Tuesday, October 18, 2011

What’s your biggest threat while driving in November?

Have you seen Bambi lately? No, this isn’t a question to ask your 7-year-old niece. It’s not a movie – it’s real life. Deer-mating season is here, and November gets the award for the month of peak deer-mating activity – and also, not surprisingly, for being the most collision-prone month between deer and motor vehicles.  

What’s more, the statisticians say that there are over 1.5 million car accidents with deer every year, resulting in about $1.1 billion in vehicle damage.  Many of those wrecks happen right here in Franklin, Brentwood, and Middle Tennessee.

Help protect yourself. Don’t forget to use your high beams at night when there’s no oncoming traffic. Also use caution when driving near fences and underpasses, in case any animal darts out.

Here’s an important insurance scenario to consider. Let’s say a deer suddenly appears in the middle of the road, and you have a split second to decide whether to hit him/her, or swerve and hit a tree. If you hit an animal that causes damage to your car, you’re covered by your Comprehensive coverage, and even though you file a claim, it will likely NOT impact your rates. If, instead, you swerve and avoid the deer but hit that tree and damage your car, your Collision portion of your insurance pays to fix your car; however, you’ll likely also see an impact on your rates. That’s just the way insurance companies do it.

Hopefully, you’ll never have this happen to you. And even if it does, you may not have any time to make this kind of decision. But, at least, now you know what you’d be dealing with.

 

Doh -- a deer!

We're nearing the peak of the deer-mating season, the time to be extra watchful for deer while you are driving.  In fact, about half of ...