Well....I woke up today and discovered that my mother backed into my poor MINI!!!! AHHHHHH!!! Well I went and looked at the damage and the paint is chipped, and it's dented in two places.

I was wondering what you guys thought about this...is it repairable or do I need a new bumper?











Thanks!
-Cody

 

If my eyes are being true to me, I'd say you are going to need a new bumper cover. I say that because it appears that the paint is chipped/cracked right along the spot where the bumper is sharply curved. Even a good body guy is going to have problems with that repair.

Turn in a claim on your mother's policy. It'll pay every nickel under per PD liability coverage. Of course, the downside to that is, she's going to have an at-fault accident on her record.

How about her car... any damage ?

 

The bumper is plastic, so there's not a whole lot you can do for the dents in it, at least in my experience :( I had to get mine replaced, and it was about 700 bucks for the new bumper, paint, and installation at a local shop :(

 

Mike, body repair of plastic parts has come a long way in the past 10 years. I saw a demo of it a few months ago and it's pretty amazing what a good body shop can do with plastics these days.

But, as I said, I think the location of the damage is going to necessitate a new bumper cover for Cody.

 

File a hit-and-run report on your mom

 

Thanks for the quick reply! There's no sense in using insurence like you said it would put an at-fault accident on her policy, she already told me that she would just pay for it to get fixed or get a new one... I was just wondering if indeed I DID need to get a new one. And yes her car (2002 Trailblazer) took more damage than the strong MINI.

The pictures were also hard to take because of the crappy camera and the sunlight, but it looks worse in person.

-Cody

 

Cody, I'd check with a competent body shop & see if it's repairable. My guess is that it would be.

Sorry that happened. Don't be too tough on mom.

 

Yeah, that's why I asked about HER car. If it was also damaged, it might make financial sense to turn in a claim. It can be a tough call.

rkw...

 

Her car took worse damage than mine, but she has other dents from people hitting her and my brother closing a garage door on it... So she's just going to use some cover-up paint.

-Cody

 

I would definitely ask a body shop before writing the bumper cover off as unfixable, but unfortunately, the actual cost of the cover itself isn't the biggest expense. The entire bumper cover will need to be painted (whether they fix yours or use a new one), and then there's the labour for removing and replacing everything (again, this will be the same whether they repair yours or replace it).

The price for a new cover (in primer) is only about $200, so there's not that much money to be saved in keeping your existing cover, especially when you subtract the labour cost for fixing and priming your damaged cover. You might only end up saving $90-100 bucks by having the damaged cover repaired, if that much.

 

Ahh, then again, mine was damaged significantly more than than Cody's. To the point of having a tear in it

 

Cody I think it's great you are taking this so well.

I have an idea that could work for both you & your mom. Don't pay for your room & board this month. Use that money on the bumper repair. Looks like a win-win to me.

EDIT... Cody the bumper cover comes off very easily. Don't pay for a shop to to do that. Do it yourself & save the money. It only takes 15 minutes or so.

 

Piece of cake to fix that! call me, I mean PM me. lets talk
www.lambspeed.com

 

 

Ha yea... I'm TRYING to take it well but it is rather hard...lol she said she was afraid to come home and tell me. Everyone around me knows how much my MINI means to me!!! And I don't pay to live in my house lol, good thing!

Any more advice would be greatly appreciated! I'll have to take it to a body shop next week sometime.

No offense...but you're in NJ, which is quite a ways away from Ohio and I can't drive without a bumper, plus I would have to see and inspect the work first hand before payment is made.

And pardon my ignorance, but what is the bumper cover?

-Cody

 

You don't pay to live in your house. And you seem so young to have a mortgage paid off.

 

Haha oops. Yea I don't pay to live in my parents house!

-Cody

 

The "bumper cover" is the non-structural, painted part that was damaged on your car. Technically, the "bumper" itself is the steel energy-absorbing beam *behind* the painted cover.

 

That is the plastic skin that is covering the real bumper. IIRC it comes off with seven bolts. It really is easy Cody. Heck this old fart even managed to take his on & off for my driving light install.

 

Oh ok, ha. Thanks for the clarification!

-Cody

 

Watch the for sale section for a front bumper.

You can usually get one at a fair price.

 

go for the aero front bumper!

 

Nah I thought about the bumper...if I have to get a new one it's probably going to be the Lumma/Reiger one.

-Cody

 

If you want it right, the cover will need replacing.
Also, it would be considered a comprehensive claim on your insurance if you say you hit a deer, dog or other animal.

 

I'm going to PRETEND I didn't hear that. Wait... no I'm not.

Claim estimators aren't that stupid. Pretty easy to tell the difference between an animal strike and a collision claim (I can think of three ways to tell the difference off the top of my heas and I'm not even an estimator---and I don't think I'd share them with the likes of you anyway).