It was bound to happen sometime, but I hit a stag last night. Big guy, probably about 120kg. Hit him square on, just slightly off centre of bonnet at about 40mph. In a lower car he would have bounced onto bonnet and windscreen but on the FL2 he was smacked down the road a couple of metres. Surprisingly little damage to car, not so good outcome for the stag, poor beast.

Car’s going to need a new bumper/grill assembly but apart from a crack in the plastic and a slight gap at the edge seam, you really wouldn’t know that anything had happened. In the pouring rain and dark I managed to find the surround to the fog light but not the head-light washer nozzle. Fortunately the car drove fine afterwards as I was 110 miles from home and headlights still fine.

Not seen it in daylight or investigated any hidden damage but now weighing up whether this is an insurance claim or better to DIY and save on insurance excess and no-claims discount. Been driving 40 years and never had to make a claim, so I am in new territory here. Any thoughts? 2005 D3 2.7 Auto
Previously:
2010 MY FL2 TD4e GS - Now gone at 199,500 miles, about 135,000 of them mine.
‘93 Defender 110 200TDi CSW
‘87 Defender 90 4 cyl Petrol
‘83 110 CSW V8 - best ever!
Range Rover 2-door V8 (not sure of year - 4-speed box and vacuum diff switch)
Series III SWB Diesel

Depending on the cost of the repair you may be better paying yourself. Even if you have “ protected no claims “. As well as the excess the base policy cost is certain to rise , and you will have to declare a claim for the next 5 years wherever you try to insure . Don’t be afraid of buying parts from a breaker . If you buy all of the front end plastic , a body shop will prep it off the car then fit it for you before blending it in . My Mrs reversed into a stone gatepost the quote we had was £ 2500 and I reckon if we had used the insurance we would have paid and extra £1000 in premiums over 5 years . Using the internet we bought a rear bumper with all the sensors, a bumper reinforcing bar and a genuine LR rear light. That lot cost us £280 delivered, then £650 for the body shop . I delivered the bumper plastic to them , and stripped the old one off myself and replaced the reinforcing bar. There is a very good breakers called Skan 4x4 on eBay. If they don’t have the parts you want listed call them they have stock changing all the time . 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

I hit one in an old Zafira a few years back, managed to swerve so it only hit the nearside bumper. It needed a new bumper, trim bits, fog light and surround and with excess included came in at about £1300. Ive no idea what happened to the deer as it flew off into the darkness, but mine was still driveable.

The problem with hitting something that weighs 120kg is that you don't know what damage is done behind the plastic bits on the car.... has the front cross member been pushed back? have sensors been damage? etc etc etc.

Unless your a really good DIY mechanic/body shop guy or know someone who is, then I would go down the insurance route. the downside is that they will still class it as your fault for the next 5 years and count it as a non recovered claim against your premiums.

the up side is that your ok, the deer will be replaced by another in a couple of months time during rutting season, and the carcass will be consumed by nature and keep other little furry beasts and bugs fed for a while.

Martyn, thanks for the Ebay info. Does a new front need prepping by a body shop? I thought it was coloured plastic, so I needed to source a matching piece?

Rog, good point about sensors. Been out and checked and it is not showing any codes on the GAP IID tool.

Damage seems so slight, its tempting to just fix the head-light washer and push it all back into place and leave it!




 2005 D3 2.7 Auto
Previously:
2010 MY FL2 TD4e GS - Now gone at 199,500 miles, about 135,000 of them mine.
‘93 Defender 110 200TDi CSW
‘87 Defender 90 4 cyl Petrol
‘83 110 CSW V8 - best ever!
Range Rover 2-door V8 (not sure of year - 4-speed box and vacuum diff switch)
Series III SWB Diesel

Worms,bright side is no damage to you (or passengers) surprising lack of damage after hitting one of those beast . you say not a good outcome for him?? dead ?
nice dusting there too hope its gone before I head up to Arkaig. If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

🐑
Freelander 2 HSE auto 2014 ( Florrie ) ..... Try again.
Freelander 2 GS 2012...... Gone.

Jules, yes, deer definitely dead. Amazing how well the car coped with it. Anything smaller would have had windscreen and air-bags in addition to any body-work damage. Only me in the car and just a slight crick in the neck, so I am thankful for the LR design work on safety. I think the design gives maximum flex at the centre point and spreads that out to the sides, so hitting square on probably minimised the damage, except towards the edge, where the fog-light cover popped out, the bumper cracked and the end popped out of its slots in the wing. Headlights can move very slightly on their fixing when pushed but I’m not sure if that pre-dates last night and presumably they just need tightening down. No sign of anything untoward under bonnet, except washer fluid on the chassis runners from the missing head-light washer.

Bright side also that I didn’t swerve and go off the (single-track) road, but I really didn’t have time to react at all. 2005 D3 2.7 Auto
Previously:
2010 MY FL2 TD4e GS - Now gone at 199,500 miles, about 135,000 of them mine.
‘93 Defender 110 200TDi CSW
‘87 Defender 90 4 cyl Petrol
‘83 110 CSW V8 - best ever!
Range Rover 2-door V8 (not sure of year - 4-speed box and vacuum diff switch)
Series III SWB Diesel

if you were lucky enough to buy the same paint code on a used bumper you might get away with a straight swap . Our car is Zermatt Silver and the best condition bumper we could buy was black also consider that any second hand panel might have imperfections , and also if the paint has weathered more or less than your car’s paint it might stand out like a sore thumb against the wings and bonnet . If you just want a bumper painting and clear coating off the car it’s not a lot of money at all . I went for a full blended in job on the car , mainly because my wife was paying

Having seen your picture my first stop would be a body shop who might well be able to weld the plastic and repaint . Just as an example of saving a few bob using parts from a breaker , the rear bumper reinforcing bar was £180 plus vat from LR , as a breaker part it was £30.

It would be worth checking the front bumper reinforcing , that might be bent, as that’s the bit that delivered the energy to send Bambi to the great forest in the sky ... 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

Is the venison in the boot? Know what you mean about reacting bloody things come from nowhere and don't half shift had a smallish buck come straight out in front of me just after Glen Coe village last September...  If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

🐑
Freelander 2 HSE auto 2014 ( Florrie ) ..... Try again.
Freelander 2 GS 2012...... Gone.

Friend of mine used to be a firearms copper, and was also a licensed gamekeeper. He used to get called out to any large animal strike if he was on duty.
If the deer was dead he would drag it clear of the road etc and leave it in the hedge, inevitably the carcass was disposed of by mother nature very quickly.
If the deer was still alive when he got there he would put it out of its misery humanely, then call his wife who would come out with the old Suzuki they had. He would strip and gut the carcass at the roadside, throwing the internals etc into the hedges (and again mother nature would sort that quickly). What remained would go into the Suzuki then into his freezer at home.
The largest EMPTY carcass he took home weighed in at 18 stone !!!.... and yes the car was a write off

car did well looking at those images, just seen this on ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/06-10-LAND-ROVE...Sw3wVaT2CZ

It would be in my freezer if I had hit it as some sort of compensation.

As for insurance, with a older FL2 I would be tempted to avoid a claim if the likes of airbags have not fired off. its bad enough claiming for a windscreen and having to declare for 5 years. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

I hit a deer a few years ago and my biggest problem was explaining what happened to a guy in an Indian call centre who barely spoke English. Questions like "what was the name of the other party and do you have their insurance details etc"  3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

"Bambi and as far as I know he was uninsured"

Seems deer are not as tough as when it comes to getting up and staggering off.  If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

🐑
Freelander 2 HSE auto 2014 ( Florrie ) ..... Try again.
Freelander 2 GS 2012...... Gone.

As a teenager I used to work as Saturday staff for a local butcher, he used to regularly have a deer hanging in the back of the shop and bits falling off his mini van.

I thought that if you knock game down you are not supposed to collect it - something to do with the idea that you purposely hit it and you could be in trouble with the law.

Use this as a good excuse for fitting the facelift bumper/ grille straight fit (just break off the centre mount behind bumper)

I did this on my last FL and it was cheap and vastly improved the front end (in my opinion anyway) - 2nd hand bumper off ebay £120, paint + fit £200 - the foglights swap over from your bumper