Hello. I recently got rear ended by a "mutual" friend so insurance will not be involved. She says she will pay full price so I was wondering what is the best thing I can do.
I've been rear-ended before on the same bumper so the price is even more expensive.
Here are my options:

So far I got 3 quotes from body shops around Brea(92821) and they range from 792-850$ to fix the bumper.

or should I just buy the OEM or any aftermarket(some1 can suggest?) bumper(392$) get it painted( no clue on price) and install it myself or by the body shop? since its a mutual friend I'm trying to find out which is the cheapest way to get this done.

If you guys were in position what would you do? I'm sorta leaning towards just buying a new rear bumper, getting it painted by a shop then either installing it myself or a shop depending on the level of difficulty.

thanks in advanced!!

 

Do not try to fix unless the damage is extremely minor (scratches); you will have far better success purchasing a new OEM and spending about $500 to paint.

 

1.) Buy the OEM bumper not an aftermarket/refurb as they tend to have fitting issues and the primer they come in can have adhesion issues as there's no 'standard' among refurbishing companies.

2.) Don't even think about trying to install this yourself to save a buck.

Find out who the most reputable shop is in town and take it there. Don't forget you will probably need a loaner while the car is tied up for 3-5 days.

 

buy OEM bumper and have a shop paint/install. sometimes repairing might come out to be more, depending on how intensive labor is involved.

 

I would suggest... Buy new OEM. If they send out the bumper cover / repair it, it may add a day to the repair time and rental car cost, plus the result may suck. Get a good shop to do the work. Anaheim Hills Auto Body or other. If covered by the at fault driver's policy, the settlement might be near $2K after loss of use, diminished value, and repairs. You are both cutting them a deal and doing the job right IMHO.

 

have you taken off the bumper cover to see if the inner parts are damaged?

most of the time, the cover is the cheap part. the inner parts will add up.

I would not "repair" the cover. It won't save you that much money compared to buy new. The new cover will paint better and last.

 

yeah...i wouldn't consider repairing the bumper -- just buy an oem one and have it painted. i'd be worried about color blending though. typically shops need to see the car and actually have the vehicle to blend it correctly, no?

 

^ IMHO, yes. But, look at the bumper covers in a parking lot. Most don't match the body paint, but, most people don't notice. If you have to "match" a part, I'd say bumper covers front or back are one of the safest, least noticable.

 

The reason most late model bumper covers don't match is they are painted off the car and sometimes painted at different plants than the actual car. When painting the exact same color from the exact same can of basecoat a few psi difference in spraying pressure can change the color (of a metallic color) a shade or two and temperature and humidity play a roll in color match as well.

FWIW I'm not sure if they still do it or not, but for the longest time the Toyota's that were imported into America had their plastic bumper covers painted at the port of entry which obviously could and did cause color matching issues.

 

Even if you "match the paint" now, in a few years, the plastic bumper cover will fade differently than the metal parts anyways.

Many shops will blend the paint to make it less obvious, but that involves painting parts of your car that is not damaged.

Most people are okay with repaints on bumpers when you are selling the car later, but as soon as you tell them the body is repainted, they freak out.

 

I'm am yet another vote for getting an OEM bumper cover and having it painted. That's strange, my opinion actually follows common opinion.

 

Wow thanks for all the replies!!
So far this is whats going to happen. I'm going to buy the OEM bumper and take it to a reputable shop that can paint/fit the bumper. Anybody know where I can the OEM bumper? I'm thinking about getting it from infiniti(yes I'm a noob at this so please don't flame me if its bad to get it from the stealership)
because honestly I've been looking all over google and only EBAY shows up which is like the last place I'd buy from. And also I drive a 2010 g37 Journey Sport fully loaded so I need to get the bumper with the technology package right?

sigh.. reading some of your guys reply it seems like the color matching is the hardest part.. Oh and I've been to "Brea Auto Body" and they are giving me an estimate of 1013$ for the brand new bumper and to paint/fit the product. is that a good price? charging 392$ for the oem bumper. or should I just buy it myself and take it to the body shop?

oh and yes the other party will be paying full cash with no insurance but wants to keep it as cheap as possible =|

 

Anaheim Hills auto body? I searched it on google and it seems pretty legit.. But also a bit pricy.. I'm going to check that place out tomorrow~ thanks for the suggestion. I just hope they can paint/fit the new oem bumper for under 800$!

 

http://www.parts.com/oemcatalog/inde...layCatalogid=0

found this and says Without painted with reverse sensors for 274$ parts.com seems pretty big and legit so I guess this would be a good site to order from?

 

Body shops buy the parts on your behalf.

Simply get an estimate, make an appointment and drop the car off. The typical body shop sources 5-6 figures of parts per month, not to mention they make 25-35% profit off of those parts because you buy at retail and they buy at wholesale. This is one way they keep the doors open since so many people have chitty insurance like Geico, Progressive, Allstate and esurance which pay crappy cut-rate labor/frame/paint rates.