Hitting a deer or other animal

At the roadside

1. Pull over where it is safe and turn on your hazard lights. Stay off the road itself; other drivers may not see the animal or your car.
2. Check for injuries and call 911 if anyone is hurt or the animal is blocking traffic.
3. Keep away from the animal. An injured animal can be dangerous. Let the police or a wildlife officer deal with it.
4. Photograph the damage and the scene: the front of the car, any hair or blood on it, the road, the nearest mile marker or cross street, and the animal if you can do it from a distance.
5. Check the car before you drive on. Leaking fluid, a broken headlight, a bent hood or a warning light are reasons to call a tow truck.

These photos do more work than usual. On an animal claim there is no other driver, so the adjuster relies on your pictures and account to see that an animal, not a fixed object, caused the damage. Our guide to documenting the damage lists the shots that help most.

Comprehensive or collision

The Texas Department of Insurance lists hitting an animal among the losses comprehensive coverage pays for, alongside fire, hail, theft and flood, and the NAIC describes comprehensive as covering damage from events such as a run-in with a deer. Collision coverage, in the NAIC's words, pays when your car is damaged in a crash or rollover. The difference shows up when you swerve.

Comprehensive and collision each carry their own deductible, and the two are often set at different amounts, so the classification can change what you pay. Check both on your declarations page. How each type of claim is handled is in comprehensive claims and collision claims.

A deer strike can total an older car. A bent hood, a radiator, both headlights and the airbags can add up to more than the car is worth. In that case comprehensive pays the car's actual cash value minus the deductible, the same way as any other total loss; see total loss claims for what that payment should include.

How common animal crashes are

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety analyzes federal crash data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). It counted 210 deaths in collisions with animals in 2024, up from 89 in 1975. Deaths rose from 1975 to the mid-2000s, and IIHS says the trend has leveled off over the past decade.

• Season: in 2024 the most animal-crash deaths, 67, came in July through September, followed by 65 in April through June, 53 in October through December and 25 in January through March.
• What the count covers: these are deaths, not all crashes. Most animal collisions damage a car without hurting anyone, and those don't appear in this count.

For a claim, the season doesn't change anything: the same coverage rules apply in any month. What the numbers do show is that animal crashes are a year-round risk, not only an autumn one.

Reports and keeping the animal

Your state's usual crash reporting rules apply unless it makes an exception for animals. North Dakota does: its duty to notify the police after a crash with damage of $4,000 or more doesn't apply when a crash with an undomesticated animal damages only your own vehicle. In Texas, by contrast, you must call the police at once if a car can't be driven safely, whatever caused the damage. Each state's rule is on its page in claim rules by state.

Even when no report is required, a record helps the claim. If an officer comes, ask for the report number. If no one comes, write down what happened the same day: the time, the road, the direction you were driving, the speed, what the animal did and what you did. Send it to your insurer with the photos when you report the claim. An account written on the day carries more weight than one pieced together weeks later, and it keeps the order of events clear if the adjuster asks whether you hit the animal or swerved first.

Wildlife agencies set their own rules for the animal. Illinois, for example, gives the driver in a vehicle-deer collision priority to possess the deer, and anyone who takes it must report the possession to the Department of Natural Resources within 24 hours through its website. Other states require a permit or don't allow it at all, so call the state wildlife agency before you load a deer into your car.

What the adjuster will ask for

• When and where: the date, time, road and nearest landmark.
• What happened: whether you hit the animal, swerved, or both, and in what order.
• Photos of the damage and the scene, and any police or wildlife report number.
• A repair estimate, and towing receipts if the car couldn't be driven.

Be exact about the order of events. Saying you swerved and hit a tree, when the deer struck the car first, can move a claim from comprehensive to collision.

Questions people ask