Wildlife Collision Insurance in Colorado: What Pays

If you hit a deer, elk or other animal in Colorado, the damage to your vehicle is generally paid by optional comprehensive coverage, not collision coverage. The Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association says the same: comprehensive pays for vehicle damage from a wildlife collision. That coverage is optional, so if your policy only meets the state minimums, your own car may not be covered at all. Injuries are a separate question, and they are where drivers most often get stuck.

This guide walks through what each part of your policy does, what to do at the scene, how to report the crash, what to document, and when a wildlife collision turns into a personal injury matter. We are a Colorado Springs personal injury firm, so we also cover the situations where someone else’s driving is part of the story.

Table of Contents

• Which coverage pays when you hit an animal
• What to do right after a wildlife collision
• Do you have to report it?
• How to document a wildlife collision for your claim
• When Colorado wildlife crashes happen
• When a wildlife collision becomes an injury claim
• Our perspective
• Common mistakes after hitting an animal
• Can you keep the animal?
• If you were hurt: how we can help
• FAQ
• Sources

Which coverage pays when you hit an animal

Three parts of an auto policy matter after a wildlife crash: comprehensive, collision and medical payments. Which one applies depends on what you actually hit.

Comprehensive: the main wildlife coverage

The Colorado Division of Insurance explains that comprehensive covers non-collision causes such as theft, fire, vandalism, hail and falling objects, while collision covers damage when your car hits another automobile or object or overturns. A deer strike is treated as a non-collision event by most insurers. Progressive’s guidance says direct contact with an animal is generally a comprehensive claim, and State Farm’s guide says the same about direct animal impact.

If your car is totaled, a comprehensive claim may pay the vehicle’s actual cash value minus your deductible. Progressive’s page lists typical comprehensive deductibles from $100 to $2,000. Your own deductible is on your declarations page, and it is worth looking up before you call, so you know what the check will look like.

Collision: when you swerve

The distinction that surprises people is swerving. If you leave your lane to avoid the animal and hit a guardrail, a tree or another vehicle, insurers generally treat that as a collision claim. Progressive notes that this is the case when the car strikes another vehicle or object. If you carry comprehensive but not collision, that crash may not be covered for your own car.

This is also why the Colorado State Patrol advises against swerving. Their guidance says to brake in a straight line if there is time and no one is behind you, and not to swerve. If a crash is unavoidable, keep control of the vehicle and drive through the impact before pulling over when it is safe. Swerving into oncoming traffic or off the road often does more harm than the animal would have.

Medical payments: injuries are not covered by comprehensive

Comprehensive and collision pay for the vehicle, not for your medical bills. Progressive states that injuries after a wildlife crash may be addressed by medical payments coverage or personal injury protection if your policy includes it, alongside your health insurance.

In Colorado, the Division of Insurance says medical payments coverage pays reasonable healthcare expenses for the insured and passengers, and $5,000 is included unless it has been rejected under the applicable rules. Check whether you rejected it when you bought your policy.

What Colorado’s minimum coverage does not do

Colorado requires liability limits of $25,000 per person for bodily injury, $50,000 per accident and $15,000 for property damage to others. Liability pays for harm you cause to other people. It does not repair your own car after you hit an elk. If you drive a mountain pass, a rural county road or any stretch of Highway 24 or I-25 at night, comprehensive coverage is the part of your policy most likely to matter.

What to do right after a wildlife collision

The first minutes matter for your safety, for the report and for your claim. Work through this order.

1. Check yourself and your passengers. The Colorado State Patrol treats a collision with an animal as a crash and tells drivers to check themselves and passengers first.
2. Get to safety. Pull over if the car is drivable. If it is unsafe to operate the vehicle, or you are hurt, the RMIIA advises that you stay in your car and call for help.
3. Call for help. If a large animal is still in the roadway after impact, CSP says to call 911 and follow the dispatcher’s instructions. For a report without an emergency, CSP’s non-emergency line is dialed with *CSP (star, then 277).
4. Keep away from the animal. A live animal that is hurt can be dangerous. Do not approach it.
5. Document the scene. More on this below.
6. Call your insurer. The RMIIA’s advice is to contact your agent at your earliest opportunity.

If anyone in the car feels pain, dizziness, neck stiffness or a headache, get checked by a medical professional. Adrenaline hides injuries, and symptoms from whiplash and head injuries can show up hours or days later.

Do you have to report it?

There are two separate questions here: reporting to law enforcement and reporting to your insurer.

Reporting to law enforcement

Colorado law requires a driver in a crash that results in injury, serious bodily injury, death or property damage to give immediate notice to the nearest authorized police authority. That duty comes from C.R.S. § 42-4-1606, which also says a violation is a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense. The statute applies after you satisfy the duties to stop and give assistance.

In practical terms: if your vehicle is damaged or anyone is hurt, call. A police or patrol report is also the document your insurer will usually ask for. We cover the mechanics, and the traps with deadlines, in our guides on how to report a car accident in Colorado and police reports versus accident reports.

A dead animal that creates a hazard on the road should be reported to the road or law enforcement authority. Colorado Community Media’s wildlife column says injured animals needing immediate help can be reported through *277, while crashes involving people should go to 911.

Reporting to your insurer

Tell your insurer promptly. Your policy requires you to give prompt notice of a loss, and the RMIIA tells drivers to call their agent at the first opportunity. Waiting can make it harder to prove the damage came from the animal and not from something else.

Drivers often worry that filing will raise their rates. Progressive notes that whether a wildlife claim affects your premium depends on the state and the insurer, so do not assume either way. Ask your agent directly how the claim is likely to be handled at renewal.

How to document a wildlife collision for your claim

A clean file makes an insurance claim move faster. If you are able to move safely, collect the following. State Farm’s guidance recommends photographing the roadway, surroundings, vehicle damage and any injuries, and taking witness accounts and contact details.

• Photos of the vehicle from every side, including close-ups of fur, blood or debris on the car.
• Photos of the animal and the road, taken from a safe distance, plus skid marks, signs and lighting.
• The location: mile marker, nearest cross street, direction of travel and time. Drop a pin on your phone map.
• Witness names and phone numbers from anyone who stopped.
• The report number and the name of the officer or dispatcher.
• Your own notes written the same day: speed, weather, what you saw, whether you braked or swerved.
• Medical records and receipts if anyone is hurt, including urgent care visits, imaging and prescriptions.
• Repair estimates and towing receipts, kept in one folder.

The note about braking versus swerving is worth writing down in your own words, because it may decide whether your insurer treats the claim as comprehensive or collision. Be accurate and consistent. Describe what happened, not what you think the adjuster wants to hear.

When Colorado wildlife crashes happen

CDOT reports an average of about 3,300 wildlife hits a year reported to law enforcement over the past ten years, ranging from about 2,000 to 4,000, and that figure excludes hits that were never reported. The department says the increase comes each fall during migration, particularly between dusk and dawn.

The Colorado State Patrol advises extra attention from dusk to dawn and during the October-through-December hunting and mating season. It also advises that after you see one deer or elk, more may be close by. Slow down in that situation, scan both shoulders, and keep your high beams on when no one is ahead of you.

If you drive between Colorado Springs and the mountains every day, or the plains east of town, these are the stretches and hours to take seriously. Fall is when insurance claims for animal strikes tend to spike, so it is a good time to confirm that your comprehensive coverage is actually on your policy.

When a wildlife collision becomes an injury claim

Most animal strikes are first-party property claims: your insurer, your deductible, your car. But a wildlife crash can turn into an injury case when other people or other parties are involved. Examples:

• You swerved and hit another vehicle, or another driver swerved into you or rear-ended you when you braked.
• A passenger or you suffered injuries that your medical payments coverage does not fully cover.
• A commercial truck or delivery vehicle is involved in the chain of events.
• Livestock, not wildlife, was on the road. Different rules can apply to animals owned by someone. We explain who pays in our guide to open range car accidents in Colorado.
• Your motorcycle or bicycle hit the animal. Riders get hurt more often than people in cars, and the medical costs add up quickly.

In those cases, the question is no longer only “does comprehensive cover my car?” It becomes who is responsible for the injuries, how medical bills get paid in the meantime, and what the other driver’s insurer is going to say. Our guide to types of car accident claims in Colorado lays out the options, and our car accident legal checklist lists the steps that protect your rights.

For a closer look at how fault gets divided when more than one vehicle is involved, see our article on fault in multi-car accidents.

Our perspective

Insurance companies are not villains for covering a deer strike under comprehensive. They are businesses, and their job is to limit what they pay. I spent years on the other side of the desk as a claims adjudicator for the federal government, so I know how a claim gets evaluated: what the adjuster looks for, which words in your statement matter, and where a claim gets smaller.

What I see with wildlife crashes is that people treat them as a nuisance, a deductible and a phone call. Then the neck pain shows up two weeks later, and they have already given a recorded statement that says “I’m fine.” That statement does not go away.

Our approach is to be stubborn on behalf of the person who got hurt. We focus only on injured people. We are attorneys handling cases directly, not a case mill, and we do not charge you unless we recover money in your case. If a wildlife collision involved another driver, a commercial vehicle or injuries your policy does not cover, we will look at the whole picture, because the first insurance call often decides how the rest of the claim goes.

Be careful, be honest with your insurer, get checked by a doctor, and call us if anyone was hurt.

Ryan

Common mistakes after hitting an animal

Small choices in the first days shape what you are paid. The ones we see most:

• Telling everyone you are fine at the scene, then needing treatment later. Say you are not sure, and get examined.
• Leaving without a report when there was damage or injury, given the reporting duty in C.R.S. § 42-4-1606.
• Swerving, which can convert a comprehensive claim into a collision claim, or into a crash with another vehicle.
• Waiting to call the insurer. Report soon, with photos in hand.
• Guessing at facts in a recorded statement. If you do not know, say so.
• Skipping the medical visit because you assume only the car was damaged.

Our broader list of mistakes after car accidents applies here too, and so does our guide on what to do immediately after a car accident in Colorado.

Can you keep the animal?

Some drivers want to take a deer or elk they hit. Colorado guidance, summarized by one roadkill law overview, says a free permit is required to take large game such as deer, elk, moose or antelope, and that some state patrol officers and county sheriff offices can issue them. Stay off the roadway while retrieving an animal. Get the permit question settled with the officer at the scene, and never put yourself in traffic for it.

If you were hurt: how we can help

If a wildlife crash involved injuries, or another driver, we handle car, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, semi-truck and other injury claims across Colorado, including Colorado Springs. Our work is on a contingency basis: you pay nothing unless there is a monetary recovery in your case.

We can talk through what your policy covers, what the other side’s insurer is likely to argue, and how to keep your medical care moving. See our services or reach us through our main site for a case review.

FAQ

Does comprehensive or collision cover hitting a deer in Colorado?

Comprehensive generally covers direct contact with a deer, elk or other animal. Collision generally applies if you swerve and hit another vehicle or an object. Both are optional in Colorado, so check your declarations page for what you carry and your deductible.

Do I have to tell my insurance company if I hit a deer?

Yes, in practice. The RMIIA tells drivers to call their agent at the earliest opportunity, and your policy likely requires prompt notice of a loss. Whether a claim affects your renewal price depends on the insurer and state, so ask your agent.

Do I need a police report after hitting wildlife in Colorado?

If the crash caused injury or property damage, Colorado law requires you to give immediate notice to the nearest police authority. Call 911 if a large animal remains in the road, or *CSP for the State Patrol. The report also supports your insurance claim.

Will my auto insurance pay my medical bills after a wildlife collision?

Not comprehensive or collision, since those cover the vehicle. Medical payments coverage may pay reasonable healthcare expenses, and Colorado includes $5,000 unless rejected. Your health insurance may also respond. If your injuries exceed that, speak with a personal injury attorney.

Sources

• Wildlife on the Road, Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association
• Auto Insurance, Colorado Division of Insurance
• Does Insurance Cover Hitting A Deer?, Progressive
• Immediate Steps to Take if You Hit a Deer, State Farm
• A Collision with an Animal is a Crash, Colorado State Patrol
• Colorado Revised Statutes § 42-4-1606
• Wildlife on the Move, Colorado Department of Transportation
• What should I do if I see injured wildlife?, Colorado Community Media
• Roadkill Laws in Colorado

Recommended

• Open Range Car Accidents in Colorado: Who Pays After You Hit Livestock
• Types of car accident claims: Your guide to Colorado options
• Understanding financial compensation after a crash in Colorado