"Meatstick62" (meatstick62)
05/02/2014 at 16:04 • Filed to: None
2
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"Meatstick62" (meatstick62)
05/02/2014 at 16:04 • Filed to: None | 2
| 14 |
So I have hole in my bumper from a lovely (and anonymous) fellow motorist. I explained a bit more and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! about my repair options earlier this week.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
I got an estimate from a local well-rated body shop for $677 for a new bumper cover painted to match and installed. My deductible is $500 so that raises a few questions:
1. Is a body shop required to indicate that they made a repair? I.e. will the repair show up on a Carfax or Autocheck if I don't go through my insurance?
2. Is my insurance rate likely to go up if I make a relatively small claim such as this? If so it may not be worth saving $177 by going through Allstate.
Thanks for advice, I've never had to make an auto insurance claim before and am somewhat leery to do so.
Party-vi
> Meatstick62
05/02/2014 at 16:08 |
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Unless you have accident forgiveness or something similar I'm sure this will impact your premium. Assuming your premium will go up (because insurance companies are in the market to make money not lose it), I'd go the extra $177 out of pocket and get it done without the insurance being involved.
I do not know the intricacies of not reporting accidents to an insurance company, but if it is not reported then it will not make it to Carfax or Autocheck. It is your responsibility however to inform the next owner that "oh I had the rear bumper replaced after someone put a hole in it".
MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
> Party-vi
05/02/2014 at 16:11 |
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I'd follow the advice of the Party.
like he said unless you have accident forgiveness, it's going up. And even more so, if they only give you 1 "forgiveness" do you want to burn it on this?
The one thing I'll throw in is that it depends on the shop, some shops (especially dealerships) will report to carfax everything they do, even oil changes at some of them. You can ask the guy, especially if it's just a local shop to NOT put it on there and...he probably won't if he does report. These are the flaws of carfax!
Jonathon Klein
> Meatstick62
05/02/2014 at 16:14 |
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Is the car black or is that just the plastic part on the end of the bumper, because if it is, it would need to be painted? All they would do is just replace that part, and that's it.
jariten1781
> Meatstick62
05/02/2014 at 16:14 |
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Repair shops are not required to report repairs. Whether they will or not depends on the shop. Geico and USAA have never reported any of my repairs either, check your policy and see if you have an NDA...the only ones that have shown up for me are when the state police have reported the accident.
CalzoneGolem
> Meatstick62
05/02/2014 at 16:15 |
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I went through a similar thought process when my son drew on my wife's car with a rock. We decided that we didn't really care and I spent a few hours buffing out the scratches as much as I could and we're living with it. Instead of getting insurance involved and hiking up our premiums.
Takuro Spirit
> Meatstick62
05/02/2014 at 16:24 |
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Oops. Sorry I missed the original post. Oppo needs a Private Messenger or a notification thingy when someone tags someone in a post.
Not sure how the whole body shop thing works though....
I do know the bumper retails for $257.65 which isn't bad. No aftermarket available yet to my knowledge, but there are reconditioned ones available depending on where you're located. You won't save much, though. $206.00 is what I show they go for.
The paint and install is what is gonna cost you. Or you could rock an all black bare bumper... rat rod CX-5!
Edit: Or you can see if you can find a place that would patch it. It wouldn't look perfect, but it'd be cheaper.
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Takuro Spirit
> Jonathon Klein
05/02/2014 at 16:25 |
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It's a one piece bumper cover with a textured lower section. Which sucks because while it can be repaired, the textured part will never quite look the same.
Dunnik
> Party-vi
05/02/2014 at 16:37 |
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This ^ Repair it without involving your insurer, but then be forthright about revealing the damage (with pics, to show that it isn't a big deal) to an prospective future owner.
thebigbossyboss
> Party-vi
05/02/2014 at 16:57 |
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Generally body shop reporting guidelines very state to state but as long as you are not i New Mexico then I think you are ok so something minor like that. That's just body work.
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Meatstick62
> Takuro Spirit
05/02/2014 at 20:32 |
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No worries! A PM system would be nice. Do you know if the bumper cover comes with the black texture portion ready to go (i.e. just the blue part would need to get painted)?
The shop said they could find a reconditioned one but it would only save me $100. For that much though I'd rather have new parts.
They also said they could patch it but didn't recommend it because they said it would be next to impossible to make it blend in 100%.
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Takuro Spirit
> Meatstick62
05/02/2014 at 20:45 |
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Yeah the textured part is included. Just got to paint the smooth part to match, as it is bare black plastic.
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Jonathon Klein
> Takuro Spirit
05/02/2014 at 22:55 |
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Really, you can't get it body color matched from the factory that built it?
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Takuro Spirit
> Jonathon Klein
05/02/2014 at 23:53 |
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Nope. Only cars I've heard of that had color-moulded bumpers were the old Neons that had the color infused into the plastic for certain colors. And it looked like shit. That and specialty car like Vettes and Vipers that have bolt-on panels.
Some small parts like side mouldings and mirrors come pre-painted, but whole panels and bumpers for mass produced cars come either bare or primered. Easy to stock and sell one part number versus 10 or 15. As a parts guy I would HATE having to stock a bumper in every color for every car we sell.... we'd need a block long warehouse.
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Jonathon Klein
> Takuro Spirit
05/03/2014 at 10:26 |
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Yeah that would suck, I would try then finding one on ebay or craigslist, or the local junkyard with the same color.