3 days to repair. $500 deductible sucks, but not much I can do about that. I figured even if I sourced the parts myself it would have likely ended up $300+ then have to pay someone to paint the bumper which at that point I am in deductible territory anyway.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Right decision...

 

[naiku]

Thanks, looking forward to getting it repaired. Now to figure out the rental car if I want to bother, we have a spare vehicle, but pretty sure the insurance said we also have $600 rental car allowance. Might be nice to get something different for a couple days!!

 

[PotatoExplorer]

When I had my Mercury Sable and wrecked on the PA turnpike during a snow storm, I went the same route and I also have the same deductible amount as you. It was right around Christmas and New Years so the $500 for them to fix her up was awesome. Especially since I didn't have to jump around and figure everything amidst all the holiday bull crap. I also have rental on my policy and ended up getting a 2012 or 13 (I can't even remember when that was... but it was brand new) Dodge Charger for several days. It was only a base model, but that made me seriously want an SRT8 of some sort. Then that fueled my itch for a new(er) car... and here I am today with this POS Explorer D J/K, J/K). I still wish I had a 300 SRT8... Anyways, moral of the story - get a rental that sucks so it doesn't make you buy another car.

 

[naiku]

This is going to sound like a dumb question, but having never had to use insurance before, how does the rental car thing work out? Do I just rent a car and tell them to bill my insurance?

 

[Explorer_PL]

When I had mine in shop, you would call a rental place, give them your insurance carrier and case number. Usually, the insurance allows something like $ 29.99 or 39.99 per day, so if you rent something from higher class, you'll pay the difference out of pocket.

 

[naiku]

Doubt I will even both if it's only $29 or $39 per day, just looked at the rates to rent something here in town and a Nissan Versa would be the largest class covered if the insurance is only up to $39.

Will likely be more hassle than it is worth, a Jeep Renegade is almost $70 a day and is nowhere even close to the Explorer in terms of size and unlikely options either. Time to go see if I can find out what the insurance will cover.

Well, here is what it says on Progressives website:
Yes. Economy rental car for up to $50 limit per day. There are two types of rental car cover that Progressive offers:

• A rental car as a free additional benefit under Comprehensive or Third Party Fire & Theft cover if your vehicle is stolen
• You can also purchase rental car for an incident other than theft for an extra premium under Comprehensive cover.

In both cases, we will arrange and pay the daily fees for an economy-type rental car up to the current daily limit of $50/day.

Now, per the rates of the local Enterprise here that can get me a Nissan Altima sized vehicle, not great, but might be nice to ride around in for a couple days. Just noticed that info is from the Australian website though........ will give the insurance company a call!!

 

[Explorer_PL]

OK, 50 is not bad. Just watch out for taxes and fees, those can add 10-15 a day easily.

 

[PotatoExplorer]

Hmm, that's weird? I hashed out everything with my insurance company over the phone.

I have State Farm and the process went something like this -
1) I called to report the accident and described the the damage and how the accident happened.
2) They emailed me a list of State Farm approved auto body shops for me to take it to to get an estimate
3) I scheduled the time to get the estimate with the auto body shop and took it over during my scheduled time. They took about an hour to inspect the vehicle with me present and then wrote up a detailed estimate with all the parts and prices
4) The auto body shop submitted the estimate to State Farm where State Farm then approved the estimate and could either cut a check directly to me to get the repairs done at an auto body shop of my choosing or allow me to take it to a State Farm approved auto body shop to handle everything where I wouldn't have to figure out anything with checks or money, all that happened directly with State Farm and the auto body shop.
5) I called State Farm to let them know I wanted to take it to the same place I got the estimate from and they set up the scheduling and since I had rental on my policy, they would have an Enterprise rep there when I dropped off my car
6) Dropped off my car during my scheduled appointment, Enterprise rep was there waiting for me. I had a selection of like 3 cars that they actually kept at the shop(I think because I was the first customer of the day I had options as far as which car to choose from), signed a few papers, walked out the door and drove the Charger away laughing manically.

I do like State Farm. It's the best insurance company I've ever had and I've had everything from Nationwide, Allstate, Progressive and Safe Auto.

 

[Dag06XLT]

Check your radiator supports for damage by grabbing the bottom radiator and see if moves front to back at all feeling loose. If it does, look down the side of radiators while someone under moves it back and forth. If you hit something underneath, the supports will crack vertically and the radiator will move. Expensive to fix as everything has to come out and each support is $150+.

 

[07EddyB]

Hmm, that's weird? I hashed out everything with my insurance company over the phone.

You must have had an accident during the week. Ours hit on a weekend so we used their web site.

I really have no idea why I'm still with them at this point.

 

[07EddyB]

Check your radiator supports for damage by grabbing the bottom radiator and see if moves front to back at all feeling loose. If it does, look down the side of radiators while someone under moves it back and forth. If you hit something underneath, the supports will crack vertically and the radiator will move. Expensive to fix as everything has to come out and each support is $150+.

Good advice - they aren't supports - they are radiator cradles.

 

[PotatoExplorer]

You must have had an accident during the week. Ours hit on a weekend so we used their web site.

I really have no idea why I'm still with them at this point.

I believe it happened on a Sunday if I'm not mistaken. I was coming back from my uncles cabin out in western PA at the close of the 2nd week of the PA deer hunting season. My local office was closed so I called the main 1-800 line which I believe is open 24/7.