GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I let the wife take the new vibe (owned two months) on a road trip from Minnesota to Texas. On the way back at 4am (drove all night) two deer walked out in the road. She said she had to pick one to hit, so got the smaller on. She said she about missed it, but ended up (her words!) "***** slapping" it in the head. Busted the light and fender, and push it back into the door. It was actually scheduled to go back to the dealer for a check engine light under warranty, so we brought the new car back smashed. Deductible is $500, so that's my loss. Estimate is almost $1400. So on to the mod- we all know the horn is an embarrasment. Picked out a nice Bonneville at the junk yard, and for $10 I got 'er by the horns. Oh yeah, and that annoying shift-interlock. You have to press the brake before trying to shift. We'll, I love that override! Poped the little cover by the shifter and jammed a plastic kid-toy (Lego) in there and now it's shifts anytime I like, just like my old junkers still do. Some pics: New damage and new horn.

Attached files

Another pic

Attached files

And a horn. Not pretty, but that's not what they're for!

Attached files

good thing she wasnt hurt! the damage doesnt seem toooo bad. what is covered under the $1400? seems sort of high unless they are replacing the whole front end bumber and grill.

Sorry to about that darn deer. Luckily your wife wasn't hurt and that the damage isn't a lot worse.

Good thing eveything is alright... I remember when I hit a dear but i was in a 1981 Chevy astro and I was on my way to go camping with my bros and dad wait and my g-pa lol anyways there was a buck running across the road when it saw us it jumped up and turned around and we hit it dead center of our van messed everything up the bumper grill radiator and hood where bent in half and the passenger fender was pushed back to the point you couldnt even open it it was hard core but all is good now now i have my vibe and no going camping with this car. lol

For $1400 I get a new light ($335) and Fender ($319), and paint. The shop (insurance money) says they have to blend the paint into the door and the hood, so they're painting about everything. I know it's high, but that's what the policy is for and it's supposed to last the next 10 years I'll be driving it.

glad to hear your wife's alright, but it really sucks to have your two month old car in the shop.

Just be glad the air bag didnt go off! That happened to a friend of mine when he hit a deer, and I think he came out worse than the deer did. They never did find the deer, but he sure was bruised up bad.

you are lucky that's all that happened! hitting a deer or any animal of that size can total your car! look what happened to raging a few yrs back and also djdoublelp's trix! ragingfish's vibehttp://photos.ragingfish.com/vibedeerhit/DSCF0004djdoublelp's trix

looks like the horns survived!Hurray for Hella! Crush zones suck... if that were my 74 Caprice, we'd all be eating tenderized venison steaks.

yeah... you think that if an animal can hear something sneaking up on it through the brush... it would hear a car coming before the headlights even appear.I bet those two deer were drunk and made a bet to see who could make it across the road. We know who lost.