Man, I hate to say it.... But I killed a dog with my car. This just happened about 30 minutes ago. I was driving my girlfriend home, going about 60. It's dark, not many street lights, when all of a sudden I see a dog. I was like OMG!!!! Then BOOM, that dog went to doggie heaven. I felt the hit in the front bumper, then me running over it. :eek: I didn't swerve, roads were wet....If I did, I probably would have have done major damage to my car, my body, my girlfriend's body...No one wants that right? Anyway, my girlfriend is in tears, she's going crazy but calms down after a few minutes. I drop her home and say goodbye.

Now, I'm back at home to inspect my car. The front bumper looks alright, but then I look closer... Under, near the front left fog light is cracked. The fog light also fell out, but it still works... The bumper is kinda loose on the left side.

Add that to the idiot who keyed the right side of my car, the idiot who left huge scratch marks on the front bumper, the idiot who tried to pierce the front right fender.... Now this. Oh well, all the more reason to get a paint job...... Someday.

 

R.I.P. doggie. But for the sake of you and yours, I strongly believe you did the best thing possible. Especially after what happened to DrRick's GS when he swerved to miss a creature. I gotta give you props for not swerving, cuz that is what most people do, which is riskier.

Sorry you had to go through that. I dont think i've ever mentioned this here before, but I ran over a few human remains on the freeway several months ago. by remains, i dont mean ashes...this was blood and meat and stuff from some 19y.o. guy crossing a 4 lane freeway in los angeles around midnight. I couldn't dare tell anyone about it that works on my car or sits in it. totally, totally, gross.

as for getting a new paintjob, doesn't it get to the point where you're like, "heck, if i get new paint, it'll just get scratched again...leave it scratched til you cant take it no more!"

 

Well, at least you didn't hit him. You have nothing to feel bad about then. BTW.... how'd u know it was a person and not some churned up deer or something?

 

no deer in that part of los angeles, and dogs don't wear clothes. gawd, he was dragged a good 1/4 mile and torn into bits and pieces for about 10 minutes, when cops finally arrived to shut down the fwy. a paragraph was written in the paper 2 days later. very sad. although this was october, the road is still stained from his blood, so i can never drive along there w/o thinking about it.

 

That reminds me of a time a few years back, when my mother hit a raccoon at 60MPH on a dark stretch of highway. Got home, looked at the car in the garage, appeared to be no damage. Next day, she gets on the freeway, and the temp gauge shoots up into the red zone. Turns out the raccoon had split the bottom of the radiator wide open. But much better than swerving and crashing the car. New radiator and the car was fine.

 

I've only had 2 experiences with animals and my es. One was a raccoon that I got doing about 50 or so down a dark street, I think he caught the outside of the front and just got pushed aside and I didn't find any damage. The other is my skillz story where I was doing about 50 again and I came upon 2 chickens which I swerved in between and split the 2 without incident. I was happy about that and so was my friend who was in the car lol. Made for a good story

 

I know someone that hit a racoon, too. It destroyed the right mcpherson strut....caused it to snap like a bone.

SexieLexie can tell you about the time a skunk got caught up in her suspension and strut coils. Not pretty. The dealership stunk for a week.

hey serrano, look at it this way, maybe it was a stray and nature had to take him out. Sorry your car had to damaged. Cars are easily fixable, people are a different story. Be glad you and your girlfriend are ok.

Go to a body shop that likes to work with people. You might be able to repair the scrapes, scratches, and fog lights all under one deductable. See if your ins. comp. will waive the deductable cause it was not your fault.

Another place to try is vocational high schools and trade schools that teach body shop. They will do the work, no charge. You only pay for materials. But you understand these are students learning under the guidence of a professional.
Just a thought.

peace.
steviej

 

Well, from the posts I've read here... I probably could have more damage. I ran over a dog and the problems you guys listed were from squirrels, and they are much smaller! :eek: I'll take it for a drive later... Turns out the left side of the bumper is cracked, right where the fog light is. I took out the light because it was dangling, looks like it cracked from its place. Man, this sucks.

 

What a coincidence. A short while ago, I was just reading a thread on another board about a guy who swerved to miss a deer and ended up running through a fence and totalling his Audi.

Anyway, I'm glad you're OK, and as bad as it sounds, you definately did the right thing about hitting the dog. How big was the dog? You might want to check if your alignment was thrown out of whack also.

 

Looked regular sized to me.. Anyway, I took it for a drive, everything seems to be ok. Alignment is good, doesn't go anywhere but straight ahead if I take my hands of the wheel.