Miata + Deer =

"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
10/20/2014 at 18:13 • Filed to: None

I'm happy I'm safe and nobody was hurt, but this sucks. It was dusk on Saturday and a buck bolted right out of the woods in front of me- I was going about 40mph and had no chance. I did manage to slow down so his legs didn't go through my windshield. He flopped up on the hood and destroyed both of the headlights, then popped back up and kept on running.

I also have no collision insurance so I gotta eat this one. Every part in the mechanism is destroyed on both headlights. Even the bracket that the frame and mechanism attaches to is bent out of shape. I might be able to salvage those and the motors, but everything else is finished. Bummer. Watch out for deer guys, this is the part of the year that they go crazy.

DISCUSSION (27)

HammerheadFistpunch > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:19

damn deer, hate em.

They killed my first car.

The man in the iron mask > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:19

And those dents on the hood are his antlers or feet?

Leon711 > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:21

JGrabowMSt > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:22

For someone that's hit a deer before, I'm going to straight up say that you should go and buy a lottery ticket. You nailed a deer, and the only thing that broke were your pop up headlights? I wish I was that lucky. The deer I hit cost thousands of dollars to repair the car. You're looking at maybe a couple hundred bucks and a couple evenings getting them installed.

Car looks immaculate! Also, get a dash cam. Even if you don't have insurance, the dash cam is your insurance. I had a last minute louis try to cut into my lane in traffic on the way back from a car show. He luckily didn't, but after a full mile of traffic and not merging until the lane literally ended? Yeah, fuck you buddy, not in front of me. I've got a dash cam, and it's go your plate if you bump my ride. Have fun paying for the repairs on an SL600....He didn't hit me, thankfully, but I had the top down, so I pointed my dash cam to him and gave him the one finger salute.

If there's anything I regret with any car, it's not buying a dash cam sooner. All the silly things I've bought in life, and never a dash cam until a few weeks ago? Just stupid.

chuck07 > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:23

Do you have comprehensive? It is supposed to cover stuff like this or your car getting stolen.

mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/ > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:25

You don't necessarily need to have collision insurance. I found out after I paid for repair of my miata (deer as well) out of my pocket that I would have been covered. Call you insurance and check. I know for mine it is not considered collision.

Also I know how you feel ;(

D > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:25

Glad to hear you're okay. This sort of thing often turns out much worse for the car, the deer, and sometimes, you

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:25

Might be cheaper to go for some fixed lights to replace the pop ups.

pdx107 > chuck07
10/20/2014 at 18:26

bingo, that is what my deer was covered under

$kaycog > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:29

Been there, done that. I was speeding in the mountains. I almost got stopped but deer cracked my bumper and grill on my then new Ford Explorer. Deer was okay. It taught me a lesson to slow down.

Tohru > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:30

I've popped two deer, it looks like you got off fairly easy. No hood or radiator replacement needed.

Roadster Man > JGrabowMSt
10/20/2014 at 18:30

Yeah, I've been wanting to get a dash cam for a while. It's times like these that I wish I had one, if for nothing else than to see how crazy it looked.

On a 2-lane highway I am just as defensive as you. You either do the zipper merge or you pay the price and screw everyone else up.

The result is definitely less than I'd expect for a deer as big as the one I hit. It's funny you mentioned a lotto ticket- I felt lucky after this encounter so I went out and bought a scratch off ticket. I won $10 on a $3 ticket. That's the most I've ever won!

Roadster Man > The man in the iron mask
10/20/2014 at 18:32

Nah, those are pieces of glass. I was running Bosch H4 lamps with glass lenses.

Roadster Man > chuck07
10/20/2014 at 18:32

I do! Thanks, I'm calling my insurance company first thing tomorrow.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:35

Do basically the pop up actually like a safety feature. They stopped the deer from hitting and possibly lunching over your windshield. Good job pop ups! at least it didn't bend up that Aluminum hood.

crowmolly > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:35

Could be worse.

You could, say, hit a deer in a 3 month old vehicle doing 75 on the interstate causing $7700 in damages.

Theoretically speaking of course.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:38

I bet with those glass lenses that, that deer bled out later. When I hit a deer with my 91 civic the OEM glass headlights about gutted the little bugger. It was nasty. Some how tho the bulb itself didn't break which was good cuz I still had to deliver pizzas all night.

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:38

Kinja'd!!!

Roadster Man > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
10/20/2014 at 18:41

I was wondering about that, there was no blood anywhere on my car, not even on the edges of the broken glass. Even though he ran away immediately, I know I injured him pretty bad. I'm sad about that too, but even a deer should know better than to cross that road at rush hour.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:43

Headlights go up! Headlights go... Oh. For real though, that sucks. You are very lucky that it didn't go through the windshield, so you got that going for ya.

Blue 300 > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 18:56

Dedicated track car?

ranwhenparked > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 19:23

Deer suck. I've hit three with two different cars, got really lucky the last time - the bumper went right back into shape after straightening one bent plastic bracket, but the first time required 2 parts cars and like 4 months in the shop. Nothing you can do to avoid them, if it wants to jump in front of you, you're hitting it.

The roads around here start getting almost totally smeared with red about this time of year.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 21:04

Kinja'd!!!

My miata vs deer didnt turn out as well... :(

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Roadster Man
10/20/2014 at 23:04

Kinja'd!!!

Wait... You hit a deer and this is all that happened!?! Miatas are safe as hell

Roadster Man > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
10/21/2014 at 16:14

It's tough to tell from the pic, but the right one is destroyed as well. It's one occasion where I'm glad I didn't have an airbag (I have an aftermarket steering wheel and a momo hub on there). Getting socked by one of those would have made everything a whole lot worse.

Travis, Senna of The High Seas > Roadster Man
10/21/2014 at 23:22

darn those pesky woodland animals, maybe this will make you feel better

skip to about 30 seconds

Roadster Man > Travis, Senna of The High Seas
10/22/2014 at 15:40

Holy shit!