What to Do If You Hit a Deer

Hitting a deer is one of the most common accidents Midwest drivers face, and it always seems to happen at the worst possible time: after dark, on a two-lane county highway, miles from the nearest town. The moment right after can feel disorienting, but the steps that matter are simple. Here's exactly what to do, in order, from the second you're back in control of the vehicle.

Safety comes before anything else, including the car itself.

• Get off the road if the vehicle still drives. Ease onto the shoulder or the nearest safe spot, and turn on your hazard lights as soon as you can, even before you've come to a full stop. A car sitting in a travel lane at night is its own hazard to everyone behind you.
• Check yourself and your passengers for injuries before you check the vehicle. Adrenaline can mask pain for several minutes after a collision, so take a breath and actually check rather than assume everyone is fine because nothing hurts yet.
• Call 911 immediately if anyone is hurt, or if you're not sure. If you're stopped in a travel lane and it isn't safe to get out, stay buckled in with your hazards on until help arrives.
• Once everyone is accounted for, step out carefully and watch for oncoming traffic. This matters most at night or on a curve, where other drivers may not see your car until they're nearly on top of it.

Whether you're required to file a police report after a deer strike depends on which state you're in, and the thresholds vary more than most drivers expect.

• Wisconsin and Minnesota: a report is required if anyone is injured, or if property damage reaches $1,000 or more.
• Iowa: a report is required for injury or death, or property damage of $1,500 or more, filed within 72 hours if a law enforcement officer doesn't respond to the scene.
• Illinois: a report is required for injury or death, or property damage over $1,500 (that threshold drops to $500 if any driver involved is uninsured).

If you're anywhere close to those numbers, or you simply aren't sure how bad the damage is, call the non-emergency line and let an officer make the call. A police report also gives your insurance company a neutral, third-party account of what happened, which tends to move claims along faster even in states where one isn't strictly required.

Before you leave, take a few photos with your phone: all four sides of the vehicle, close-ups of the specific damage, your license plate, and where the car ended up relative to the road. If the deer is still in or near the roadway and could be a hazard to other drivers, note exactly where it is so you can point it out to the dispatcher or a responding officer. Don't try to move the animal yourself.

Here's the part that catches a lot of people off guard: deer strikes are almost always covered under comprehensive coverage, not collision. Comprehensive is the portion of your policy that covers damage from something other than hitting another vehicle, including animals, falling branches, and hail. If your policy only carries collision coverage, a deer strike may not be covered at all, so it's worth confirming exactly what you carry rather than assuming either way.

When you call your agent, have your policy number, your photos, and a police report number, if one exists, ready to go. It's also worth asking whether your policy includes rental car coverage while your vehicle is in the shop, since deer-related repairs can take longer than expected once a technician gets a look underneath.

• Don't approach an injured deer. A frightened animal in pain can be unpredictable, and its hooves and antlers can cause a serious injury in seconds. Leave that to law enforcement or animal control.
• Don't assume the car is safe to drive just because it looks fine from the driver's seat. Check for fluid pooling underneath, steam coming from the engine bay, a headlight or taillight that's gone dark, anything hanging loose near the front end, or a new warning light on the dash. Any one of those means the car needs a closer look before it goes back on the highway.
• Don't skip a follow-up inspection even if you drove away without any obvious problem. Deer strikes commonly damage the radiator support, the air conditioning condenser, or sensors mounted low on the front bumper, all of which can go unnoticed for weeks until they cause a bigger failure.

If you've just hit a deer, the safest next step is having a technician confirm there's nothing hiding beneath the surface. Every Kunes service center across Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota can get your vehicle checked out with a scheduled appointment, regardless of which brand you drive. Bring your photos and any report number, and we'll walk you through what repairs are needed and what your insurance is likely to cover.