Novice

I live in Washington, DC suburb. I try not to go to DC as parking is nightmare there (well, too late as I did tonight). I found a good spot to park on the street. One hour later, I came out of my friend's house and noticed that a white Toyota Camry was parked right behind me (2 inches apart). Then, I found this on my car.



I wrote down the Camry's license plate #, left a note to give me a call and contacted my insurance company (Geico-they were pretty good and helpful). I know this is going to be a headache no matter what (if I get the insurance company). There is a chance I will just pay for everything.


My questions are:
1. Does this damage require repainting of the entire bymper?
2. Would you get this done at Acura dealer?
3. How much would it cost?

Well, the strange thing is that I am not as upset as I thought I would be.

Thanks for your help!

PS) Here is another close-up shot.

Tedanddenise

You'll want to have the bumper completely repainted. Looks like the damage went pretty deep. That's a comprehensive claim, maybe? Doubt if you can prove it was the Camry. Did you have the police file a report? Sorry it happened to you - I have been wondering when the same thing will happen to me.

willz822

Sorry about your damage....I feel for you as I would be really upset if this had happened to me. I live in NYC and I worry every single time I have to park on the street here.

As for your questions....it looks to me if painting the entire bumper would be the best resolution. The scratches look pretty deep. Don't think any amount of touchup paint will cover that up and still look good.

Good luck.

Novice

Thanks for your comments. I guess when you guys say "repaint the whole bumper", that process will include smoothing out the scratches (using bondo or plastic fillers)?! I wasn't sure if I was supposed to call police about this. Geico was very good about it though about my claim.

Thanks again!

SouthernBoy

Tell your friend to move to Maryland or you're never going to visit him again.

Seriously, I know what you mean. I do not go into DC for anything. I won't even take a job there (I wouldn't take one in Maryland either because of where I now live). DC's the pits. And I especially wouldn't take my car down there.

Hope you get it all sorted out.

Novice

Amen to that. Thanks.

SouthernBoy

BTW, on a slightly different topic about DC. Did you know that in 2002, DC's murder rate was higher than Detroit's, nearly triple that of Los Angeles or Miami, almost four times higher than Houston's, and over six times higher than all five boroughs of New York City combined!

And those idiots in 1976 outlawed citizen-owned handguns and made it illegal to keep a loaded long gun in your own home. Not only are they violating peoples' most basic civil rights, but they're getting people killed every day for their arrogant ignorance.

Novice

I know what you mean. They just elected a pot head ex-mayor as a gov. official.

kosh2258

I had a similar thing happen to mine last spring. The body shop I went to removed the bumper cover to do the repairs but did not have to repaint the entire bumper. They were able to match it perfectly and blend it with the factory paint. It took 2 days to complete the work. They are the premier body shop in town - do Vette restorations as a specialty.

But the ability to spot repair invisibly depends a lot on the color, my TL is AM. They said the hardest color to match is Silver.

The repairs cost $423.

JDM5lugHatch

get the A-Spec Body kit and it should cover it up. Thats better than getting it painted IMHO that is unless you don't like the A-Spec kit.

mikedjpn

I had the same problem. So when I took it in to the dealer for an oil change, I asked them who can fix it. They had a guy come to the dealership and fix it for $125. Looks like new!

Lore

I had two paint bumps on my bumper's OEM paint (looked like chicken pox on my car!) and the body shop repainted the entire thing. They opted to do that because it's hard to blend in the paint I guess, but it's definitely doable. I say if your insurance covers it, go for the repaint. It'll run you about $450 if I remember correctly.

Acura covered mine of course, and hopefully the other driver's insurance pays for yours.

JetJock

Sorry about your bumper..but hey..look at the bright side...a bumper is much easier to repair than a door ding. Sheet metal repairs are very difficult, and parking lot dings on the door really stand out. If I had to choose between a damaged bumper, and a ding in the door, the bumper would win hands down. Hope you get it fixed soon, and don't sweat it...you'll never know it was damaged after the repair. Next time, don't park anywhere someone can possibly hit your car. I'm really anal, and won't even vitit someone if I have to park on the street. In parking lots, I won't even shop that day if I can't find a spot where my car could possibly get hit even by a shopping cart. Good reason to have a junker car for stuff like that.

acura_service

not really, depends if you can find a good body person, we actualy do alot of airbrushing and let me tell you in the past airbrushing meant spraying color on that abortion of a scratch, but not anymore - my car was 23 days old when someone put a scrape from the wheel well up to the LF corner about 1 inch wide down to the plastic, we now have a guy who was one of the painters that does the airbrushing, he da's the area, uses plastic filler if needed, (uses a paintgun not an airbrush) and fogs the area, he even tinted the paint to match the unmatching silver bumper as compared to the car - fogs clear then buffs it, when he was done, i took it outside and i still cannot tell where he blended it, its perfect, i don't know how many shops actually do this, we do and john is really awsome at it, it only works on plastic panels you cannot do it on sheetmetal. i even had it up in service and the guys in the shop cannot tell where he did anything, it was $50.00 - i only get a 10% discount (in service i had a great price over cost thing, but body shop is different for employee discount, i was just happy to get it repaired, i would have painted the bumper if i had to, but this is perfect and i am pretty anal about the car just like most of us here, since then i sell them all the time showing my car for an example, i wish i could get some car before and after pics - plus the good thing - only need it for one day, not a 2 day bumper repair


the great thing was he actually took the time to notice that my bumpers are a slightly different shade on silver tl's (and honda's for that matter) and tinted the paint to match perfectly

i couldn't be happier with the job, since we see alot of bumper scrapes, i'm writing about 2-3 of these a day, every customer has been satisfied and cannot tell that the whole bumper was not sprayed

SouthernBoy

To JetJock;

You wrote:

"I'm really anal, and won't even vitit someone if I have to park on the street. In parking lots, I won't even shop that day if I can't find a spot where my car could possibly get hit even by a shopping cart. Good reason to have a junker car for stuff like that."


Yep! I have a little 2001 Ford Ranger pick-em-up truck and while I don't think of it as a junker or throwaway vehicle, it gets used when conditions might exist that would put my TL in jeopardy. When in my car, the wife knows she might have to walk a 1/4 mile to get to a store because there is just no way I'm going to park close and take the chance of my car getting damaged.

Being anal is not bad and paranoids live longer.

batting_cleanup

I am positive the ex-Mayor's problem was and from the looks of him still is, that he likes to smoke crack cocaine. He did have one of the funniest lines of anyone in public office though. "The bitch set me up". He was recorded saying this when they busted him smoking crack in a hotel room with someone the police planted to help in their investigation.

JetJock

How can the people of Washington DC be supid enough to re-elect the Mayor considering his past? Does this guy have some "mystical power" to influence people to vote for him, or is he just corrupt and buy his way back into power?
Anyone caught redhanded smoking crack doesn't ever belong back in government office...shame on the people of DC for voting this thug back into office.

Neorick

it will cover that nasty scratch and your car will look better. Repainting the bumber will only case more cracks (speaking from experience).

Novice

Thanks for all your comments. Well, the Camry driver hasn't called me. Anyone who thought that he or she parked in such limited space (behind my car) couldn't have been more reasonable. Geico told me that they already know who the owner of the car is. They are going to contact him/her and make that person confess. Otherwise, they will send out investigators to take pictures, etc. I am certain that the Camry driver got some scratches on his/her bumper.

Re: DC situation and Marion Barry.... You guys made me laugh! Here is the website I found which contains all those quotes from him. To be fair, there are very nice parts in DC and good people (as you all know). But, I would not live there unless I drive 20 yr old Geo Metro.

http://www.radix.net/~dglenn/humour/barryquotes.html

Novice

Neo: Do they sell this? Is it a bumper? Do you have any pictures?

Thanks.

Neorick

It is the A-Spec Kit from Acura, makes the car look sportier.

See thread below for Jerky's car.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ighlight=Jerky

Novice

Thanks. That looks expensive!!

acura_service

then that was a bad repair, remember the orginal bumpers on the car are painted, if its done right no cracks

Yoda117

Okies, I had this happen to me... so here are some tips.

1) in the event of any hit like this, always call the police. Yeah, they don't like it, but despite what they say, it is part of their job.

2) Check the car that you think dinged you. More than likely they will have matching damage. Get the license plate # and if possible, take a couple of pictues (I always keep a disposable camera as part of my roadside kit). A lot of times people will flat out lie about it, but when their insurance company has pics of matching damage on their car it's a done deal.

3) Call the insurance company and let them know what happened. When they know that you were parked they will know how to deal with it in the best manner (especially if you go through a local agent... my SF guy is awesome).

I had this happen to me once and they played the "it couldn't have been me" game. Then I e-mailed the pics of their car with damage (and my paint still stuck to the bumper) to my insurance agent (who was able to find out who THEIR insurance agent was). When their insurance agent got this and was told what happened (they never even bothered to tell him), then got a copy of the police report, there was little that they could do but complain. I believe that the exact works used by their agent was that "they are [were] dead in the water by denying this."

Good luck... what happened to you is my one fear with my TL. For some reason people think that it is A-OK to do this kind of stuff to others, especially if they have a nice car. Gotta love how society has become, right?

acura_service

your best bet is to call the main number for your insurance company, the agents i've dealt with don't know anything (yours might be an exception) depending on the company you might have a lesser deductable (insurance companies do not airbrush, they will pay to have the bumper R&I'd and sprayed off the car and with most a small claim where you were not driving will not affect your rates. a police report might be helpful but needed for something like this if you are turning it in to your own ins company

Yoda117

a police report is ALWAYS helpful.

Regardless of whether it is your fault or not, the report is there to cover your backside should the other guy try something funny.

Even in a situation like yours, if you are pretty sure that the offending vehicle is still there, you can get a backup opinion (and believe me, if the officer sees matching damage they won't pull the old "well you didn't see it, so it couldn't possibly be them..." crap). They see the same color paint, and damage they'll identify the car (though it also helps if you happen to know quite a bit about forensics to point things out... patrol officers aren't quite the most deep-thinking bunch in my area, no offense).

Novice

Well, this is the first time ever I filed a claim report with Geico (over 10 yrs with Geico, I never had accidents, tickets, etc). I wish i filed the police report last night after reading all your posts. If the driver of the Camry lies about his/her mistake, I guess there is nothing I can do about it except that I know he or she is a human garbage as I would've left a note if I scratched someone else's car. I am prepared to spend some $$ to get it fixed.

acura_service

i was just saying that if he is going through his own insurance a police report is not needed, belive me i work in a body shop and deal with ins companies all the time, ask geico who in your area handles geico rx claims - bumpers can be removed, repaired, sealed painted and reinstalled within 2 days , or the alternative is to see who in your area does airbrushing, mine came out perfect for $50.00 i just zaino'd the car this morning took it outside the shop in the sun and i can't tell it was ever repaired, ask around and you will want to see some examples of the airbrushing if someone does it in your area, or just go the geico rx route

Novice

a-s: Thanks so much for your comments. I would be extremely interested in that airbrushing method. But, they will still have to smooth out the rough surface before airbrushing, correct? I guess I just have to inquire about this at a local dealer?!

acura_service

thanks, not sure if all dealers body shops do it, i'm not that far away, i'm up in wilkes barre pa - right up 81, since john took over the airbrushing (has was a painter) the quality is right up there 100% he does customers and alot of our used cars on the lot, bumper scrapes are pretty popular these days, i wish i took some pictures of it before and after, we use those crappy sony cameras at work with the floppys in them, but i think monday i have an airbrush coming in, i could do some before and after pics for you

there was a guy in a van who used to come around and do it, but it looked like ass, like i was saying john does really good work, so its well worth the small fee

Novice

Thanks again. One more question. Does he fill an uneven surface before he airbrushes? Hmmm. I used to pass by your city everytime I had to go up to Syracuse in the past. I believe that is about 2-3 hr driving from where I live.

PS)If you can post some before and after pictures, I think you will end up helping many friends here in this forum.

Thanks again.

acura_service

yes he fills it just like when its repaired by the body guys (we have a team system) no one guy fixes any cars start to finish, we have body guys, a paint team and the frame rack guys, motorworld is right off of interstate 81

Novice

Thanks, again. I will wait until what Geio says and will also consider going up there. It is a nice drive to PA anyway.
Much appreciated.

acura_service

no problem, my email at work is ckruzel@motorworldgroup.com

unxadm

Hello. Sorry about your damage. This has happend to my TL as well. My TL is black so it doesn't show as much damage. We also have a honda accord that got damaged at the dealer. The damage on the Accord was very close to the damage on your bumper and my bumper. Since the damage on the Accord was done at the dealer (Landmark Honda in Alexandria) they offered to fix it using a third party company. So we took the Accord in to the dealer and they fixed it. After the repair I was unable to see any damage as the bumper had some big gashes in it. I am thinking of calling Landmark Honda and find out who they used. I don't want to get my bumper replaced as it seems like everytime you get body work done it nevers turns out right. This company that fixed the accord did an awesome job.

Hope that helps.

Novice

Thanks! Could you kindly let us know which body shop your dealer used when you get information?

6mtV6

acura_service: When you fix the rear bumper using airbrush, do they take the bumper off first?

acura_service

no they do it on the vehicle, we only remove them when they are re-sprayed

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

I can't agree more ... get the kit... and if the kit ever gets scuffed up, it'll be cheaper to replace the kit piece than repaint the bumper again and again...

acura_service

i'm telling ya, not with airbrushing