My wife hit a deer a little over a week ago at night on a rural highway. She is fine and managed to slow down to around 45 mph by the time the collision happened, but it cracked the bumper and dented the hood. I've been kind of down about it lately. I wax my car once a month, wash it every week, and dust it off and clean spots every day. You can see how this major blemish would have affected me.
So I took it into the only USAA certified repair shop in my town (I get my auto insurance through them). I was planning on taking it to the dealership and using their collision shop if they had one, or take it where ever they recommended since they would probably be experienced with Hyundai's. I opted for the local shop since the dealership is an hour away and because it simplified the claims process. The place also got good reviews on Google and that pretty much made up my mind.
Last Wednesday (6 days after accident) they called to say the car was ready to pick up. They replaced the bumper, passenger side fog light, pulled the dent in the hood and repainted it. I gave it a pretty thorough inspection and saw the bump on the hood wasn't fully removed. The only way to really see it was to raise and lower the hood as you're looking at an angle and watching the reflections. There was a tiny jump in the reflection at one point where it wasn't perfectly smooth. You probably wouldn't have been able to notice it just standing over the hood, but I've only owned the car for a few months now so it's still pretty new to me and I want it looking perfect. I'm also paying a large deductible so it may as well be right. The insurance company is paying even more than that.
They took another look at it the next day and decided the little ripple couldn't be repaired so they ordered a new hood. I wish they would have just done that from the start, but the extra wait was only a minor inconvenience to me. They are supposed to get the new hood in tomorrow, get it painted, mounted and ready for pick up by the end of the day. That seems a little fast to me. Is the paint fully cured that fast?
Anyway, just wanted to share my deer collision story. I'll update tomorrow if it's ready for pick-up. I'm starting to go through Elantra withdrawal.
So I took it into the only USAA certified repair shop in my town (I get my auto insurance through them). I was planning on taking it to the dealership and using their collision shop if they had one, or take it where ever they recommended since they would probably be experienced with Hyundai's. I opted for the local shop since the dealership is an hour away and because it simplified the claims process. The place also got good reviews on Google and that pretty much made up my mind.
Last Wednesday (6 days after accident) they called to say the car was ready to pick up. They replaced the bumper, passenger side fog light, pulled the dent in the hood and repainted it. I gave it a pretty thorough inspection and saw the bump on the hood wasn't fully removed. The only way to really see it was to raise and lower the hood as you're looking at an angle and watching the reflections. There was a tiny jump in the reflection at one point where it wasn't perfectly smooth. You probably wouldn't have been able to notice it just standing over the hood, but I've only owned the car for a few months now so it's still pretty new to me and I want it looking perfect. I'm also paying a large deductible so it may as well be right. The insurance company is paying even more than that.
They took another look at it the next day and decided the little ripple couldn't be repaired so they ordered a new hood. I wish they would have just done that from the start, but the extra wait was only a minor inconvenience to me. They are supposed to get the new hood in tomorrow, get it painted, mounted and ready for pick up by the end of the day. That seems a little fast to me. Is the paint fully cured that fast?
Anyway, just wanted to share my deer collision story. I'll update tomorrow if it's ready for pick-up. I'm starting to go through Elantra withdrawal.