Rear Bumper Damage Repair

Antony101 · 18 Jun 2015 at 14:12

Well, was an idiot today and didn't look when reversing and managed to bump into someone else's car. What would be the best way for me to repair this damage? Would something like this work or is it too deep a "scratch"? http://www.halfords.com/motoring-tr...lacier-white-metallic-scratch-chip-repair-kit

Before I cleaned it up:

ci_newman · 18 Jun 2015 at 14:24

Bit hard to tell on white paint, but some of that looks to be down to the undercoat to me.

Antony101 · 18 Jun 2015 at 14:25

ci_newman said:
Bit hard to tell on white paint, but some of that looks to be down to the undercoat to me.

What are my options, am I better taking it to a garage and trying to get it sorted or just leaving the bad bits and repairing what I can myself?

glenimp617 · 18 Jun 2015 at 14:38

have a go yourself, and if you can't do it take it to a bodyshop

You might get away with a pot of the correct white paint and a small paint brush. Carefully cover up the scratches, then once dried wet sand down and polish

:edit: just seen the extra photos, take to a bodyshop :-)

Antony101 · 18 Jun 2015 at 14:39

So should I grab the above kit from Halfords? Seems to have everything I'd need for £12?

Amos91 · 18 Jun 2015 at 14:41

Antony101 said:
So should I grab the above kit from Halfords? Seems to have everything I'd need for £12?

May as well give it a whirl, will at least make it less noticeable for now.

A body shop will have to sand that area down anyway to paint and blend.

Antony101 · 18 Jun 2015 at 14:42

Amos91 said:
May as well give it a whirl, will at least make it less noticeable for now.

A body shop will have to sand that area down anyway to paint and blend.

What price am I looking at for that sort of work, I don't mind paying a bit to get in back to new, I'll likely only get charged when I hand the car back anyway.

Diagro · 18 Jun 2015 at 14:59

what happened to the other car?

Antony101 · 18 Jun 2015 at 15:04

Diagro said:
what happened to the other car?

Bit of a mark on the top of the front bumper. They informed the insurance.

ci_newman · 18 Jun 2015 at 15:18

If they are going through insurance, then you may as well let the insurers fix yours too.

Antony101 · 18 Jun 2015 at 15:19

ci_newman said:
If they are going through insurance, then you may as well let the insurers fix yours too.

It's been noted down as wear and tear apparently and I don't need to pay anything.

Kuros · 18 Jun 2015 at 21:46

If you've got first party insurance, I'd be hammering them to get your car repaired, as well.

To be honest, unfortunately your premium will go up regardless of how much the total will come to, so may as well get them to fix it as well. There's not much they can argue about wear and tear when it's obvious damage caused.

Antony101 · 18 Jun 2015 at 22:34

Kuros said:
If you've got first party insurance, I'd be hammering them to get your car repaired, as well.

To be honest, unfortunately your premium will go up regardless of how much the total will come to, so may as well get them to fix it as well. There's not much they can argue about wear and tear when it's obvious damage caused.

I'd have to pay my £300 excess which I could do without at the moment.

ci_newman · 19 Jun 2015 at 09:05

You won't get much change from £300 to get it repaired yourself anyway.

Spartacus · 19 Jun 2015 at 10:20

Try a decent smart repair guy, had similar damage on the front bumper of my 3 series earlier this year, found a good local smart repairer and £90 later you can't tell it ever happened.

Richie · 19 Jun 2015 at 11:18

ci_newman said:
You won't get much change from £300 to get it repaired yourself anyway.

A good SMART repairer will fix that for circa £75-£90 and you wont notice its even been done.

Antony101 · 19 Jun 2015 at 15:52

ci_newman said:
You won't get much change from £300 to get it repaired yourself anyway.

Yeah, but I really can't afford to spend the money on getting it fixed at the minute. At least by not claiming it off the insurance I can choose when I want to pay for it.

I've got a kit to have a go and making it look a bit nicer and will pay someone to get it properly sorted when I can afford it.

Thanks for the advise though guys, was absolutely devastated when I did it. My first accident, at least it was minor.