Ran over blown out tire on the highway.. Need some advice!

[zdaliah]

Hi Guys, 2009 Vibe owner here.. base model
I ran over a blown out tire on the highway, and it tore up the front underside plastic area pretty good. The bottom grille is gone, and what I think is the water pump plastic cover was jarred loose, along with a bunch of plastic rivets which hold the bumper and other pieces in place, and the temperature sensor wire is just dangling there now.
To me it looked like the entire bottom bumper was still completely in tact.

I know the bottom grille is cheap, so I assumed the repair for this would not be much.. but the insurance adjuster is now telling me that there are some broken end clips on the "tabs" of the front bumper which hold the bottom grille in place, so the entire bumper needs to be replaced.

He has estimated a charge of $748 for all of the work involved with replacing the front bumper, grill, underside plastic damage, painting, and labor..
It was almost a 50/50 split of the above charge between parts/labor.

I wanted to ask you guys this..

1. Is this a rip off for the work that needs to be done? Should i shop this price around? Because it is going to be a headache for me to do so, but if you think the price is a ripoff i will.
2. I know its hard to tell without seeing it, but I am questioning if the entire bumper really needs to be replaced or is there another (less expensive) solution.

I need to decide right away..
thanks guys!

[A Psycho Martyr]

hmmm.....
well what's your deductible?
I mean it may be worth it in the end to have it fixed
simply to keep your resale value up if you plan on selling eventually

[zdaliah]

hi, thanks for the reply..
yea, thats the problem..our deductible is $1000. .so its all out of pocket right now.. and a totally unplanned for expense.. so if I can save some money here, I really need to!

[trb]

I would shop around, especially since you are paying for all of it. My car is missing most of the splash shields under the front of the car due to the previous owner. I'll be replacing the main one at some point as it is only about $30-40 shipped from a few places on ebay. And it is not a lot more from GM dealers online that sell discount parts. I would talk to a few places and let them know you will be paying out of pocket, as some places will give you a bit of a break on the prices. As for resale, most likely no one would ever notice if a few of the plastic tabs are not there. Now if the parts are hanging down or not properly attached, that may be a different matter. But places can just drill new holes and use rivets or even zip ties to hold things together. It's not like you or I have a $60,000 Mercedes or BMW that you would not dare to be cheap on the repairs. As long as it looks OK to you, and it saves you say $300-$500 on the repair, I would not replace everything. FWIW, I have a quote to remove, repair all the deep scratches and holes on the bottom of my front bumper cover, repaint it , and reinstall it for $300 from a reputable national body shop chain (Caliber Collision).

Good luck on it!

Oh, yeah, pics would be good to see also.

[jake75]

My insurance is $500 ded on collision, $50 comprehensive. I am always confused as to what is covered under the comprehensive - think it is glass breakage, hitting a deer etc. Maybe hitting a tire on the road is under that as well. Insurance agents typically are clueless - you have to ask them to check.

[Canker]

Assuming you are talking about an area that won't be seen I'd do and have done the drill a hole and zip tie thing.

My friend's wife just did the same thing in her minivan. It destroyed the flex pipe section of her exhaust, the cat, put a hole in the gas tank, and put a hole in the coolant pipe that goes to the rear heat.