Many of you will have read about the problem with Bambi and friends inhabiting our small neighbourhood. (For those who don't Bambi is a red deer stag weighing in about 22 stone and with 2.5 foot long antlers.) Well Bambi got a fright yesterday and in galloping off dented the wing of neighbour's car on their drive. Most of the damage has pulled out.
But it's sent all of us who keep our vehicles on private driveways/parking areas diving off to check motor and buildings/contents insurances to find out whether - in the event of the whole herd (now a half dozen ladies plus a rival stag showing interest) stampeding and damaging our vehicles - we'd have any cover and none of us have yet found the answer! (But I can claim for damage to my dry stane dykes caused by deer which is a relief!)
The obvious solution is for each of us to contact our respective insurance companies and ask but would that be opening a can of worms? The neighbour whose car was hit and I both have issues already because none of our vehicles or our houses can be seen from the highway - I have a 70m driveway and his is 1100m but they think in terms of short drives in front of a house on a normal road!
We have reported the situation with the deer to both Police and Deer Commission representative several times the last few months but the legal shooting of the animals - there are very strict rules about this in residential areas and rightly - are preventing a cull. Apart from cost - eek! we are not allowed to put up deer-fencing as we're a conservation area (another reason most of us don't have garages to put our cars in!).
So what would you do? Alert the insurance co. to the situation and a likely hike in premiums or let it ride and hope Bambi and rival stag don't have a fight come the rut?
But it's sent all of us who keep our vehicles on private driveways/parking areas diving off to check motor and buildings/contents insurances to find out whether - in the event of the whole herd (now a half dozen ladies plus a rival stag showing interest) stampeding and damaging our vehicles - we'd have any cover and none of us have yet found the answer! (But I can claim for damage to my dry stane dykes caused by deer which is a relief!)
The obvious solution is for each of us to contact our respective insurance companies and ask but would that be opening a can of worms? The neighbour whose car was hit and I both have issues already because none of our vehicles or our houses can be seen from the highway - I have a 70m driveway and his is 1100m but they think in terms of short drives in front of a house on a normal road!
We have reported the situation with the deer to both Police and Deer Commission representative several times the last few months but the legal shooting of the animals - there are very strict rules about this in residential areas and rightly - are preventing a cull. Apart from cost - eek! we are not allowed to put up deer-fencing as we're a conservation area (another reason most of us don't have garages to put our cars in!).
So what would you do? Alert the insurance co. to the situation and a likely hike in premiums or let it ride and hope Bambi and rival stag don't have a fight come the rut?
