Rear bumper damaged: Question about repair options

Repairing bumper doesn't sound right. There is an EPS foam energy absorber behind the bumper cover that has been crushed and needs to be replaced as well.

Talk to your insurance agent/company and have them get after the other party's insurance company to fix it right.

 

U have the right to get it fixed at any shop u wish so if ur not happy with the other ins quote don't go through them. Go with ur ins.

 

I had a deep gouge on a RAV4 bumper from a parking lot scrape. They removed it, applied heat to smooth the gouged area, repainted the entire bumper. Excellent result, invisible. I agree if there was a significant jolt to the underlying bumper beam, you should get that repaired, but if it was just the 2 holes I can attest to a good result at a good shop. The body shop I used is excellent, great results even on a black Lexus I had that discovered a deer late one night-- all along the right side. The RAV4 repair was only $450, however.

 

Either talk to your agent or call someone at whatever state government agency regulates auto insurance in NJ and find out what the rules are. In Michigan the insurance company is required to make repairs to the insured's satisfaction - whatever it takes. (They're trying to change that as I type...)

 

I've been to over half a dozen body shops in my time and lately I'm finding ones that would rather replace the bumper, than fix dents/blemishes. It's not that it's not doable, but I think the # of people who practice and know how to do this type of repair are dwindling. Removing a rear bumper can be done in under 10 minutes, by 1 person, but fixing dents takes longer as far as manual labor.

Until you take the bumper cover off you don't know if there is further damage. So the at fault parties insurance company, assuming the other party has accepted fault, can't just cut you a check for $715 until after the car has been looked out by a professional body shop. While the damage doesn't look major, it could have broken the styrofoam bumper cover underneath. Who is the at fault parties insurance company?

You have a right to take it to whatever body shop you want. The bumper, before damage, was used and if your "profile" is still correct it's from a 2010, which means it's 2 years old. So the chances of them willingly giving you a brand new bumper with 0 miles on it is slim. They are only required to make you whole, not put you in a better position than you were before. If this was a brand new 2012 with 437 miles on it, they may replace it with a brand new 0 miles on it bumper, but to me those 2 little holes look like they could be patched and painted. You may also be able to get a used bumper from a 2010 and have a body shop match that paint, again you'd have to check with the at fault parties insurance company since you are going through them. Last option is to pay the difference, if for whatever reason the at fault parties insurance is budging on how much they will give you and how they deem the repairs should be done, you'd have to fork over the rest of the money for the repairs.

You DO want them to blend the paint. I've recently gone through a similar thing, only it caused $13.5k worth of damage and when I got my car back they didn't blend the front bumper and back bumper with the side doors and there was an obvious color difference.

While I have never had a dent in my plastics, I had a dent in one of my fenders, they patched it in, smoothed it out and painted it. At close inspection, really close inspection, you could tell at certain light there had been work done to it, but overall It was one of the easiest repairs I've ever had done and it was the most successful. (3 months has gone by and the Prius that was rear-ended causing $13.5k in damage is still at the shop.) So you're mighty lucky that is all the damage that happened and that you weren't hurt.

 

What the insurance guy said about blending the bumper sounds completely stupid in my opinion. The point of blending isn't to get the bumper to match it's self, it's meant to match the rest of the car. He's merely an appraiser, and they can talk a big talk. The one that came out to look at my car tried to tell me that because the mirror, handles and body kit are plastic is why they are yellow in color compared to the doors. I mentioned the bumpers are also plastic and they aren't yellow. When I asked the body shop who did the work they explained that when a paint code comes up there are many variations and that different parts of the body were painted at different times, hence the shade difference (which they are now in the process of fixing.)

Beware of companies that are out there that buy bumpers just likes yours from body shops, fix them, primer them and resell them. Your bumper is completely fixable and the chances of the damage ever reappearing are very slim, you may want to check with whatever body shop you're thinking about using and seeing what kind of warranty they have if you're worried about it. Sounds like a pretty good deal though just buying a new one, I would however suggest still getting it painted by a local body shop. This is what happened to my car when they didn't blend into the doors.

 

If you go the repair route, the insurance company should be willing to give you a lifetime guarantee on the repair. The guarantee should cover any failures or appearance issues that arise as a result of the repair not standing up over time.

I have been offered that option twice by my insurance companies and once by the other persons insurance company as incentive to get me car repaired at one of their approved shops. If you don't go to one of their approved shops, then you are on your own if you have problems later.

This was in California, it may not be an option in all states.

 

My most recent accident has made it so I'm dealing with State Farm, the at fault parties insurance company. They have approved shops in their circle who will do the same, guarantee the work. My understanding is that it doesn't depend on the State, but rather the insurance company whom you are dealing with. My personal insurance is Progressive, and they like other shops I believe, have approved shops whom work is guaranteed.
It's a good thing I went with an approved shop with State Farm because it's already had to go back a handful of times.

 

I had my bumper repaired and partially resprayed (full clear) yesterday. The repair was perfect and the cost was about $600. Bumpers can be repaired and reused if the damage is not too significant, no reason to be concerned.


iPhone ?

 

Take it to at least one Toyota dealership's body shop, as many dealers have their own. They will most likely have a long list of satisfied customers and will do as much as they can to repair it correctly and according proper specs of your vehicle. Had a great experience at a local dealer's own shop here in Phoenix and the repair literally looks amazing, dare I say it, Better Than New! lol

 

Hello - I'd like to get some advice on where to take my car to get my rear bumper fixed - either repaint or replaced? I'm not 100% sure as I thought the rear bumper cover was made of plastic, but it seems from the pictures here that there is some metal exposed (I could be wrong) from damage done to the left side of the bumper. The other picture attached shows some small scuff marks from people parking behind my car (I park outside on the street), and and older incident where someone backed into my bumper.

Should I get this repainted?

If so, which are reputable body shops in central/northern NJ (is it better if it is Toyota approved or not?) that have experience working with the Blizzard Pearl color? I have a 2012 Prius.

 

The paint is scuffed off the black plastic of the bumper cover. I would brush some touch up paint on the edge to cover the black and call it a day. Repainting or replacing the bumper cover through a shop will only be a temporary solution as it won't be long before another parker customizes the new one.

I know it is too far south for you but I was happy with the work performed by Liberty Toyota & Holman Toyota.

 

I had my bumper repaired, same two holes. Now it looks exactly as new. Another party paid, I just know it was less $700.

 

I’ve only had mine for 4 days and this has already happened. So sad. Looking for quotes around town now. It’s a 2011 so I don’t know if it’s worth the fix, but I want to explore it. Super sad touch up paint should be fine but I know it’s there. Ugh.