Deer Accidents

[Shmily1]

We have had Progressive for years and always get really good service. I special ordered DD21 a new Mustang. She had it almost 2000 miles when some dogs put out by hunters ran a deer right in front of her. It tore up the entire front end of the car, meaning grill, both front fenders, bumper, hood, headlights, the works. It was a lot of damage. She called me screaming hysterically and once I got her calmed down, I called Progressive. Our deductible is $500. The bill to replace and redo the car was crazy but I only paid $500. It was complete in less than a week, except for the Ford place sent the wrong color over the top stripes so we waited for those to come in.

If you are getting bad service from Progressive, please call the 800-Progressive number and tell them so they can give you a competent and nice employee to work with. They definitely do cover act of nature events.

[holycow]

I know you are upset and it doesn't help now everyone mentioning what great ins. they have.


You need to be more assertive. When they yell at you tell them you want to speak with a manager.

Find the number for the corporate office and tell them your agent is rude and incompetent and you need to talk to someone who can help you.

It is bad enough you have to have gone through the accident but to have to have a hard time with your ins. company is just a shame.

[mrsklamc]

I vowed to NEVER use progressive after this happened:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1775191.html

[helenk]

I'm an insurance claims person, hitting a deer is considered a comprehensive claim, or other than collision. Whatever your comprehensive deductible is, that is the amount you would pay out of pocket. To the OP, your deductible for your comp is very high, I would consider talking to your agent, I would bet that the cost to lower it would be minimal...although that will not help you for this claim.
If you hit an animal it would be a comprehensive claim, if you swerve to miss an animal and hit a pole or a tree, it would be a collision claim.
Most insurance companies will send someone out to look at the car when a person indicates they've hit an animal and will check for animal hair or blood. They do this because most people have a higher collision deductible than a comprehensive deductible. There are folks that tend to report that they've hit an animal to pay less out of pocket.

[Sadie22]

A deer ran into my son when he was driving our smallest vehicle. At first he thought there was no damage, but when he got home, I could feel a big dent in the fender on that side. Then we tried to open the passenger door and realized that the impact had pushed the fender into the door. There was deer hair caught in the trim along the door, so the deer slid the length of the car before it ran off. We called our State Farm agent and took the car to the same shop DH has used when he has struck deer with his company vehicle. There was damage in the amount of several thousand dollars. It took about a week to fix it, but I don't remember paying even a deductible.

Maybe you've never had an accident before. These things do take time. It does no good to yell at the agents. You need to remain calm and be politie at all times. When you have an accident is not the time to threaten to cancel your insurance, which is maybe why you were speaking with the retention department. Also, it's not wise to have a deductible so high that you cannot comfortably pay it.

[minnierocks]

Animal strikes are covered under the comprehensive portion of your insurance policy. Please make sure that you are clear that the deer hit you and it was unavoidable. Believe it or not, it can make a difference if you hit the deer or the deer hit you. . Having said that, we have had this happen twice...once to my husband and to my son. State Farm gave us no issues and since we carry a zero dollar deduction on our policies, we did not pay anything. It is time for you to escalate your issue to a supervisor.

[chuckabone]

I feel for what you are going thru. I have hit or should I say have been hit by 3 deer this year alone in my van. The first one my insurance took care of 100.00 ded. The 2nd my hubs just had to replace the headlight assembly and the third one was cover again by insurance 100.00 ded. I have Nationwide and I will tell anyone that I will NEVER EVER switch insurance co. They are amazing! They did what they were supposed to do and took care of everything right down to the rental car. When other companies call and try to give price comparisons I say take my name off your list I am never leaving Nationwide! I don't think insurance is a area where you want to skrimp on coverage for a better price. You get what you pay for.! Good luck to you.

[DawnM]

A deer came out of the woods very suddenly when I was driving about 50 up a 2 late road. It ran within a couple of feet of my front bumper and then suddenly turned.

I did not hit it, but it scared me. When I talked to DH about it, and told him I almost hit a deer, he said, "No, you didn't. The deer almost hit YOU!" He said an insurance guy told him that if you ever hit a deer to say the deer hit you.

I don't know if it really matters or not, but I thought I would mention it.

[PrincessHanasMom]

I got hit by a deer in my brand new car week before last $5000 in damage. Travelers is covering it under our comprehensive coverage - $250 deductible.

[sarmat1]

Originally Posted by chrissyt27

We have comprehensive and collision, but DH was trying to save money and he had both at $2,000.

As a couple of PP's have pointed out, you will ultimately be responsible for your deductible. If you're indicating that your deductible is $2,000, then that is what you will pay. Progressive will pay anything above that.

[angwill]

Originally Posted by chrissyt27

We hit a deer Friday morning, out of town at a funeral for family, 4 hours away. It came out of nowhere. we have Progressive and they have been really just awful. I mean awful, not helpful at all.
Everyone keeps telling me they don't pay since it was nature/act of God.
we have comprehensive and collision, but DH was trying to save money and he had both at $2,000. I could just cry. My mom hit a deer and had $500 and her company waived it, a friend has Geico, again they didn't pay. Everyone at the funeral said we wouldn't owe.
I know I should have switched it, but neither one of has had an accident in over 15 years and it was cheap and easy. But now we are being screwed over. They are so rude on the phone. Our car is at the shop now, and they didn't even go over there till after 3 p.m. dropped it off at 9 a.m. But no one told us we needed to do paperwork. So they still haven't looked at it. They won't give us a new agent, she is an idiot. The retention department yelled at me and called me a liar. I don't know what to do.

Please tell me who you have and if you had hit a deer what was your comprehensive and did you pay? I know for a fact that progressive has claims adjusters that come out and estimate the damage because my friends son is an adjuster for them.

We have the money. But it's going to really hurt. I was laid off and still looking for work. I need to drop them as soon as they get this fixed. If they even fix it. We did get a police report. I am just so upset.

I have State Farm and they would pay all but the deductible but ours is $500. They would either send someone out to estimate the damage or you can take it to a shop or even one of their prefered shops. If you take it to their shop you would simply pay the shop the deductible. If you have the estimate done they come out within a day or two and cut a check for the estimated amount. Then if you take it to your shop choice they would have to send in a bill for adjustment of costs if they charge more than the estimated amount. I have never had any issues with our company besides if you get a newbie on the phone at the office who has no clue what they are doing. Then you ask for your agent.

I do hope you get this worked out but you will have to at least pay the deductible. Your payments should not go up when using comprehensive only collision so dont let them get away with raising your rates either.

[chrissyt27]

The deer hit us, it ran into the road and there was nothing to do to avoid it. my inlaws were in the car, his brother and family were in the car behind us, a cousin behind him. people were on the other side of the road. the deer came out of nowhere, we were just the luck ones it hit.
luckily we were able to get a police report and cars besides family stayed to be witnesses. The deer was still there. It didn't live.
we called Progressive as soon as we got into town where we had a signal. we were on the way to a funeral. they told us an agent would call us. when she did we missed her call, we had very bad service and when she did call we were at the cementary. we called her back as soon as we got the message. she never called us back. I called the main number. This is now 12 hours after the accident and was worried that it was going to be too late on Friday to talk to anyone.
They said I could only talk to our agent, but she wouldn't be back till Monday. I said we needed someone else, they said no. At this point no one had talked to the agent, she'd only tried to call us once. I was not rude on the phone, just asked to speak to someone about our claim. I was not waiting till Monday as we were 4 hours from home and had no idea what to do.
I kept asking to talk to someone and she transferred me to the retention dept. All I wanted was a claim person. The Retention Person, whose name I do know, started off very rude, told me we had to wait till Monday. I asked how they could say there were 24/7 when no one would speak to us, and tell us what to do.

I do know we have to pay. we do have savings. My husband made a mistake and I made a mistake by assuming he kept our deductible at a reasonable rate. The car is only a year old and he said he was trying to save money. This was all done online and there was no one to tell him that this was a bad idea. I drive a 20 year old car and his car had to be replaced which was also over 15 years old. So I guess neither one of was used to paying higher rates.

I just called the body shop and they still haven't come to look at the car. which by the way is sitting outside and it just poured and thundered, washing stuff away. You can see the Progressive office from the shop.

we have never actually spoken to our person. we keep calling and leaving messages, and she just happens to call back and leave us messages. we both have been glued to our cell phones and I won't leave the house in case she graces us with a call. I again asked for someone and they said NO. I don't know what else to do.

And I don't know why other people keep telling me their deducible was waived.

I have not told them we plan to switch companies. I want to get this fixed first. I have had them since 2000. I just feel like they are not helping at all.

[chrissyt27]

Originally Posted by Sadie22

A deer ran into my son when he was driving our smallest vehicle. At first he thought there was no damage, but when he got home, I could feel a big dent in the fender on that side. Then we tried to open the passenger door and realized that the impact had pushed the fender into the door. There was deer hair caught in the trim along the door, so the deer slid the length of the car before it ran off. We called our State Farm agent and took the car to the same shop DH has used when he has struck deer with his company vehicle. There was damage in the amount of several thousand dollars. It took about a week to fix it, but I don't remember paying even a deductible.

Maybe you've never had an accident before. These things do take time. It does no good to yell at the agents. You need to remain calm and be politie at all times. When you have an accident is not the time to threaten to cancel your insurance, which is maybe why you were speaking with the retention department. Also, it's not wise to have a deductible so high that you cannot comfortably pay it.

I do know things take time. BUT the deer hit us Friday at 6:30 a.m. we called at 8 a.m. once we got off the road. We have not talked to anyone, she just leaves us messages. I have asked and asked for someone and they keep sending me to the retention dept. It is now Tuesday and we have heard nothing.

[angwill]

Call and ask to speak with a manager. Tell them what is going on and ask them to help. I would also report the agent since it is now Tuesday and there is no reason that she should not have called yesterday.

[chrissyt27]

Originally Posted by mrsklamc

I vowed to NEVER use progressive after this happened:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1775191.html

That is just awful.