I had to make the 400 mile round trip to the cabin Wednesday for some repair work. About 5 miles from home on the interstate, a raccoon decided to amble across the road in front of me. I braked and swerved a little but hit that sucker pretty hard with my Pontiac G6 at 68 mph. I kept on going but a couple miles later the temp guage was moving up so I pulled it over and shut it down. Didn’t do any body damage but took out the lower splash shields and the radiator mount. A little over $600 in damage for a new radiator and splash shields. Just waiting for the insurance adjuster to look at it so I can get it back. I hope I didn’t do any damage by heating it up, and the fans kept going even after the car was shut off so with the flashers, the battery was totally depleted by the time the tow truck got there. I guess stuff can just happen out of the blue and could have been 100 miles from home. I did learn something about insurance though-if its a dead animal, its covered by collision but if a live animal its covered by comprehensive.
I wouldn’t worry about a one-time partial overheating incident. It’s good that you were watching the temperature gauge and caught it quickly.
Do you have a 0-deductible policy or something? That repair bill would only be $100 over my deductible, at which point it wouldn’t be worth the premium increase to have insurance cover it.
Yeah I’ve got a zero deductible on comprehensive which covers this and $100 on collision. Been that way for years and never changed it. Glad it wasn’t in the middle of Indiana or someplace or I’d be sitting in a hotel. I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I’ve got a car down I’m just chomping at the bit and pacing around till I get it back.
I’m glad that you are OK, Bing. And if you had been in the middle of Indiana, you could have hooked up with Triedaq!
Bing–you are lucky it was just a raccoon you hit. About 65 miles from where I live here in Indiana, three pigs escaped from a semi trailer about 3 a.m. in the morning last night. Apparently, one of the pigs got its nose under the door at the back of the semi and managed to open it far enough that he and his two buddies could escape. When I was in elementary school, I was riding home in the school bus when the bus ahead of us hit a pig. The dual rear wheels went over the pig and it looked as though the bus would flip. It didn’t, and the driver kept right on going. The driver of the bus I was on did stop and alert the farmer. I’m certain that a car hitting a pig would have sustained real damage. If you are in the mood to get a few more raccoons, you can come help me out. I battle them every year in my garden. It is a race to see if I can pick the sweet corn before they get it.
As far as the insurance is concerned, a dead animal was once a live animal. I’m not certain how the insurance could determine in most cases whether or not the animal was dead or alive when you hit it and whether it would come under collision or comprehensive. My son hit a tool left in a construction sight by the highway department. It knocked a hole in the oil pan and the transmisison pan. He stopped the car right away. His comprensive was $0 deductible, but the collision was $500 deductible. The insurance said that it fell under collision. The repair bill was $574, so my son didn’t file the claim for $74.
About the only thing I would done have differently is that I wouldn’t have swerved or braked for a raccoon. You probably did the right thing, but I would not have batted an eye. With my luck, I’d swerve to miss the raccoon and hit another car, totaling both. There is no way to know of course, but I wonder if you hadn’t braked and swerved if there might have been less or no damage.
As long as the needle on the temperature gauge didn’t get near the red, the engine should be fine.
If the car runs good now and doesnt show any signs of warped heads.you should be fine-Kevin
Wow never knew that about live/dead animals. Based on that i would always claim it was alive. It’s not going to be able to testify otherwise!
Could be worse ever seen the Seinfeld episode where George hits the squirrel?
Bing I am glad the damage was not bad and you where not hurt. As Whitey said you should never swerve when a animal runs in front of you. You can lose control and cause more damage or worst. The best thing to do is just hit them. When you hit the brakes the nose of the car drops. This can cause a animal to come thru the windshield. Just let off the gas.