Does Car Insurance Cover Hitting a Deer in Minnesota?

It's a Minnesota rite of passage nobody wants. A dark county road in November, a shape at the edge of the headlights, and then the sound. If it's happened to you, you're probably standing on the shoulder wondering two things at once: is everybody okay, and is this covered? We'll take both in order. This guide walks through which part of your policy pays when you hit a deer, what changes if you swerve, how Minnesota's rules treat a deer claim on your record, who pays for injuries, what to do at the scene (including keeping the deer), and why October and November are when you're most likely to need any of it.

Reported deer/animal crashes

1,234MN DPS Crash Facts, 2023

Peak month (national claims)

NovemberHLDI, 2013–2022 data

Riskiest hours

6–9 p.m.MN Department of Public Safety

No-fault medical

$20,000Per person, Minn. Stat. 65B.44

Which part of your car insurance pays when you hit a deer?

Short answerComprehensive coverage typically pays to repair your car after you hit a deer, minus your comprehensive deductible, and a liability-only policy typically pays nothing toward your own car.

An auto policy is really a bundle of separate coverages, and each one answers a different question. The Insurance Information Institute lists "striking an animal" alongside theft, fire and hail as the kinds of damage comprehensive is built for, and notes that comprehensive is optional and carries its own deductible. Here's how the pieces line up after a deer strike:

The coverage that does the heavy lifting in a deer strike is the one Minnesota law doesn't require. Liability, PIP and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage are mandatory. Comprehensive and collision aren't, though the Minnesota Department of Commerce notes your lender may require both if the car is financed. So the drivers most exposed after a deer hit are the ones who dropped comprehensive on a paid-off car to save a few dollars, and then met a deer at highway speed.

How the deductible works on a deer claim

Comprehensive and collision usually carry separate deductibles, and they don't have to match. Some drivers choose a lower comprehensive deductible than collision, because comprehensive claims in Minnesota (deer, hail, cracked windshields) tend to be ones careful driving can't fully prevent. Your insurer pays the repair cost minus whichever deductible applies to the claim type. If the damage is less than the deductible, there's nothing to claim. Your auto policy's declarations page lists both numbers, and it's worth knowing them before you're standing next to a dented fender.

The extras that matter after a deer hit

• Rental reimbursement. Usually an optional add-on, not part of comprehensive itself. Without it, a rental car while the body shop waits on parts is typically your cost. Minnesota's claims-handling law, Minn. Stat. 72A.201, subd. 6, says your insurer must tell you about any loss-of-use coverage you have when it acknowledges the claim, and, if your comprehensive or collision claim includes rental reimbursement coverage, that you can choose any rental company.
• Towing and roadside assistance. Often a separate, optional coverage too. A deer that takes out a radiator usually means a tow, so check whether you have it.
• Glass. A deer can crack a windshield on its own. Under the same statute, your insurer can't require that glass work be done at a particular shop, and it can't make using a particular repair shop a condition of paying the claim.

What if you swerve to miss the deer and hit something else?

Short answerThen it's typically a collision claim, not comprehensive, and if you hit another car or someone's property, your liability coverage typically pays for the damage you're responsible for.

This is the part most drivers don't know until the adjuster explains it. The claim type typically follows what your car actually hit. Insurers generally look at what your car struck, and a deer you missed isn't that thing. Here's how the common deer scenarios typically sort out:

Your own policy wording decides the edge cases, so read the definitions section of your contract. The pattern itself is the reason safety officials and insurance educators give the same advice. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety tells drivers plainly: don't swerve to avoid a deer, because swerving can make you lose control, leave the road or cross into oncoming traffic. The Northwest Insurance Council, an insurance education group in the Pacific Northwest, puts it as: brake firmly and stay in your lane. A deer strike usually means a body shop. A swerve into a tree or an oncoming pickup can mean an ambulance.

Reviewed by Ryan Block · Licensed Minnesota Insurance Agent (MN Lic. #40025895)

Ryan owns Block Agency, a Farmers Insurance® agency in Eagan licensed in Minnesota and Wisconsin. His bilingual team helps Twin Cities families size their coverage before they need it. More about Ryan

Does a deer claim count as an at-fault accident in Minnesota?

Short answerA deer strike paid only under comprehensive generally isn't a "chargeable accident" under Minnesota's nonrenewal rules, but surcharges follow each insurer's own disclosed plan, so ask your agent how yours treats it.

A lot of websites say flatly that hitting a deer "isn't an at-fault accident." Minnesota's actual rules are more specific than that, and more useful. They come from the Department of Commerce's administrative rules on auto nonrenewals, and they draw the line by which coverage paid the claim:

• Comprehensive payments generally aren't chargeable accidents. Minn. R. 2770.7700, subp. 2 defines a "chargeable accident" as one where the insurer pays under bodily injury, property damage or collision coverage, with listed exceptions. Comprehensive payments count only in narrow situations, such as a car falling through lake ice. A deer strike paid under comprehensive isn't on that list.
• An injury can change the picture. The same rule's short list of comprehensive situations that do count also includes PIP payments to an insured driver in a single-vehicle accident where property is damaged. If you're hurt in a deer crash and your PIP pays, ask your insurer how it classifies the claim.
• Collision payments can be. If you swerve into a tree and collision pays, none of the rule's listed exceptions obviously fits a single-car run-off-the-road crash. That's another reason not to swerve.
• Frequent comprehensive claims still add up. Under Minn. R. 2770.7800, three or more comprehensive payments in the three-year experience period, or two in the last 12 months, let an insurer raise your comprehensive deductible to its next level or $100, whichever is greater. Three physical-damage payments on a single-vehicle policy, or four on a multi-vehicle policy, during the experience period can also let it nonrenew the physical-damage part of the policy, though comprehensive payments for towing or natural causes don't count toward that total.

Surcharges are a separate question. Minnesota doesn't hand every insurer one statewide surcharge schedule. Instead, Minn. Stat. 65B.133 requires each insurer to give you a surcharge disclosure statement before it accepts your first premium. In plain English: your insurer has to disclose its surcharge plan, including which accidents it doesn't surcharge, how much it pays on a claim before a surcharge applies, the surcharge rates and how long an accident counts. It can point you to the plan on its website, but it must give you a written copy if you ask. If you want a definite answer for your policy, that document has it, and we can help you find it.

Who pays for injuries after a deer crash in Minnesota?

Short answerYour own no-fault personal injury protection (PIP) pays first for you and your household, up to $20,000 in medical expenses and $20,000 in non-medical losses per person, whoever or whatever caused the crash.

This is where Minnesota's no-fault system really earns its keep. There's no other driver to blame after a deer crash, and with PIP there doesn't need to be. Under Minn. Stat. 65B.44, every Minnesota auto policy carries at least $40,000 of basic economic loss benefits per person: $20,000 for medical expenses, and $20,000 for income loss, replacement services, funeral costs and survivors' losses combined. Passengers are handled by Minnesota's priority rules: under Minn. Stat. 65B.47, subd. 4, a passenger who's an insured under their own household's policy generally claims there, and a passenger with no no-fault coverage of their own claims under the policy covering your car.

Two practical points. First, the Department of Commerce says no-fault claims must be made within six months of the accident, so open the PIP claim even if the stiffness in your neck seems minor on day one. Second, Commerce notes that no-fault usually doesn't apply on a motorcycle. Deer are a serious hazard for riders in the fall, so if you ride, make sure your motorcycle policy carries the medical coverage you'd want. For the bigger picture on PIP, the tort threshold and Minnesota's required limits, see our complete Minnesota car insurance guide.

What should you do right after hitting a deer in Minnesota?

Short answerGet safely off the road, call 911 if anyone is hurt or the road is blocked, stay away from the deer, photograph everything, then call your insurer or agent to open the claim.

Your hands may still be shaking. That's normal. Work through it in this order:

1. Get safe. Pull onto the shoulder if the car can move, turn on your hazard lights, and stay buckled until traffic is clear. On a dark rural road, your car is now the hazard.
2. Call 911 if anyone is hurt, or if your car or the deer is blocking a lane. Minnesota law, Minn. Stat. 169.09, subd. 6, requires a driver in a crash that injures or kills another person to notify police by the quickest means of communication. If the crash damaged only roadside fixtures, like a guardrail or sign, subdivision 5 requires you to take reasonable steps to notify the property's owner and to report the same information to a peace officer.
3. Leave the deer alone. DPS advises keeping your distance from a deer that isn't dead, since it may recover and leave. If it stays put or creates a safety risk, report it to a DNR conservation officer or local law enforcement.
4. Document it. Photograph the damage, the road, the deer if it's safe to do so, and any hair or blood on the car. A record of animal contact helps show the claim is comprehensive and not collision.
5. Get a report if an officer responds. A deer hit with no injuries and no damaged property isn't one of the situations the statute specifically requires you to call in, but a responding officer's report makes the claim cleaner. It's also how you get a permit if you want the deer.
6. Call your insurer, or us. Open the comprehensive claim, and the PIP claim if anyone is hurt. Ask whether you have towing and rental reimbursement before you arrange either.

Can you keep the deer?

Yes, with a permit. Under Minn. Stat. 97A.502, the driver whose vehicle killed a deer on a public road gets priority for a permit to possess the whole deer, if the facts indicate it wasn't taken illegally. Otherwise the road authority removes it. The Minnesota DNR says these possession permits are free and are distributed through state and local authorities, and DPS says you get one by contacting a law enforcement officer. Don't load a road-killed deer into the trunk without the permit.

When are deer crashes most likely in Minnesota?

Short answerIn the fall and in the evening: Minnesota DPS says deer crashes peak in autumn and deer are most active from 6 to 9 p.m., and national animal-strike claims peak in November.

Law enforcement reported 1,234 crashes involving deer or other animals in Minnesota in 2023, according to the Department of Public Safety's Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Facts 2023, the most recent edition, published in August 2025. Four of that year's fatal crashes began with a deer or animal. The year before, the 2022 edition counted 1,351 deer/animal crashes and 8 fatal ones.

Take the police count as a floor. It only includes crashes that were reported, and plenty of deer hits end with a driver limping home and calling the body shop on Monday. National insurance claim data tells the same story from the other side: animal-strike claims climb through the fall and peak in November, right as Minnesota's days get shorter and the evening commute moves into the dark. That 6-to-9 p.m. window lands squarely on the drive home down I-35E or out toward Farmington and Hastings.

How to lower your odds

• Slow down at dusk and after dark, especially where fields meet woods. DPS specifically flags those edges.
• Use high beams when there's no oncoming traffic, and watch the shoulders for eye-shine.
• Don't count on deer whistles. DPS says not to rely on them.
• If a deer stops in the road, stop. Sound your horn and wait. Don't try to drive around it.

The Bottom Line

Car insurance usually covers hitting a deer in Minnesota if you carry comprehensive, and that's the coverage to check first. Hitting the deer is typically a comprehensive claim. Swerving into something else typically makes it a collision claim, with a different deductible and different consequences under Minnesota's chargeable-accident rules. Liability-only won't fix your car. Your own PIP pays injury bills first, and you have six months to open that claim.

The other thing to remember is the half-second before impact: brake firmly, stay in your lane, don't swerve. It's the safety advice and the insurance advice at the same time. Comprehensive typically covers another Minnesota regular, too: hail on your car. For what a hailstorm does to the rest of your property, read our Minnesota hail damage guide. And once deer season gives way to winter, the claims move indoors, so our guides to ice dams and home insurance and frozen pipes are worth a read before January.

If your house and your cars are insured with different companies, our guide to Minnesota home insurance explains how the home side works, and bundling is one of the cleaner ways to bring the total down. When you're ready, we start with Farmers Insurance® and, when Farmers isn't the right fit, can look at additional carriers. Call (651) 252-6655, see how we build an auto policy for Minnesota drivers, or request a free quote online. Se habla español.

Related Questions About Deer Crashes and Insurance

Last reviewed by Ryan Block, licensed Minnesota insurance agent, on October 9, 2026. Minnesota statutes cited (65B.44, 65B.47, 65B.133, 72A.201, 97A.502 and 169.09) and Minnesota Rules 2770.7700 and 2770.7800 were checked against revisor.mn.gov on that date. Crash counts come from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Crash Facts (2023 and 2022 editions); seasonal claim data from the Highway Loss Data Institute (April 2023); deer-possession rules from the Minnesota DNR; safety guidance from MN DPS and the Northwest Insurance Council. This guide is general information, not a substitute for reading your own policy. Coverage depends on your specific contract, and not all coverages and discounts are available from every insurer.