Ugh, look what I found on my Prius this morning... By papagoose at 2011-04-14 I know, it's not bad, but I'm in one hell of a bad mood now. We've only made one payment so far and we've had a tire blow out and now this. Best guess is that someone hit the car in the parking lot when my wife went out to the store last night. It was dark, she didn't notice. We're going in for an estimate in the morning...hopefully this won't hurt too bad.
Really sorry to see/hear that. People like that REALLY suck! If you want to experiment (and you've nothing to lose at this point) Take a look at this....Looks like a worse hit than you have. More than likely a body shop would just replace the whole bumper. Good Luck!
That sucks!! I had the same problem when my car was hit at a parking lot (it was less than a year old then). Thankfully, the guy who hit it left me a note! His insurance paid for everything. They replaced the whole bumper cover (plus some other scratches) and it cost around $1000 in 2007. It will all be good when it gets fixed and you will forget it ever had a dent.
Something similar happened to me - someone backed into me in a parking lot. My insurance company covered the entire bill and I was lucky since there was more damage than they originally thought. You should also give the store a call and see if they have security cameras in the lot - just about all do these days since they are so inexpensive. If they do your insurance company can follow up and get them or you could go to the police and file a report.
It looks like the marks are on both sides? Left side and back side? I'm wondering how someone can do this?
I think it was probably someone parked next to me, when they pulled out of the spot they cut the wheel too hard and my bumper became a pivot. Just a guess though.
At least your damage is only to the plastic bumper. Cheap & easy to replace. My car was hit, or should I say molested, by the reincarnation of Helen Keller behind the wheel, not long after purchase. More damage to sheet metal. Ugh! I felt the same way as you.
This same thing happened on my neighbor's Prius. All we had to do was use a plunger and some polisher. Apply the polisher over dent to help create a suction with the plunger. Take the plunger and press hard against the dent. Once the plunger is attached nice and strong, pull the plastic back to form. We did this and it looks good as new, you can never tell it had never been hit. Since your dent is kind of elongated, you might want to use 2 plungers simultaneously to cover the area. I suggest you try that before shelling out any $$$. Those black streaks that I see should buff right out with some elbow grease, as it's probably nothing more than paint/residue from the (black) car that hit you.
Some people have success getting store security personnel to review parking lot tapes in an effort to identify the low-down, egg-sucking, yellow dirty, cowardly scum varmit that caused this damage and left you holding the deductible expense. Give it a try, it just might bring you the satisfaction you deserve. From the looks of the damage and color, I can assure you that it was no one from our Blizzard Brigade, Barcelona Reds, nor Silver Squadron. You've too nice a car to try a home remedy hair blower repair. Let your insurance carrier do it right!
