7 months of careful driving in my TC and I blew it this morning. I was rushing to get to work today and backed out of my driveway, looking both ways (but not directly behind) before I came out. Ended up backing the corner of my bumper into my neighbor's corner rear bumper (mid 90s accord).

His bumper beat mine. Now I have a big dent in the corner of my driver side bumper and paint damage too. At first I was ____ed that he parked on the street, even though he has an empty driveway. But now I'm calm headed enough to admit that I was stupid for not looking behind me for parked cars and for not completely defrosting my rear window before leaving.

Anyone have any idea how much it might cost to fix the dent? I only want to smooth the dent out right now. I know the painting will cost me an arm, so I have to save up for that. I don't have any pictures yet; will post later.


P.S. Neighbor's car is fine by the way.

 

No insurance to cover it eh?
This sux man, I had a neighbor back his truck up onto the bumper of my 73 MGB and gouge the hood right up the center. (he couldnt even see it in the rearview cuz the car is so small) So I guess I know how you feel, in a way. Sometimes the most carefull people just have a bad thing happen. Just having the body work done might look as bad as leaving the dent there, I dont know cuz I have not seen it, but I might just leave it till I had the money to do it right. If its bad enough tho, sure, get it smoothed out. If money is a big issue, maybe think about tracking down a final semester bodywork student at a local community college etc. Pay him after the work is done and looks good. He might even be able to paint it at school cheap if not free.

Just a thought tho
if it dont apply, let it fly

 

I will post this for my mom, she owns a TC loves , calls me to tell me how much she loves it. She was at a red light and for some reason decided to accelerate into the person in front of her . and isuzu axiom. much higher than her tc she went under a little , bent hood up and smashed grill she was crushed.

 

I have heard that our bumpers are hardy. Try taking a hair dryer or heat gun and heating the area where it is dented in. I have heard that it can pop the dent out. I read last summer about a guy that hit something and left a big dent in his bumper. He left it out in the hot sun and when he came out later that afternoon, it was gone. The heat had fixed the bumper. I don't know if this actually works or if it just optimistic hearsay, but it wouldn't hurt to try it....good luck.

 

i'd hate myself too

 

I did the exact same thing like a year ago.. except it was a short cement pole idiotically placed in a parking garage at the school I go to. No way I would've seen it coming.. anyway, it cost me about $300 to have the dent popped out and bumper repainted. Sucked to cuz there was hardly any paint missing, just enough to make the bumper need repainting. I'd say for paint and repair you're probably looking in the ballpark of $300-500; depending on severity of the damage.

 

a new rear bumper cover, painted, will cost around 900-1000 dollars. Thats how much a new bumper cover cost for me when i was rear ended.

Hopefully theres no damage to the quarter panel.

 

New Bumper cover - $160
Paint by local body shop - $150-$200
Install it yourself - $0

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...06&catalogid=2

 

dont worry, could be worse. you could have...

1) fallen asleep on the road and rear ended another car or
2) rear ended another car on the freeway because he hit the brake waaaay too hard for no reason

though, both incidents caused nearly 0 effect on my front bumper. nothing to the other cars either.

good luck with fixing that dude!

 

I say you eat it. Buy an aftermarket bumper and just get it painted + install will cost yah around 500-800 bucks depending on your bumper.

Don't bother reporting cosmetic stuff to your insurance like that. It will just kill your rates and ours too

 

FTW. Your increase in premiums will not be worth it. You're really pretty lucky there was no damage to the other car, so whether your insurance finds out or not is up to you.

Edit: ...and if it makes you feel better, I will hate you, too.

 

Take the bumper off, then use a heat gun on both sides of the dent. You should be able to push out the dent by hand with some brute force. I did this on a friend's camry and was able to get out the major dent. But it will not come out perfect since some of the material is stretched beyond repair. It will however make the damage much less noticeable. If you wanna go nuts, you can sand out the ruff areas of scratched paint, buy a spray can of matching touch up paint with some wet sanding papers and apply thin coats to the area, sandin between coats. Follow this up with some clearcoat and more sanding, and finally a good polishing compound. It should get you by until you have the funds to get the bumper cover replaced.

 

Thanks, I'm glad I can gather people to hate me as well.

I've finally gotten over the grief. My health is more important than a dent in my car. No point in stressing myself to death over it. I'll be taking the car in for quotes today. Thanks for all the feedback. I may just take zer0's advise and buy the cover myself if the quotes are too high.

 

A guy rear ended mine which only damaged the cover for the bumper, about like what you are describing. His insurance had to pay approx $800 to replace it (mine was cracked) and have it painted.

 

The parts on the tC are not cheap. Pray you never have to replace a 1/4 panel. Gawd those things are huge and expensive.

 

??? That sounds ridiculously high.. you may've been played

 

The thing is, i didnt pay for it, the other persons insurance company payed for it, so maybe the body shop jacked up the price?

 

www.myscionparts.com

I had an accident due to a deer jumping in front of me.. Front bumper cracked.. Bought brand new for $160 from the site aboove.. Took 3 weeks though.

 

It depends on your insurance company and your driving history.

 

myscionparts.com

awesome site, just tooooo long on delivery

time = patience
I = no patience
Me = pay money for fast fix