Key word is "safely."If you can safely avoid hitting a animal I think it’s worth it.
+1000 on all points.Key word is "safely."
At 68mph you are traveling at 100 feet per second. At best, an alert person's reaction time from assessing the situation to taking action is maybe 1 second. So everything out to 100 feet is history before you get there. Best case stopping distance is around 140 feet. So you have to see a stationary deer on the road 240 feet (about one football field) ahead of the car to have a chance of stopping. A little less for avoiding. That's farther out than most people look during daytime and beyond most headlights at night.
This is a recipe for overcontrolling and attempting desperate moves. IOW for killing yourself. Does going 100 feet per second down a ditch sound like fun? Maybe upside down? How about hitting a signpost at maybe 45mph? If you hit a bridge abutment at that speed, you are dead from the G-forces.
No deer, even Bambi, is worth this risk. Moose, OTOH, are so huge that you can get killed just hitting one. So, for that one ... good luck!
If you go through your Insurance company, expect the value of repairs to total the car. The insurance company then owns it and will take it. Many decades ago I bought back a totaled car for 10% or 15% of the book value. When totaled, the title is marked as a salvage title, and to register it again for driving requires an inspection and sign off by a police officer that the car had been repaired enough to be legally operable.
+1000 on all points.
Even if you don't kill yourself and your passengers attempting to avoid the deer, they move! Hop, jump and run away. You have no idea where the deer will be when you maneuver, of course theres a good chance there's multiple deer you haven't seen yet.
Big animals are bad, elk, moose, and the deadliest animal ever, a hog. Hit a 1000lb hog at 65mph and it's not pretty. Their low center of gravity says you lost.
I too, wonder if anyone notified the deer's next of kin and where the services will be held at?
Are you kidding me? That looks fine. I would have that fixed and keep driving it. Heck, I'm thinking about making you an offer.
Yes, like the OP, I also live in Pennsylvania. My son was in an accident in 2012 (other party's fault). The car only had cosmetic damage - cracked front bumper, crumpled fender, and scratches/dents down the passenger side. But, it was 16 years old with 100k miles and was deemed totalled (State Farm repair estimate was over $3k).
Anyway, we bought it back from State Farm for about $400, and had it "recertified" so we could drive it again.
In PA, there's a list of state inspection shops that can do the recertification process for you. It entails a safety inspection, checking that no body work sticks out, the doors open correctly, etc. They also need to take a number of photos and then send all the paperwork into the DMV. It takes a couple of weeks before you get a new recertified title, replacing the totalled title. I think my shop charged about $300 for the inspection and paperwork.
Note, we did not fix any of the bodywork, fender, or bumper, and we're still driving it 7 years later.
If it's drivable, it would be worthwhile to find a shop close by that does recertifications and get their opinion on exactly what would need to be fixed to qualify for a recertified title.