Alright here goes, Im at the Queens Mall and pulling out of my parking spot, and behind me is parked a tow truck, so as Im backing out, I hear this big bang. I look back and I dont know what the hell I hit, cuz the Two truck is atleast 15-20 feet away from me. So now I frantically get out of the car to go check and I see that the two truck had this long metal rod sticking out from underneath the truck protruding 15-20 feet outward, and it went right at my rear bumber!! OUCH!!!

I get out and now realize that my bumper is partially bent in with some surface scratches along with three major gauges. I took it immediately to a body shop to get an estimate and he states that, just to heat and bring the bumper back to shape and re paint getting out all the gauges is going to cost me $500 bux!!! For a new bumper painted and installed $670!! I was so shocked as I had no idea that this would cost me this much! Im hoping you people can look at some of these pics and advise me what to do. I know 'songoku' had some rear bumper damage and he had it fixed, maybe some suggestions?? Here are the pics:

 

pics?

 

How the hell do you display pics? I did an attatchment and it didnt work.

 

here

 

more pics

 

Sorry Guys, here you go:

 

pics:

 

pics

 

Did you have a nice talk with the Tow truck diver? Tow truck drivers generally understand blackjack, liberaly and repeatedly applied to the skull. Billy club or tire iron work equally as well.

 

My wife backed in to a car and I did the heat it up thing. But I can still see where it was hit. I'm going to get a new bumper, but I'm not sure how to do the install.

 

Damn that hurts, I know how you feel. Just after 2 months having the car, I get hit by a huge rock taking off a HGUE chunk of paint on the door. $500 to fix, replace it with the new bumper. It'll be better because you dont have to worry about the body shop's workmanship.

 

Any suggestions on where I can get a bumper for cheap?? Would you recommend I get any used bumper in good condition and get it painted? I also wonder if i can get a bumper ready to install painted and everything. Because then i can put the bumper on myself. Any suggestions?

 

wow...thats sucks..that eosnt even look to bad...cant bvleive it cost so much...

 

Yea bumper cost a lot. I had minor litttle scratch and it costed me $700 dollars to get it fixed. Cuz they had to repaint the whole bumper and install it back on ..... EEKS ....

 

wouldn't the tow truck driver be at fault? I mean.... if something like that is sticking out far (and low) enough to cause such damage, it can't be right. I'm no lawyer but, it's like... if you're walking down the sidewalk and you trip over something that was a tripping hazard, than you can sue either the city or the landload if it was a private property... right? I would have gotten a hold of a camera or something and take pics at the time of the incident. That's when those picture cell. phones come in handy, cause they automatically mark the date and time on it.

Sorry to hear about your accident.... I feel ya...

 

best thing to do is (if you can affort it), to get a new bumper if the difference is not that much, you don't have to worry about the job and you can even do the installation yourself. Is not that hard, get some friends to help.
Sorry hear this, good luck.

 

But if Im not mistaken, the bumper doesn't come painted right? Or is there a way to get it shipped painted already?

 

The only way is to call the dealer or some of the other places that sell the body kits and see if they have the bumper and if they send the part painted or not just like they do with the body kit, you can have that shipped to you painted and ready to install.

 

On this site the rear bumper (NOT PAINTED) for the TLS '02 $216.35, I don't know if they are the same but you can call and check, also if you can find a good paint shop in your area maybe you can get it and paint it there and still save some money.

 

Thanx Maxx!

 

The bumpers dont come painted, i have already tried that. Just go to a reputable body shop, i did here in Yonkers and not even other body shops can tell that the car was every painted.

 

Thanx bigman, how much damage did you have? Sux doesn't it!

 

Looking at the picture, I think you are better off getting a new bumper altogether.

 

yes i would get a new bumper (used if clean and scratch /gouge free) if a shop is going to have to paint it any way you might as well save some money and see if you can get a clean used bumper.

 

If the metal rod protruding from the tow truck did NOT have a warning flag in either bright orange or red attached to it and the rod was extended more than (I think) 12" from the normal body of the truck then, yes, the tow truck operator is at fault. Even if his truck was not moving.

 

Check on ebay...I saw a white bumper for the TL selling around 50.00 a couple days ago

 

I couldnt find it, but if you can locate please post the link, would very much appreciate it! Trying to cut my costs for this, as Im strapped for cash right now, school is hitting my pocket hard!! Life sucks sometimes! Ne wayz, thanx!

 

I feel your agony. sorry to hear about it.

I had an accident in Jan. of this year with my fron bumper it was not bended but there was hood fender's and bumber plus head light.

The body shop I take it too did an awesome job. I have taken other cars and always perfect can notice a thing. All they do is paint and body work. I had my accord there for complete custom work friendly people too. The body shops name is Misa on 39 street in Queens near queens blvd. Like two blocks heading toward northing blvd next to BP Amoco. Their number is 718-472-0017 ask for Mike or David give them my name George and they will take care of you. I would say a bumper painted cause of a few scratches and dents would cost like $200. The shop has it's own bake in room which would leave a professional job. Don't take your car to the Junkyard they use some ceramic heaters to make paint dry faster and just lame work they charge cheaper though not worth it. They can give you a new bumper at misa with discounted rate's. They fix mostly benz,bimmer,and porsche and my TL. They must do all right I mean they own 2 vipers that are awesome. I got some small dent on my hood plant to fix within 2 wks or less I will take it to them and I will figure out the bumper cost.

Hope things get better for you

 

Thanx TLNY, you da man!! Thanx so much!

 

no prob NYDesi80.

Just want to know if you plan to go yourself or wait till I go?

take care

 

Well Im going to ask my body shop first, and see if he'll do it for cheaper, but I dont know if he has a bake shop on site, because as you said that would be something I should consider when getting something painted. Im going to call some other places to see if I can get some prices on the bumper. I sure I can get them cheaper and also, I submitted a request to this website and payed them 6 bux, to search junkyards in my area and give me a cut throat price on it, within a few days. Maybe you guys know of them.. so let me know. Thanx for ur help George, Im going to call your guy when I get a chance, soon though.

 

My wife did that too...since I threw her out, the kids really miss her.

 

First of all, sorry to hear that.

The damage doesn't look too bad. Any good bumper shop might be able to re-manufactured the cover for about 150~180.
Or since you're in NY, talk to Tim at 888-RAY-LAKS about brand new rear bumper. He'll give you a best price.
If you get the bumper cover from Tim & bring it to the reputable bodyshop. The bodyshop needs to prime it, paint it, & install it for you. It will not going to be more than $350 (depends on the bodyshop). Go ahead & call the local bodyshop & ask them how much will they charge if they need to paint & install rear bumper for your car. And ask them about the warranty stuff, too. Good luck!!!

 

Get your bumper fixed yet?

 

No.. not yet, low on cash, prolly by the end of this month. My body shop guy looked at it and told me that he could repair it by heating and molding it in place, make it look brand new.. and it would cost me 300 bux. I was just wondering if that was a fair price, I mean I had other guys tell me 425 and 400 so I thought he was giving me a fair price.

By the way, thanx for the concern man. When will there be a NY meet, so we can meet all the NY folks in person?