I killed an animal with my corolla today....

I killed an animal with my corolla today....

I was driving( I have a S model and lowered with Tein S) back home from work this evening, and I saw a huge racoon 100 feet ahead of me. It jumped in a bush, so I thought I wouldn't hit the damn thing, but guess what? That stupid damn racoon jumped out of the bush in front of my car that was doing 50 miles an hour!!!!! It broke the bottom two bars of my front bumper and almost knocked off one of my fog light (It's barely hanging now). It sucks for the racoon, but what about my car? I baught it less than 6 month ago!!! I got a full coverage insurance, but I don't want my rate to go up for stupid thing like this. Would the dealer cover this by warranty? Guess not... It looks like there is almost no paint chip from the accident. How much do you think it costs to fix it?
I think the fog light is only attached with a few clips, so that shouldn't be much of issues. Anyway, you guys watch out for those stupid animals. They will ruin your car I swear....I got an damn parking ticket today too....what a shitty day...

got any pics ??? and i mean of your car not the dead animal.. lol

That sucks that it actually did that much damage to your car. Sorta reminds me of my encounter with a racoon.

I bought my car in Billings, MT, and I live in Buffalo, WY. its about 150 miles or so between the two. I drove up to billings that afternoon with my mom in her car so we could get my car from dealer. Well we got my car, we decided to take the 'back road' home, its just a two lane road that kinda paralells the interstate but it stays a mile or two away from the interstate, its just a more senic road and makes the time go by faster so we usually take it instead of the interstate. So it was dark now and we were heading back to buffalo, I was leading in my brand new Rolla, with my mom following in her car a ways behind me. It was so long ago so i barely even remember how it happened, but all the sudden i saw a racoon in the road ahead of me so i hit the brakes and swearved out of the way, but the damn 'coon ran out toward the middle of the road so even thou i swerved i still ran it over with both tires on the passenger side. It pissed me off thou because thats the first animal i had ever hit, and it was just my luck that I had to hit it when i was driving my brand new car home from the dealership. Well it didnt hit very bad atleast, didnt do any damage to the car. But i had some racoon hair stuck inbetween the tire and the lip of the rim, hahaha.

Well thats my story
Trevor

The bumper is going to be an expensive fix ...IMHO. l would see what kind of quotes you're getting to fix the bumper.

yup

I went to a local bodyshop to get a quote. They said the right front spoiler, the bumper cover, and the right fender liner need to be replaced. They gave me a quote of $1000.
Ouch. I got a full coverage, but there is no way I will claim anything since I am only 24.
According to the quote, the laber is $350 :roll:
The bottom part of the bumber is broken, but I am wondering if I could fix it with epoxy patty or something with touch up paint. Part of right spoiler broke off front the fender liner, so I may need to get that replaced.... But the quote on the bumper cover is only $130 and the right spoiler is $250. So, if I did the installation myself, it will be around $500 painted. Hey, that's 50% saving there. I am going to a Toyota dealer to see what kind of deal I can get.

Well man you got to take them as they come right? First, be happy that you're ok and nothing major happened. If you're thinking about the doing the labor yourself I would recommend speaking to a small bodyshop of some sort and ask them to buy the parts for you at the dealer. Reason for this is that bodyshops usually get a discount as oppose to an individual that would want to purchase them. Once you have the parts the other thing that will put a dent in your pocket would be getting them painted. After that is just a matter of patience to get everything installed exactly like it is supposed to go. You would save a preaty penny if you go this route, and your insurance would never find out. Good luck with the whole thing.

Re: I killed an animal with my corolla today....

The same thing pretty much happened to me too. I swerved slightly to let the damn thing go under my car (I TRIED not to kill it) but I still hit it. It broke the two horizontal bars on the front spoiler, nearly ripped off a plastic cover under the engine bay, and bent my license plate under the bumper. Now I wish I had run it over... the damn thing walked off... Raccoon season is open.... :twisted:

Both the body shop and the dealer gave me quotes of over $700 not including labor because they "have to replace the whole bumper cover and paint it" and it was not an option to risk jacking up my insurance, so I fixed it myself.

I used some putty thats supposed to "harden to the strength of steel." (Its the same stuff thats used to patch the hulls of boats.) I smeared a glob of that stuff over the back side of the crack, and supported it with a couple braces. 36 hrs later with the aide of a heat lamp, the front spoiler was rock solid again. I used more of the putty to fill in the chips and gaps and put some touch-up paint over it. Unless you closely examine it, you can't tell that it was ever broken, and the front license plate masks it anyway. As for the plastic pan, I got a few rivets from a local hardware store and replaced the ones the raccoon knocked off. The whole job didn't cost me more than $60.

Crap, that musta been one big coon, big enough to reach all the way up to your damn liscence plate. Atleast you were able to fix it pretty good yourself without taking it into a body shop.

I gues i got pretty luckey when i hit my coon, didnt do anything except leave some hair wedged between the tire and the rim, hehehe.

Watch out for armadillo speed bumps

Luckily none of you got hurt, but you guys had it easy. I was driving my friend's rolla on a road trip from cali to georgia. It was about 11:00 at night and about a 1/4 mile from the border of Shreveport Louisiana, this HUGE armadillo came strollin' across the street. (Actually, it was rather average sized.) But anyway, I was going 85 and it would have killed us on either side to swerve. I lined the car up with the beast as to not blow out a tire and hit it going about 75. Imagine your rolla on tein springs hitting a 10 inch speed bump going 75. It was the worst sound to a car enthusiast. We made it to Georgia alright. We we took it to the shop, they told us apparently armadillos raise their armored backs when they get startled. It ended up costing him about 3,000.

Moral of the story: moving speed bumps are not good

-DB Lex

Re: Watch out for armadillo speed bumps

I think he was in the car as well. :?

yeah didn't read the whole story...dOh... that's why i deleted it...