[t0pgear]

Sadly I was involved in a pretty severe collision with a deer Friday night heading into Aspen over Independence Pass. I swerved to miss two deer but a third jumped right into my path as I was swerving. Hit the front Driver's side pretty hard and heard lots of crunching. I looked behind me and didn't see the deer, but saw pieces of the car everywhere. Stopped a few feet after and the whole driver's side front was pretty demolished, starting from the front bumper all the way to the side fender completely crunched up. For a few minutes I thought the car was ok, but I went about 10 minutes up the road on Independence Pass as I had no warning lights and everything (shockingly) seemed to still be working, when all of the sudden I got a low coolant warning. I was on Independence Pass which is the highest paved road in North America, which was basically the worst possible place to break down. I took another look at the car and realized the damage was much worse than I had thought. Intercooler was smashed and hanging out, flopping against the tire, radiator was crushed and saw wires and sensors, everywhere, wheel well was totally gone, and drivers side fender was totally smashed as well. Not even sure how this was physically possible. I had my Great Dane, my girlfriend and her 4 year old daughter in the car, luckily everyone was ok, things could have been much worse.

Was lucky enough to find a really nice guy that stopped and helped me pack up some of my gear and then took me into Town. Truck was towed to a local holding lot, waiting on my insurance to hopefully get a traveling adjuster out there tomorrow. Really have no idea what the outcome will be but just totally bummed to not have my ride which I'd just gotten dialed in right when summer in Colorado is really starting to kick off.

 

[sblvro]

So sorry to hear. One of my worst nightmare since I travel a lot for vacation(50k miles per year). Just glad you guys were okay. Could've been worse. Hopefully the insurance and body shop get it fixed well. There's always a 2017 or 2018 to look forward to. I remember my local Ferrari dealer just sold an immaculate F430 and not even a week was hit by a deer.


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[totya]

I'm glad all of you are OK. I hope the car can be fixed up quickly.

 

[enfield]

That really sucks. I am glad that all of you are okay.

 

[Gregg2196]

Glad you are all ok.

 

[SelkoRRS]

im glad to hear you all okay. Property is replaceable but lives arent. Again really glad to hear you all good

 

[t0pgear]

So sorry to hear. One of my worst nightmare since I travel a lot for vacation(50k miles per year). Just glad you guys were okay. Could've been worse. Hopefully the insurance and body shop get it fixed well. There's always a 2017 or 2018 to look forward to. I remember my local Ferrari dealer just sold an immaculate F430 and not even a week was hit by a deer.


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Yes I'm similar in that I put a lot of miles on my car. This was always my worst nightmare as well, had a few close calls prior to this but my luck finally ran out. Be safe out there everyone.

 

[Jarvis]

Glad you're okay. In hindsight, guess you could have been a lot more aggressive in the offroading video. `)

 

[Brosef]

such a bummer. glad no one was hurt though (deer aside).

 

[Ms. Mdx]

Oh no, that sucks. So glad that no one was hurt. Hope they can get your RRS repaired quickly.

 

[90265]

Glad you're ok. Sorry to hear about your rig. I hope you get the issue resolved soon.

I once almost hit a dear when I was about 18 and, like many inexperienced or panicked drivers, I swerved and then overcorrected and nearly ended up hitting a very sturdy tree.

I decided from that time on to just drive THROUGH the deer next time.

Let's take bets on repair costs! Just going by what you mentioned....I'm guessing $14k.

 

[RRToadHall]

Oh common let's really steer this off course. Where are the pics? What folks really want to see is pure aluminum carnage. ;-)

Seriously though, you are a very lucky group of folks.It is certainly a testament to the safety of the passenger compartment. Deer strikes are not to be taken lightly.

 

[t0pgear]

Will try to get some pics when the car gets back to Denver. Have to say I was dealing with a lot of frustration as even the best insurance and AAA only cover about 200 miles of towing. I needed to get the car back to the only certified Land Rover repair center in Denver, due to the aluminum on the new Range Rovers and Range Rover Sports. To my great surprise, Land Rover Roadside assistance totally stepped up and provided me a tow from Aspen to the shop in Denver. Kudos to Land Rover for truly stepping up, my rep could not have been more friendly or helpful either. She mentioned they would normally tow it to another closer shop, but when I mentioned my hesitation based on the recommendation from Land Rover Roaring Fork, she simply said "no problem sir, let me override that for you and have it towed to the shop of your preference". WOW. At least one thing is going well so far. Well that, and I just got my loaner for the next month or two, Ram 2500 Big Horn with a Hemi and 60 miles on the odometer! Haha pretty different from the RRS, but not a bad car for summer in the West.

 

[sblvro]

What insurance do you have?


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[383vett]

Glad you're ok. With insurance, the car should be fine.

 

[t0pgear]

What insurance do you have?


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USAA. They've been fairly good so far with the exception that A) They didn't cover my trip interruption so I got stuck with the bill for two nights at a hotel in Aspen during the 2nd most expensive weekend of the year (Aspen Food and Wine Classic). B) They wouldn't tow my car up to Denver. One thing I will say though is that USAA has a really awesome app and makes things pretty easy there.

 

[t0pgear]

Last Pic I took of the car, I had just put a rack on top.

 

[Pandamonium]

One to two months to repair it? That's rough.


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[sblvro]

My 2011 L320 took two-three months to fix. Halfway through, I traded it to a new 2013 L320 fresh from the truck with plastic wraps on it. The parts will come from UK which makes repair longer.


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[t0pgear]

Deer Collision Update

Went by the body shop the other day to check up on the car. Shop is moving more quickly than expected, they put almost everything back together mechanically under the skin, and are now in the process of repainting the new bumper, fender, and repainting the door after repairs. Apparently they are waiting on new cameras and parking sensors for the bumper. Snapped a couple of shots of the progress.