Friend dinged my bumper - advice?

[MikeReilly]

My wife was over at a friends house and her husband backed into our baby! There's a 3-5 inch long ding in what passes for a front bumper right above the drivers side fog light. Any advice on how to get this fixed without costing a friend a big chunk of change?

[ragingfish]

Considering that piece is plastic and not sheet metal...I'm not sure how it goes in terms of dent removal...Might not have any choice besides replacing that lower half of the front end...

[Mr. Poopypants]

Quote, originally posted by MikeReilly »My wife was over at a friends house and her husband backed into our baby! There's a 3-5 inch long ding in what passes for a front bumper right above the drivers side fog light. Any advice on how to get this fixed without costing a friend a big chunk of change?Yeah, you will probably have to replace that cladding.

[JustinVGT]

You will most likely have to have the entire lower piece replaced because the plastic is textured. If you were to repaint it, it would not match the rest of the cladding. If your's isn't a monotone, then there is definitely no other choice than a replacement. I had a minor accident a couple years ago when I slipped into a bank of snow/ice and it screwed up my lower bumper. They had to replace that lower piece and paint it. That cost about $800.

[Pick]

Stick it to him, next time he'll be more careful. Hopefully that was the only thing of yours he was backing into.

[Mavrik]

Be nice about it but as it was, he hit your car. He should pay for the damages.

[MikeReilly]

2005 Salsa (monotone mean it's all one color?). Looking at it in the day time, there's a 1" tear and a fair bit of scuffing around it. Too bad it's not fiberglass as it could be fixed up pretty easily.

[Kari]

Yes, monotone means it's all one color...two-tone has the grey plastic cladding, unpainted, like what mine and ColonelPanic's are in my signature.

[Merzbow]

I think you can have it fixed if you find a good enough body shop. The guy I went to (Walter) to fix my rear bumper after that fire hydrant hit me, he told me that if the firehydrant hadn't poked a hol ein teh bumper he could have reformed the bumper even though it's only plastic. Since there was a hole he said he could TRY and fix it but hte material may not be able to cover the entire hole. He ended up just buying a monotone bumper and making it look like the two tone cladding.

[drunkenmaxx]

friend or not, why should you have to deal with it?if you dont make him pay, what has he learned?its ok to back into your car?

[MikeReilly]

He immediately offered to pay - that's not a problem. Just want to find as good a solution as possible as cheaply as I can. I'll talk to body shops and the local dealership and see what they say.

[GMJAP]

Quote, originally posted by drunkenvibe »friend or not, why should you have to deal with it?if you dont make him pay, what has he learned?its ok to back into your car?I don't think he intends not to "make him pay", but to find a cost-effective means of repairing it. The guy is his friend, he's paying for it, and there's no point in making anyone pay more money than is necessary.