Best place to get Paint matched Front bumper

If they are already accepting less than retail through the insurance, why should they not collect his deductible? I think any shop that would do that is shady (insurance fraud is shady) and probably not doing high quality work.

 

No. The insurance company will send an adjustor to look at the damage on your car who will file an estimate. Just pulling numbers out of the air: Replace the bumper cover & paint, replace wheel well shield, replace license plate holder:$900.

The insurance company may send you a check for $400 or they may pay the shop $400. You still owe the shop $500 (for the deductible).

The estimate you got from the shop for the same work may be $1050. Why pay $650 out of pocket?

From personal experience, if the shop is on the insurance company's preferred supplier list they will process the claim based on what the shop reports and pay the shop $500 less (the deductible that you are responsible for).

If the shop isn't on the list, they will send an adjustor then send a check to you. You may be able to endorse the check over to the shop. If they won't accept a third party check then you'll have to deposit it in your account and write a check for the entire amount to the shop.

 

Ask the lien holder what you need to do to get them to endorse the check.

Point out the damaged marker light to the adjuster. When you get the estimate from the adjuster compare it to the two quotes. Wide variances need to be discussed with the shop of choice.

If you really want the newer bumper cover go back to the dealer's shop & get a quote. I suspect you will get a better warranty from the dealer so that is where I would go.

Did you ask how long the car was going to be in the shop? Does the dealer have a rental fleet? If so, arrange to have the rental through them (hopefully a Prius) coordinated with your drop off.

It really isn't complicated, but it takes time and effort.

 

Hello Umar Ali! Sorry to hear about your bumper and all the difficulties you have with it right now. Have you looked at Replace bumper cover? You get the same quality part that you’d get at the dealer without the high dealer price. A Replace bumper cover will look and fit just like a bumper cover from the dealer, so your car will look new again!

 

Maybe the reason for that is it's not the usual choice. I think if you do find a pre-painted bumper, chances are the colour will be off, for various reasons. Body shops will likely advise to get unpainted bumper, paint and blend the colour into adjacent panels.

 

For body shop more work they do, more money they get. Painting is their "bread and butter". I've got painted fender, still a bit off. Some people got painted parts from junk yard and quite happy. I agree that body shop on average will get matched color better, but if you are on tight budget, bumper cover should be ok to get painted.

 

I believe it's the blending, more than the colour matching, that makes it seamless. If you have new vs old paint that just stops at a seam, it's more-or-less impossible to not notice. With blending, they keep going a little further, and with each extension they thin the paint out more, 'till they're spraying virtually clear. I agree it ends up spraying a crazy large area, to accomplish.

 

Umar -- Insurance companies all handle claims differently. In your case Geico is using "betterment" -- your car was not perfect prior to the loss -- if they fix the whole bumper -- they will have given you a car "better" then what you had prior to the accident. They want you to pay that difference. Insurance companies will often do that with say a damaged shock absorber -- it had 50k miles on it when damaged -- they want you to pay 1/2 the cost of the new one.

Also - you can take your car to any shop to get fixed ... the insurance company is not obligated to pay more then what they believe it should cost ... that is what they have "agreed shops" -- ones that agree to the numbers. They don't have to pay dealer prices.

I'm a bit confused -- if the one shop agree to 1$500 and he is sending $1208 ... what's the problem? Also -- a shop may decide they don't want to install a different bumper . Personally I would not and your finance company would bounce the idea --- the car will be worth less with a mismatch year car/bumper.

They make you have the double signature because they don't want you to fix the car yourself ... the finance company wants to make sure it is fixed correctly -- to maintain the value and protect themselves.

The best insurance companies don't do this stuff -- you get what you pay for. This becomes a big problem when cars are totaled.

You can always call the adjuster -- not the person who looked at at the car -- he is the appraiser. Call the adjuster and ask of a bit more -- you may get the betterment if you have been a customer for a while with no claims. Maybe.

 

Personally I would never mention it -- are you sure it will fit without any mounting modifications. Why do you want to change it? I actually think the 10-11 is a nicer look.

I would ask the Insurance adjuster -- don't expect much. Are they proving you a car while it's in the shop -- Towing and rental added to policies that don't come with it is often less then $10.00.

I have lots of coverage limits with agreed value ..all with high deductibles -- the lowest one is 1k ... so I would be paying anyway.

In the future should something happen -- I have installed the pre-painted bumpers from the online body shops -- did two ....a silver Lexus and a white pearl Nissan -- both were first rate. Most bumpers don't have the exact sheen as the body anyway -- I did not notice any difference -- it's not like matching a body panel ... damaged repainted fender next to the original hood ...for an example. These need to be blended.

 

From member SFV, you will need these parts as well to swap the bumper to the new style:

Here are the parts & cost:

52611-47090 - absorber - $68.12
53102-47020 - grill sub-assy - $150.74
53111-47040 - grill, radiator - $146.70
81511-47060 - DRL assy - $214.36
81521-47060 - DRL assy - $214.36
81519-47050 - DRL bracket - $20.48
81529-47040 - DRL bracket - $19.29

Total: $834.05

"1. Of course, the bumper. And of all part #'s this the one I don't have. Go figure, huh?
2. #52611-47090 -- Absorber. This is the foam piece that sits in between the bumper and frame of the car. It's specifically molded to the 2012 bumper. The 2010 will not fit.
3. #53111-47040 -- Upper radiator grille.
4. #53102-47020 -- Lower grille. Comes painted. Keep in mind, this is part number for the one with the fog light holes. Fog lights are not included. If you don't plan on putting in fog lights, you'll need a different part #.
5. 81521-47060 -- Driver side turn signal/DRL. Please note that the 2010 turn signal socket will not fit, and the 2012 turn signal plug will not fit the 2010 harness. Instead, reuse the 2010 harness and dremel two tabs of the 2010 plug so that it will fit in the 2012 turn signal. I got pics somewhere, but PM if you have any questions on this. It's fairly simple, though.
6. 81511-47060 -- Passenger side turn signal/DRL.
7. 81519--47050 -- Signal Bracket
8. 81529--47040 -- Signal Bracket
9. 81519 --47040 -- Signal Bracket
10. 81529-47050 -- Signal Bracket"