What You Need to Know About Deer/ Vehicle Collisions

Did you know that deer vs. vehicle collisions are increasing? Given this, do you know how most insurers handle deer/ auto collisions?

These collisions are covered under the Comprehensive Coverage portion of auto insurance policies.

Comprehensive auto insurance includes almost everything that might go wrong with your vehicle, except collision, including: fire, theft, vandalism or malicious damage, riot, flood, earthquake or explosion, hail, windstorm, falling or flying objects, damage due to contact with a bird or animal and sometimes, depending on the policy, windshield damage.

According to this Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) article there are more than 1.6 million deer-vehicle collisions each year resulting in about 200 fatalities, tens of thousands of injuries and over $3.6 billion in vehicle damage. An additional $1 billion is spent on medical payments for injuries to people in the car and out-of-pocket expenses paid by vehicle owners, bringing the total cost to approximately $4.6 billion.

The I.I.I. states the average claim for deer-vehicle collisions is $3,100, with costs varying depending on the type of vehicle and severity of the damage, up 1.7 percent from a year ago, according to the Insurance Information Institute. This exploding problem is not due to American's obsession with driving. The number of miles driven, again according to the I.I.I., by U.S. motorists over the past five years has increased just 2 percent. Contrast that with the number of deer-vehicle collisions during that time which has grown a staggering 10 times that amount.

Deer migration and mating season generally runs from October through December, and causes a dramatic increase in the movement of the deer population. As a result, more deer-vehicle collisions occur in this period than at any other time of year. Therefore, auto insurers claims spike considerably at this time of year.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the three worst states for deer/ vehicle collisions are Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois.

Damage caused by an accident with deer or other animals is covered under the optional comprehensive portion, not the collision portion, of an automobile insurance policy. This has a huge impact on underwriting auto policies and in sales to customers with older, less valuable vehicles.