Yet another deer victim!!
 

Well, to make a long story short, I hit a deer today while driving my 300SD. The impact sent the deer flying into the air and landing hard on the ground about 30 feet away. I was doing 55 mph when I saw it right in front of me and started to brake. Can't quite say what my speed was upon impact.

Two things make me really angry right now but I'll just have to live with them because I can't change anything:

1) At the end of my 6-month insurance policy last month, I decided to switch to just liability on the car for a while. Now this has happened.
2) Just last week I sold my '84 500SEL with a bad transmission for nearly nothing. The car had all the parts I'd need to fix this car in perfect shape. Now this has happened.
3) This happened in broad daylight. I've heard of many people hitting deers at night and as a result I've always avoided highways that have bushes on both sides at night. Never heard of anyone hitting a deer during the day. Apparently I was just uninformed as my brother said it happens as frequently than the night impacts. This was exactly 1.1 miles from my house!!

I've learned to not worry about things I can't control, but this is still hard to swallow. I took some pics of the car at the scene of the accident but they're still in my digital camera so I'll post them later. I had the car towed to an independent body shop where the guy will look at it in about two hours' time and give me an idea of how much I'm about to waste - if I waste it that is. Rough estimate by the tow truck driver (who is a certified body tech) is about $4,000.

I was just wondering, if it will cost that much should I fix it or just sell it? The car's interior is perfect, the exterior is just fair as the clearcoat is peeling from the rear. Engine is perfect. Transmission has firm shifts that I know can be fixed by some vacuum work. The car has just 163K miles. I'm not really sure of what the car is worth, but I've done quite a lot of work to bring it up to speed on maintenance - transmission fluid, cooling system flush, differential fluid, new master cylinder, brake fluid flush, new rotors and pads all around, etc. If the car isn't worth $4,000, I'm still not sure if I want to hunt around for an MB diesel that I'd buy and then have to spend time and money working on to bring up to speed on maintenance.

Well, let me hear from you good folks first. All suggestions/advice will be greatly appreciated. I'll post an update once I get an exact estimate from the body shop guy. THANKS!!

If it was me I'd fix it no matter the cost....if mine had 161k I'd be even more inclined! :D I do however, suffer from "Diesel Disease" and will spend Anything necessary :eek: to keep it on the road. :D

Sorry to hear that happened, my uncle hit a deer .6 miles from our house in daylight as well with his chevy cavalier....did quite a bit of damage but the insurance company fixed it.

Here in michigan there's deer everywhere.... :eek:

Sorry about your misfortune. I too hit a deer only with my 82Chev Impalla with a 5.7 Olds diesel. The sound of the impact will stay with you for a while. If your car is in the shape you say it is take my advice and fix it rather than having more regrets later on. I wish I would have fixed the old 82 it was a nice car.

Don, that really is bad news. I know that you have put a lot of effort into the SD and its just a shame that this has to happen.

But, it has and I would encourage you to reconsider spending $4K to fix it.

The numbers are as follows:

If you spend $4K, you have a vehicle that is mechanically sound, but in need of paint. You need to spend $7K to get a mechanically sound vehicle with perfect paint.

It's currently worth say, $1K for parts.

So, can you find an SD with equivalent miles with perfect (or close to perfect) paint for $8K? I believe that you can. In fact, I believe that you can find one for about $6K and you can use the new parts from the existing vehicle.

So, even if the existing vehicle is worth nothing (because you have taken all of its good parts), you can be into another, equivalent, SD for $6K.

The whole question is time. How much time must you invest to find the right SD and how much time must you invest to transfer parts from the old one to the new one?

It's also a question of attachment. If you are attached to the current vehicle, and an equivalent replacement would not cut it, then you already have your answer.

Sorry to hear about this news. Good luck with whatever you decide. ;)

I agree with Brian on this one, his explanation seems the most logical. Live and let die.

Thanks
David

Sorry. That really sucks. We can't see the damage, but if it's 4K worth, I'd move on.

Maybe this will make you feel a little better. Here's "yet another deer as victim" (of my 30.06)...


http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/...63275Deer1.JPG

Another suicide deer, been there - done that......

I have a deer that is frequenting my back yard every afternoon.....but so far it hasn't made a run for the Benz yet..... :eek:

You have two 4-wheeled babies to watch out for! Me and deer don't get along...

In the past week or two, I have killed 1 blackbird, 1 squirrel, and 1 quail.

The quail was first in the 240D, it flew out in front of the car about 45MPH and bounced off the top of the windshield (no damage).

Second was a black bird with the 300SD in the same area, about 65MPH, bounced off the bottom valence and then flew over the hood as I slowed down and it started flapping.

Third was a damn squirrel that strolled out in front of me while I was towing a friends Type III VW Squareback. I tried to move to the other side of the road (no twitchy movements while towing) but he followed me over and I munched him.

I feel anticipation of a deer and that bothers me. I changed my brake pads so I am asking for it now :D

Stupid deer. :mad: My area is loaded with them because the do gooders feel bad and won't let the herd be thinned. I have had a few close calls with turkeys those things will do some damage too.

Why don't you drop a new engine into that S350D you have and drive that for awhile? You could do it for less then $4k.

Couple years ago at midnight I took an exit off the BWI parkway at 55 mph, no sooner exited the road and I saw eight deer standing in the middle of the road 50 feet away...absolutely impossibe to miss all of them even if they never moved...a moved right figuring hitting two was better than 3 or more, well I sent one over my rook hit one in the hind quarters and managed to clip the gardrails as I was over further than I thought....damaged done?

Two dead deer, $3,500 damage to my saturn....as fender quarter and both door skins caught bolt heads on the gard rails and had hoof scrapes on the hood trunk and all the way down the left side of the car....the paint was the expensive part....the panels took all of an hour to replace thanks to the construction of the car....could have been way worse. And I think on almost any other car it would have been

You guys sure go to a lot of trouble for a little venison. :D

Not fixing the car would mean theres one less diesel benz in existence/on the road :eek: That is why I will spend what it takes to keep my, and any others I eventually buy...on the road. :D

The pics
 

The pics are ready:

http://r.students.umkc.edu/rcofz9/300sddeer.htm

For those skeptics of the quality of the new badges, well, as you can see the badge wasn't even scratched so there you are with your answer. A rough visual inspection revealed that I'll be needing a new radiator along with the hoses, new fans, hood, grille, headlamps, probably a new left fender as it was bent just slightly, etc. I'll be getting a write up of the repair estimate before the end of the week. Thank you all for your support.

It looks like you hit him just the way I hit mine. After I hit mine I sent in for every deer permit I was entitled to. I have done this every deer season since the accident. As far as I'm concerned mother nature still hasn't paid me in full for my car and I will continue to shoot the $hit out of her every deer season. I would encourage everybody on this site to do the same.

I really feel you should fix and keep that. That looks like a real nice car without a lot of miles. No way should that come anything close to 4k to fix. Obviously you need a new hood w/grille, but I can't tell from the pic whether the left fender could be straightened or replaced. I got a new rad for my SD for $170. Bet you r hoses are OK, but they are cheap anyway. Get a used hood, lights from a parts car, get it sprayed. I'd be very surprised if you couldn't get this done for 2K even if you have to replace the A/C condenser.

glad it wasn't a brontosaurus
 

"Hello Deer" :hair2:

:I'll hit that" :beatnik:

$4K price tag :antlers:

Hey nice car. Keep it and find a parts car. Set yourself up with replacement parts on the cheap and DIY if possible.

So what did you do with the animal? Is it legal to BBQ them?

Good Luck dude. :sun_smile

We don't have to worry much about deer here in North Texas, but these armadillos will leave quite a dent in the oil pan! :D

Oh heck yeah. You can fix that. Not anywhere near as bad as I expected. Most of the parts are bolt-on. Try and see if ya can't find the right color parts while you are at it. May take longer and parts have to come a longer distance, but then you can avoid painting right away if ya want.

deer dam
 

it looks pretty superficial to me. if you can find a parts car most of the damage looks as if it can be repaired in you r garage if you are handy. i fixed one a lot worse than this and put it on the road for my son... come to think of it i fixed that one twice almost same damage each time. it is easier the second time as the metal has a memory.

seriously, it doesnt look as if you have any frame damage. the headlights come out easily and the hood bolts on. the fender isnt too bad to remove and if the sub sheet metal around the radiator is bent it is not too hard to striaghten. the radiator is prob broke but that is a 15 minute swap out.

if your car is mechanically sound... and you know exactly what has been done and not... that is worth a lot.

Won't someone get offended about the way ya'll talk about poor deer in here.... Hint.... maybe you should edit this some?

LOL.. Just kidding. Inside joke. Anyway.... looks fixable and don't think it will take 4grand. Is there any wrinkling/buckling of inner body parts under the hood or is it just the outer body portions?

braverichard,

Sorry about your accident; about 2 months ago I did what appears to be the exact same amount of damage to the front of my '84 Volvo (except I ran into the back of a Crown Victoria, not a deer)--it really looks eerily similar except on my car the right side received the greater amount of damage. Using 'recycled' parts, the bill came to $2,100, including painting the 'new' parts, and the car looks as it did before the accident. I would think you should be able to repair yours for around that figure, although only one of my headlight bezels had to be replaced.

You should fix it, that really appears to be a beautiful car!!

Good luck,
Christopher

'85 M-B 300D-T 299,130
'84 Volvo 240 Diesel 317,780
'79 Cadillac Sedan de Ville 104,100

Hey,
I was expecting a lot worse. I think it looks worse than it actually is.
A new hood lights and grill and you'll be back on the road.

Danny

look again, the pictures from yesterday are there still. :rolleyes:

wot about those deer thingamees.....Whistles you put on the bumper...

Drove a camper with these across Montana and Idaho....deer ran away when within 1/4 mile or so....seemed to work for me.

Although not for this guy............

Not making this up. A guy at work here had one of those deer whistle things smashed off the front of his car when it was hit....by a deer! :eek:

Deaf deer ! ;)


_________________________

I say fix it.

Between the wife and I, we've hit 7 deer.

Only two of them have been at night.

Chock one up to the list of things that have got hit...someone creamed my cat in front of my house.
Sad times :(

good reason cats should be on leashes just like dogs...

Bummer about your cat however..I've had a dog hit by a car so I know its like losing a family member. ..I was about to say it could have been worse , it could have been your cat...then I noticed it was.

Yeah...she was the smart one too...kinda curious how she ended up getting hit finally.
Got her at a gas station when I was only like 6 years old. She has a bad tendency to climb into automobiles and get transported. :D

This guy's wishing he hit a deer.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y44...c36/hummer.jpg

I think he needed a good bonk on the head though if he plopped down the cash for that rig....

Wanna bet he was yacking on a cell phone at the time?

Note the lack of apparent tire marks or even disturbed pavement.
Even if that thing had ABS...seriously...you just drifted off the road in broad daylight and into a very sturdy pole.
What if that had been a person standing there on the sidewalk...

I swear, the boxier and bigger they are, the more people seem to climb in and forget about the world around them. Other than, as you said, their cell phone.

Now, that's the best looking $hitbox I've seen in quite a long while. :D

I think it was one of the Blue Collar comedy guys I saw doing a bit in a standup routine about this once ... his point was: these whistles are supposed to emit a shrill noise that alerts the deer of the oncoming vehicle so he gets out of the road ... now, if these animals aren't tipped off by HONNKkKKKKK HOOOOONNNKKKKKK (blaring truck horn), is a shrill whistle really going to do the trick? :D

honky
 

who knows what the deer percieves? they are mesmerized by the headlights so why would they react as we would to a horn? on the other hand i have never thought the whistle thingies would work either.

Hi again people,

Thank you all for your encouragements. I have indeed decided to repair the Benz. A 300SD in my car's shape will cost over $4,000 to purchase anyway - well maintained, perfect interior, everything works down to the A/C, etc.

Here are the parts I need to get:

-Chrome piece on left fender
-Hood
-Grill
-Left Fender
-Upper tie bar center
-Left headlight mount panel
-Left headlight assembly
-Right headlight assembly
-Radiator
-Condenser
-Fan clutch and fan
-Auxillary fan on condenser
-Oil cooler lines
-Right headlight panel

I started to think that just purchasing a W126 sedan (preferrably a diesel because of stuff like the radiator which may be different from that of the gas models) was the best means of getting everything cheaply. Perhaps a W126 with a bad engine and/or transmission. My body shop guy agreed with me on that. After further thinking, I decided that I'd need to get some parts in brand new shape as the ones that are currently on the car are just a few years old. Stuff like the radiator and the fan clutch.

So then I came across a 1984 300SD for sale just 10 minutes from my house. The car is in great shape and has had three owners. I contacted the last owner and learned that he traded in the car for a 560SL. He said there is nothing wrong with the car and that while he never kept service records during the 4 years he owned it, that he took good care of it just like the owners before him had. This is somewhat evident in the car. I say somewhat because while the interior is nearly flawless, the coolant is green and looks dirty. The engine idles rough and too low (I think just around 600 rpm). The glow plugs must be new or something because this engines fires up much faster than that of my wrecked 300SD. The engines is very quiet even at 70 mph, at 90mph it sounds like a gasoline engine!! I once read a posting by whunter in which he described his experience with a 300D with around 70K miles that had never had its valves adjusted and ran very quiet and was low on power. This car is very quiet but not very much low on power so I don't know what to think. I didn't ask the previous owner if he ever did a valve adjustment on it, but that's something I'll do as soon as I can.

To make a long story short, I purchased the car. It's major flaw? A/C doesn't run, though the air blows out of the correct vents.

Even though I bought the car to use its parts in repairing my car, I've driven it quite a bit and I really like it. Many people actually love the color and it just seems too nice to be used for parts. It does have some mileage on it: 249, 009 to be exact. Check out some pics: http://r.students.umkc.edu/rcofz9/blue300SD/

Here's my current plan: fan clutch, radiator and condenser will be new if I can afford it. Headlamp assemblies, grill, and both cooling fans can be purchased online used. Hood and fender can also be purchased online but will cost too much to ship, unless I can get a deal somehow. So right now I'm going to look around a bit more for the parts. Perhaps from a salvage yard. If I can get the parts cheaply, then I guess I might be keeping this new Blue '84 300SD. :P

Don.............
 

..............where is the new SD (W140) on this list:


1984 Mercedes-Benz 300SD, 163K miles - wrecked by impact with deer
1984 Mercedes-Benz 300SD, 249K miles - bought for parts but thinking twice about it
1990 Honda Civic, 130K miles - winter beater

Corrected!
 

Corrrected. I rarely even remember about that car these days because I have millions of things that have just come up lately, effectively pushing that project off my list indefinitely. The fact that the car is not at my house doesn't help either.

You have taken on quite a project with the S350, that's for sure. I've finally started the head and the oil cooler hoses and the leaking gaskets on the IP and oil filter housing on the SD. I'll be at it for awhile.................... :o

Man that whole situation is rough i have yet to hit a deer, although i clipped a skunk once in my old car gave the little sucker briandamage but i think he lived and became better things, like dinner to some coyote. I like that blue of the "new" sd, the interior is in awsome shape, my ac needs recharged but me think thats thanks to my brother who now works at a benz dealership in the pit will do it for me when he gets around to it. Best of luck and i am glad you made your decision, buy another mercedes diesel.

too quiet
 

the local farmer/ diesel mechanics say the best power point in a diesel is reached when the idle is alittle noisy with random diesel knocks. so your new car may be a little off in its timing. .. chain stretch? nice looking car. i agree it is too nice to part out. i might drive it and use the crashed one for parts as needed.

My problem is that the crashed car is too nice to let go of. Everything works on it and I've spent lots of ca$h and time to bring just about everything on it up to speed maintenance wise.

The new one is also nice in its own way so I guess my diesel addiction has me keeping both. Darn it!

I just got off the phone from speaking with Phil and it looks like I can get some new parts for not-so-bad prices.

For you deer lovers:

The State of Iowa has an official deer program, seriously, that they are advertising to hit deer head on, and not to vear off and hit something else. Just kill the deer and don't try to avoid it. It causes more problems to avoid them anyway. Of course the enviros don't like it...

DS
87 300D
Northern Iowa

I agree with the analogy. When I saw the deer right in front of me, changing lanes wasn't even an option as I didn't have enough time to check the next lane to make sure there were no vehicles in it - best option was to just apply full brake power and see what happens. Indeed, I saw what happens.

The Enviros don't know squat.....they will praise bambi till it eats their expensive shrubs then they develope a taste for venison like the rest of us.