Cost to fix your car after hitting a deer is way up, just like everything else

PITTSBURGH — With the rut in full swing for whitetail deer in western Pennsylvania, this is prime time for one to jump out in front of you while driving. Fixing all that damage is costing drivers more this year, seemingly just like everything else.

“We are extremely busy. Not only are we busy with cars coming in daily but we have a backlog of parts not available that are just not available,” said Jeff Critchlow.

Critchlow’s body shop was hopping on Monday. While the business is welcome, customers are having a hard time dealing with the cost.

“An average collision now from last year has gone up 10 or 15% mainly because of parts increase. And we have a labor increase as well,” Critchlow said.

He said this also means it is taking longer to fix vehicles, too, with one job taking two-and-a-half weeks just to get the headlights shipped to Critchlow Auto Body. All of this makes it important to know what is in your insurance policy.

“You get 30 days or a certain amount of money and then unfortunately the customer is out of a rental,” Critchlow said.

Deer collisions peak this month, next in Pennsylvania | WPXI

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