At the weekend my wife picked up her lovely silver Mk3 Focus, only 44k miles and in pristine condition. Today on her first drive she was really looking forward to finally moving away from the gutless 1.2 Corsa she had before when a deer ran out in front of her. From the looks of the damage shes managed to do well and avoid it for the most part and has 'only' cracked the bumper on the passenger side between the main black grill and the smaller black grill. 

I'm getting her to take it somewhere just to check she's not damaged anything that we can't see, but assuming everything is ok is it likely we can get the bumper repaired to the condition it was before or would a replacement bumper be better.

I'm guessing repairs would cost £200 ish but a bumper (~£100) and then spraying would work out more and the colour match might be an issue on an 9 year old car.

 

I have a picture but can't upload it: https://imgur.com/a/7nVdVz3

That crack should be a fairly easy repair, though it might be weak and prone to cracking again in future.  The Mk3 bumper overhang is fairly large, I used to catch mine on kerbs etc quite often.

I would have thought there were plenty of silver bumpers available used, it wasn't a rare colour.  That would be my preference personally.

Deers are pretty solid, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's some damage done to the AC condenser or active grill shutter.

4 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Deers are pretty solid, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's some damage done to the AC condenser or active grill shutter.

Yes, my brother in law hit a badger (smaller but still very solid) some years ago and the condenser took a hit.

Thank you both. She's more concerned the car isn't perfect at the moment. I think one of the vanes for the active grill shutter has been dislodged from what i can see. Will the car be ok to be driven until we can get it repaired. The AC condenser looks ok (i'm assuming it would be ok as long as it wasn't punctured) and the vane wasn't pushed into it.

I've found a few bumpers for around £250 (Including black grilles which need replacing) which i'm guessing would be easy enough to fit plus i can check for more damage. I'm off 2 days this week so i'll get it checked over at a body shop to see what they think. I have taken some more pictures now too.

23 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Yes, my brother in law hit a badger (smaller but still very solid) some years ago and the condenser took a hit.

Looks like she did well to mostly avoid it and the deer struck to the right of the number plate (Passenger side) hit the bumper then rolled under - away and then ran off.

7 minutes ago, joniemaximus said:

I think one of the vanes for the active grill shutter has been dislodged from what i can see. Will the car be ok to be driven until we can get it repaired. The AC condenser looks ok (i'm assuming it would be ok as long as it wasn't punctured) and the vane wasn't pushed into it.

Should be safe to drive as long as the vanes are mostly open.  May throw a warning light eventually.  I wouldn't drive it any distance if the vanes were stuck closed due to risk of engine overheating.

Hopefully the AC condenser is ok, I'd still run it at least once a week for the next 3 or 4 weeks just to check there isn't a slow gas leak now. 

22 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Should be safe to drive as long as the vanes are mostly open.  May throw a warning light eventually.  I wouldn't drive it any distance if the vanes were stuck closed due to risk of engine overheating.

Hopefully the AC condenser is ok, I'd still run it at least once a week for the next 3 or 4 weeks just to check there isn't a slow gas leak now. 

Thanks  Tom, The vanes are all open currently one of the vanes has fallen out of the bracket on one side so i dont think it will close (It might cause more damage if it tries to) so hopefully i'll be able to remove the individual vane. She'll use it for a 20 mile round trip most days so fingers cross its ok. 

 

If there is a slow gas leek will i need a new condenser or can it be fixed?

3 minutes ago, joniemaximus said:

If there is a slow gas leek will i need a new condenser or can it be fixed?

New condenser, they can't be repaired.  Fortunately they're fairly cheap for these cars though, approx £50-£100 new.  Worth checking the pipes as well if there is a leak.  I could never get my Mk3 to hold gas for any length of time.  Replaced the condenser and a couple of pipes but there was a still a leak somewhere.

It's a shame she hit such a big animal as it could be quite DEER to fix....if she'd hit a bird I'm sure it would be much CHEEPER 😁

(I'll get my coat.....)

5 minutes ago, Phil3747 said:

It's a shame she hit such a big animal as it could be quite DEER to fix....if she'd hit a bird I'm sure it would be much CHEEPER 😁

(I'll get my coat.....)

 Sounds like quite a feast going on here with deer, birds and leeks!  

Fingers crossed for a leekless banquet. I made a bambi joke when i got in that didn't go down well LMAO

1 hour ago, joniemaximus said:

Fingers crossed for a leekless banquet. I made a bambi joke when i got in that didn't go down well LMAO

Doe ( D'oh) that wasn't a good ideer, might cost a few bucks to repair 🤣