What Should You Do Once You Hit An Animal?

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You may be excited when you see a deer or moose on the side of the road. However, that excitement can turn into dread when the animal is in the middle of the road and not the side of the road. While the sight of a deer in the road directly in front of you is bad, seeing the damage done to your car from hitting that moose or deer is even worse. What are you supposed to do after you have hit the animal and damaged your car?

Call the Police

The very first thing you should do is to pull as far off the road as you can. You don't want to be a menace to further traffic than you have to. When you are somewhere safe, call the police and have them come. They will come and document the accident. That documentation can help you when you go to your insurance company. Depending on your state, the police may even offer the meat from the animal. 

Call a Tow Truck

In order to find out how much damage your car has sustained, you are going to have to have it towed to an auto body shop. You really don't want to drive it unless it is absolutely necessary. You don't know what kind of damage may have happened to the frame. It's better to have it to have it towed and thoroughly checked over before you attempt to drive it. 

Get it Checked Out

The auto body shop that you have your car towed to will check out your car very carefully. That will include doing things like putting it up on the lift so that they can check the frame out. They are going to look for things like bent frame members, cracked panels, or other damage. The auto body shop will be able to tell you what kind of damage has been done to your car, and give you a quote as to how much it will take to fix it. There are some things that the auto body shop can fix reasonably, some damage that can't be fixed reasonably, and some damage that can't be fixed at all. The auto body shop won't be the place that tells you if your car is totaled, that's up to your insurance company, but the adjustor will be able to take the information from the auto body shop and use it to make the final decision. 

If your car can be fixed, the auto body shop should do that for you. They should also work with your insurance company in order to get paid for the repair work that needs to be done. 

Hitting an animal can be an expensive proposition. Get it to a body shop like Arringdale's Engine Rebuilding & Auto Repair so it can be evaluated can help you. 

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11 November 2015

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