I was driving back from town and a lab-sized dog shot out into the road at a full run from behind a hedge. I just had a chance to hit the brakes hard for a fraction of a second. I hit it almost exactly in the center of the front bumper. It was still stretched out running at full speed when I hit it and had not even seen the car.
I pulled off the road to check on the dog, it lived for about 5 minutes or so. It was a 45 mph zone, clear sunny day with the top down. I normally drive 5 mph over the limit as I was today, so I was traveling at 50 mph before I hit the brakes, but I dont think the car had a chance to slow down much at all.
I have been driving now for almost 45 years and this is the first accident of any sort I have been in. We are dog-lovers so it was hard to try to comfort the dog for a few minutes before it died. I walked around to find some neighbors and talked to a few. Seems that this dog was well-known in the area and not very well liked. She was supposed to be on a runner of some sort, but was always running loose and tearing around the area.
Anyway, I called my insurance, State Farm and reported the incident. My wife lost her cell phone again, so she borrowed mine today, so I could not snap a pic of the damage, but front bumper is trashed. It did not look like the radiators were hit, maybe just the coolant lines, but it looks like I lost most the the coolant, so I had it towed to a shop in town where an insurance adjustor can do their stuff.
My initial plan is to have it towed to a good indi shop I use in Richmond and have it put back together. But was wondering if there was any additional advice from the group on what I should be doing to the car, thanks,
Ed
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