Someone backed into my front bumper in a parking lot. Slow speed bump. I actually witnessed it happen. Insurance claim and all that has been taken care of. I was wondering if the collision center will blend/epoxy/fill/paint or will the front bumper get replaced with a new one? The plastic is a bit deformed around the dent. Anyone have something similar happen to them? I take it in on March 22nd to Penske in Scottsdale.

 

See my pix

Typically insurance companies do not approve new bumpers. They fix yours or you get a recon. You have very minor damage and yours can be fixed rather easily.

My wife did this last week in our company parking lot. Total came to $3500. I got a new OEM bumper and the damaged internals approved. In doing so, I will also get a full frontal respray in the process. My hood will be fixed, and blended, then 100% re-clear coated.

 

Looks repairable, the advantage to repair vs. replace is less color matching since the repair are will receive base coat (color) and the rest of the bumper will get full clear coat. Point is that the where the bumper meets fenders there will be no color applied therefore the match will be easier to achieve.

 

Generally it is up the body shop. I doubt it would resort to epoxy/etc to repair the bumper cover.

My experience after having several bumper covers (front and rear) damaged over the years is if there is any deformation of the cover or the cover is cracked it will be replaced with a new one.

The insurance company -- either the other driver's insurance or yours -- will probably try to get the body shop to if not repair the bumper cover use a re-conditioned one.

I or rather the body shops that fixed my cars faced this and after a while were authorized to use a new bumper cover when the re-conditioned ones were in worse shape than the bumper cover on the car.

BTW I never turn these over to my insurance company if the other driver is a fault -- and so far that has always been the case. I have more leverage with the other driver's insurance company. If I turn this over to my insurance company it uses the fine print in the insurance policy to try to go cheap and sub-par on the repair. We pay Porsche insurance premiums but the coverage -- unless one fights for it -- is cheap sub-compact.

 

I have a very similar ding from almost the same type of incident... guy couldn't parallel park and 'tapped' my front bumper.
Be weary of 'cheap' repairs because of the method. I got a few different quotes and the inexpensive route was blend/fill/paint. And the 'Porsche' route was to remove the bumper cover and heat/reform from the inside and then touchpaint and clear coat.

 

Thanks for the info. The other driver's insurance (Progressive) is paying for it. Whether the collision center repairs and resprays the bumper or swaps it out completely...I'm ok with either result. A new bumper or even a reconditioned one would be an improvement over the current one. My bumper is pretty weathered and chipped up over the years. I called and spoke with the collision center rep and although it is difficult to explain the damage over the phone, he was leaning toward a replacement. I guess I'll find out next week.

 

easy repair with urethane bumper fillers

 

Looks like a great excuse for an Aerokit bumper. Good luck.

 

Hi,
I had a similar but different crease in my front bumper and had the bumper removed, heat applied and bumper shaped to original. The hood had to be blended also and I have pictures if your interested. My body shop in New York completed the job in 1 week at a cost of 1500.00. Not bad, Huh.
Good luck

 

+1

 

Thanks! Progressive might give me a little push back on justifying the aerokit In the very least I'll get a nice front bumper respray and freshening up.

 

I've had that just happen on my wife's yukon. 1" dent. Other driver's insurance(Pemco) replaced the bumper, no questions asked.
A guy also bumped the rear of my old bmw550i - small indent ~2". His insurance (statefarm) also covered new bumper.

I think if that happened on my p-car, i'd demand a replacement done at the porsche-approved place which documents everything for resale purposes

 

Progressive shouldn't care. Progressive will pay whatever the quote of the repair is... then it up to you to use the $ as you wish, i.e. toward an aerokit bumper...

 

I just got the damage assessment back and they are only paying for refinishing the existing bumper. I sort of expected that. If the unlikely event that the repair shop finds the bumper unrepairable, then I guess I'll have to hit up Progressive for a replacement.

 

Just received some good news... after removing and inspecting the bumper, the Penske collision shop found broken mounting tabs so insurance is agreeing to pay for a replacement bumper. For the price of a new OEM bumper, I can get a like-new reconditioned bumper with a clear bra, so I opted for the clear bra bumper.