repair bumper or replace

[OldKitMan]

Had a bit of a nightmare recently with the car resulting in a fairly cracked rear bumper.

Is this repairable do you think or is it replace with a new one? New one's aren't cheap and the insurance man was going on about total loss - as it was low speed impact then I'm hopeful there isn't any damage behind the bumper so hopefully won't come to that.

 

[OldKitMan]

had a look at 2nd hand - not a huge amount there but would get one eventually.

Can't seem to find a new price, not even sure if VX have a stock or still make them but I've a feeling it could be upwards of £1k just for a bumper and paint.

Suppose it depends on what calcs they use for the write off, WBAC listed it at £3k, at a garage it could be selling for £4k, no idea on the scrap value.

As this happened 2 days before my renewal then I called up to advise and my premium from tomorrow only went up £40 and my excess is low so still far cheaper for me to go via insurance than buy a 2nd hand one and potentially have to get it spray painted.

It's worth more to me as only 1 owner since new (me) and low miles (approx 5k per year) but guess I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[OldKitMan]

UPDATE: looks like it is going to be a beyond economical repair job. The repairer it's at wouldn't tell me the details of what was required to be done and I needed to contact the insurance company for that. Phoned them up and got told it's been quoted as £2,700 (two thousand, seven hundred). Even with the current value based on the insurers 'market value' definition it's just over the current market value (although my value from WBAC is up 10% in the last week and a bit).

Having done some considerable research to determine what I should be looking for as market value it's probably around £4.5k tops which is bang on the 60% marker but I'm not sure the insurance co will offer that up straight away.

Waiting on the details from insurance co to see what was determined as needing done so I can speak to my local garage about the non bumper related bits and get an idea of cost and look to get a bumper from ebay or something and get a paintshop to prep and spray it for me.

Probably end up buying it back if the buy back price is good as it's a one owner car with on average 5k miles per year and FDSH so I know every mile it's done.

 

[OldKitMan]

How was that damage done? Whose insurance company are you claiming off and who are they?

If it was a low speed impact, and no structural damage could be done, then it's just a bumper replacement. The problem is for the insurance company this could be "uneconomical", but their cost for the job is provided by a body shop whose price for the job is probably about £2k higher than a local independent could do it for.

Depending how damage was done it seems like a fair claim and disappointing that the insurance company regards it as a total loss, because it's just an easy bumper replacement.

Claiming off my own insurance, my own fault so no issues with that, 2 days before renewal as well but the increase in annual premium wasn't much at all and my excess is low as well so was worth giving them a go to fix it. The assessor verbally told me that it was a new bumper but some other stuff needing done behind it as well, defined as damage, didn't go into too much detail unfortunately so waiting for the details from the insurance co.

rear bumper black £200 all in https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164760911314 ?

Think that might be off a corsa E - needs to be one like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393408135209?epid=15010899921&hash=item5b98f3c029:g:JEIAAOSwEZlg1I1k

 

[OldKitMan]

Next thread - "how do I repair this crappy bumper I bought"

Definitely going to need a look underneath, that looks like a healthy bang though so likely the support bar beneath - worst case its affected the boot floor. Should have checked spare wheel well for damage. Absolute worst case its kinked the whole car and chassis needs jigging.

Get report - buy back - take your time in acquiring a second hand bumper from eBay and move on with your life.

Assuming you were at fault.

Doesn't have a spare wheel well as the factory exhaust used the space where a spare wheel would go. Had a look in the boot space though and no creases or anything when I got it home. Didn't feel any different to drive but will wait and see, maybe just something needing replaced. Support bar looks reasonably cheap so once I get the actual detail from insurance co I'll have a better idea. Assessor didn't mention any chassis work so hopefully ok.

The bumper and diffuser unpainted probably come in at half that 2.7k, paint work is probably a fair whack as well.

Hopefully the insurance company can make a decision on this soon as I'm keen to get on with it one way or another.

 

[OldKitMan]

Yeah again i just don't understand why you're involving the insurance at all? it seems a massive lose lose?

You'll have a CAT car now, higher premiums for several years and way way more hassle than just buying a bumper off eBay and fitting in over an afternoon for minimal expense?

At fault claim for me, other car involved which needs stuff done, according to my verbal conversation it needs more than just a bumper although I'm waiting on the final details getting emailed to me, might call up and see what is happening today.

if it's a CAT N or CAT S that doesn't massively bother me as I was planning on running it until it goes proper end of life.

One thing I'm not clear on yet, and may discuss with the insurance co is if they want to write it off Cat N or S can I say no thanks just give me the car back and I'll fix it myself?

Also, this happened 2 days before renewal so I needed to get it all dealt with quite quickly, they recalculated my premium for me and it was only an extra few pounds, think it was £40 roughly. Excess is also very low so from that perspective it sort of makes sense.

 

[OldKitMan]

Got my car back, it's going to be a CAT S, got a very reasonable offer from the insurance co for writing it off and the salvage price was fair as well. As I need to get a new MOT with current insurer before it can be reinsured with them they stopped my policy.

Went online to another major insurer and got a quote there as they don't have any such requirements just that it has a valid MOT and having a car declared a CAT N or S doesn't void the MOT. Declared the at fault accident and my insurance came out cheaper than it was with previous insurer, grand total of £160 (one hundred and sixty). Noticed this insurer asked about the type of claim and date but didn't ask about value of the claim, I expect that is obtainable from some database.

So, got my car back, a few grand in the bank and going to see about getting it fixed now, if it turns out it needs more than first thought I can always scrap it and get the value of the salvage. As I planned to run the car until end of life any hit to future resale value doesn't really bother me but having done the numbers I think I've done alright.

boot floor looks perfectly straight as they left the plastic panel off when they dropped it off so that seems to be ok, panel the crash bar attaches to is pushed in a bit on one side but that can hopefully be pulled out as it's nowhere near as bad as some of the videos I've watched on youtube with similar damage.

As I don't urgently need a car it seemed like a good opportunity to try something a bit different.

Insurance company haven't asked for the V5 yet though which looks to be a bit unusual but it's taxed, insured and MOT'd so I'll look into that a bit further.