I hit a deer and busted the radiator and the ac compressor. I drove the car home about 6-8 miles. I have the parts but no one will help me. I was wondering what damage could I have from driving the car home?
When you hit a deer, you take out the radiator and the AC condenser in front of the radiator.
The reason nobody will help you is, you’re replacing the wrong parts.
Compressor?
Tester
Did the car overheat? That’s probably the immediate concern here.
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Yes the car overheated but no smoke.
Yeah that thing sits in front of the radiator and someone told me it was the ac compressor.
Year, make, model, mileage and what kind of insurance do you have? What kind of repairs can you do? There are people who can help you, they are mechanics and collision shops.
If the car is old enough and you want the a/c to work it might be time to call the junkyard but in te absense of more information , I am just guessing.
I have a 2005 Chevrolet impala. My insurance is basically useless. I’m going to have to take it to a shop soon. I was just trying to save money doing it myself but I dont know to much about cars.
you have a picture of the damage?
If you only have liability insurance then the insurance company does not have to pay to fix your vehicle.
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Very good captain obvious, I wouldn’t expect that someone with a $1500 vehicle to have full coverage insurance.
During the last 38 years I have never owned a vehicle that was less than 4 years old, never needed full coverage insurance.
Unfortunately people do have to finance vehicles that are that old which requires full coverage insurance.
Also a lot of people don’t even know what insurance coverage they have.
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The OP stated that their insurance is ineffective as would be expected on a low value vehicle.
To be fair, the threshold at which it makes sense to have full-coverage insurance is if the vehicle is worth $3k or more private-party. Unless you are buying cars with a salvage/rebuilt/reconstructed title, anything that is 4 years old is going to be worth way more than $3k and should be insured appropriately.
It is not the compressor, it is the condenser, as Tester said. This is where compressed refrigerant changes from gas state to liquid state (hence the term “condenser”) as it passes through
I have 6 cars, some quite mature, and I always carry full coverage on all of them, $0 deductible comp and collision included. It is not all that expensive and is way less confusing with our multiple cars and suspending and unsuspending collision on cars we are temporarily not driving. It has paid off, as in instances like the example in this discussion.
My AAA road service, which covers all our cars, would have covered towing the car. My insurance would fix a car that hits a deer (or pay to “total” it.)
Personally, I’d be much more concerned about the damage that probably resulted from operating the car with a damaged cooling system, causing overheating. Even insurance won’t cover that lack of care for the vehicle.
Check that car out carefully before putting any money into it. It’s possible the driver caused more damage than the deer.
CSA
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Ineffective could mean no collision, it could also mean they full coverage but with a deductible so high that it’s basically unusable for the OP.
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Sometimes agents give insurees the run-around. Perhaps she would benefit from advice with regard to her policy.
When I lived in California AAA was the cheapest insurer by far, including the cost of membership. If OP has AAA they will tow to nearest shop.
Otherwise OP can compare the cost of towing to all the money she has saved by not-buying a comprehensive policy and gratefully pay for a tow this time.
Deer the animal that cause the most fatalities in the US (other than humans, bacteria, fungi, and viruses), almost all through collisions with cars. (A fellow alum died from a collision with a deer on his bike on his way to work at JPL.) Some have speculated that if we allow wolves and lions back we’ll have fewer total deaths because they will eat so many deer.
Probably no one will help you install the parts because you bought the parts. Repair shops want to buy the parts so that they have no argument with you about parts or labor if something goes wrong. Find a shop you trust and let them buy the parts and install them. They they will guarantee parts and labor.
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