I backed into a car the other day on my driveway. I didn't know it was there and I just backed out as I always do out of the garage and now I have 3 or 4 deep scratches in the paint on the rear bumper. The bumper seems to be plastic, so I am not sure what needs to happen. Also, the gray plastic piece at the bottom rear of the car that surrounds the exhaust is loose. It just seems as though the screw that holds it in is broken. How much do you think it would cost. I don't know if they can do anything about a scratch on a plastic bumper other than just replace the whole thing. I feel completely embarressed. What I did was so stupid.

 

I was quoted $735 for replacing my bumper cover.

$300 for paint, $260 for the bumper cover, and then $150 for installing it.

You can save some money installing it yourself.

I finally found one used from a forum member for $150 in the color of my car and I am installing it myself which should be a piece of cake. Saved lots of money that way.

 

Sorry to hear about that, RX8 Zoom Zoom. I haven't priced replacing a bumper cover; I guess getting an estimate at a body shop would be the way to find out for sure.

If you can find a used one like woodysjh and can install it yourself, that would be the way to go, but if you do have a new one put on at a shop I'm not sure if they could match the paint to the rest of the car perfectly, or if they'd have to blend the paint onto adjacent body panels.

As far as feeling stupid, you're not the only one! I backed my car out of a misty car wash stall recently; foggy windows, etc. and they aren't too easy to see out of the back anyway. Well, yours truly dumbass thought "yeah, I'm clear of that open/close button on the steel and concrete pillar outside" without actually seeing it, and I proceeded to continue back and cut the steering wheel, then heard what sounded like a soda can crunching.

No, not a soda can, it was my drivers side door against the pillar. About a 5" long, 1/4" deep crease at the bottom where the sheet metal contours outward. App. $1000 damage on my previously wrinkle and ding free ride, and I can't fix it myself.

I felt like crying and puking at the same time, and unfortunately, we can't roll-back to before the moment these things happen, so we just have to go forward chalking it up to experience, swearing never to do things like this again!

Good luck!

 

ouch guys, sorry to hear about the misfortunes!

hope it all works out ...

 

Thanks!

 

That was exactly how I felt. My car is black, so the color matching problem would not be hard to fix.

 

Had mine replaced, cost was about $350 Canadian, so about $250 US is right. It was an insurance job, and some of the trunk metal needed attention, but the actual piece was PREPAINTED, so whoever pays for paint is getting ripped !

Seeing how it clips on and is all one piece, (the black part and the red part are ONE single piece, the only seperate bits are the tunnels around the pipes) I feel confident I could do it in my driveway - it is about as difficult as removing the front bumper.

S

 

sorry to hear, whose car did u back into?

 

Bummer. At least the car still runs. My passenger side front wheel well is caved in and doesn't work too good.

 

One of my parents' friend's '01 or '02 BMW 5 series. Good choice of car.

 

i have a nice long, somewhat deep, scratch in the black part of my bumper. i dont think theres anything i can do about it. im with you coolblue, its not worth the $700 to get a new bumper, but it still chaps my hide every time i look at it.

 

Wow, You didn't see a car sitting there and backed right into it. I guess it could have been a lot worse. It could have been your parent's friend's child you didn't see and backed over!

 

i say... if you buy a car that's about 40k, you aslo buy fully covered insurance... a good friend of mine was doing donuts with my rx-8 and he cracked a rim into a sidewalk. The rim was something over 600 bucks. Insurance paid for it.

 

How much was the insurance? What will it now go up to and for how long?

NEVER bet against an insurance company! They will always win in the end.

 

Wow. I have had two put on my car and both needed to be painted, and I literally watched the guy paint one. He's a friend, and I was just sitting around shooting the breeze while he did it. However, I have a yellow car so maybe that's why I needed it to be painted? Who knows, but mine definitely came without paint.