Rant~Auto body work $

[mickeyd]

I visited my lawyer Tuesday and while backing up to leave I gently bumped into a tree in the parking lot. I was backing up at a speed of about 2 MPH and I creased the left bumper, wheel well of my 2004 Camry. It looks like a crease with a dent in the plastic bumper. DW wants it fixed (I'd have no problem with driving it around forever with this "minor damage") so we will fix it.

Went out today and was able to get an estimate~ $1450

Cost for legal services unrelated to this crease: $1600.

Can you feel my pain? I can not even blame anyone else but the guy that's been sleeping with my wife!!!

But I'm up about 12.5% in my investments YTD.

 

[Patrick]

I feel your pain. I think I would just delay the repair until she forgets about it. Leave at the bottom of your honeydew list. When you dispose of the car no one's gonna car about that crease.

 

[kramer]

Maybe you can compromise and get a guy to beat out the dent, use bondo, whatever? My ex-girlfriend got this done on some major damage and it looked great and cost about 1/8 of what a full repair cost would have been. The repair business is a racket as there are huge markups on the spare parts.

Kramer

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Let her pay for it out of her butter-and-egg money if she wants it fixed.

 

[TromboneAl]

I've ranted about this somewhere on this forum. Twenty years ago the press talked about how stupid it is that cars can't survive a 5 MPH collision without major damage, and the situation is worse today.

Perhaps this is another situation where, like health care, the existence of insurance means that costs are not kept reasonable. I'd say don't fix it.

 

[Nords]

I visited my lawyer Tuesday and while backing up to leave I gently bumped into a tree in the parking lot. I was backing up at a speed of about 2 MPH and I creased the left bumper, wheel well of my 2004 Camry. It looks like a crease with a dent in the plastic bumper. DW wants it fixed (I'd have no problem with driving it around forever with this "minor damage") so we will fix it.
Can you feel my pain? I can not even blame anyone else but the guy that's been sleeping with my wife!!!
But I'm up about 12.5% in my investments YTD.

So you're equating domestic harmony with investment gains? Good luck with that.

I guess your days of driving "her" Camry are over...

Maybe you could ask her which she wants more-- a nice-looking car or a commuter vehicle that no one will get near when she wants to change lanes. Or whether she'd rather trade in those repair dollars for a nice vacation, a nice piece of jewelry, a nice piece of furniture?

 

[Craig]

I can not even blame anyone else but the guy that's been sleeping with my wife!!!

Perhaps you could hit that guy with the same side of your car, and at least get a little more value out of the repair?

 

[azanon]

You need to look into a "dent doctor". If the dent is as you described it, you're looking at $100-200 dollars to fix it; provided you find someone reputable. (IOW, you haven't yet)

 

[Sam]

It looks like a crease with a dent in the plastic bumper.

If the damage is indeed with the plastic bumper, the cost of fixing will be much lower.

You can now buy a painted plastic bumper for around $250, shipped to you. Then find someone to replace the damaged one with the new. Labor cost should be less than $100.

Search for "painted bumper cover" on Ebay.

 

[mickeyd]

So you're equating domestic harmony with investment gains?

No not really, I guess that I'm just trying to ease the pain.

 

[brewer12345]

I've ranted about this somewhere on this forum. Twenty years ago the press talked about how stupid it is that cars can't survive a 5 MPH collision without major damage, and the situation is worse today.

Perhaps this is another situation where, like health care, the existence of insurance means that costs are not kept reasonable. I'd say don't fix it.

DW was rear-ended on Wed and the car was pushed into the car in front of her. This was in traffic in the Broonx while she had both kids and the two dogs with her. Nobody was hurt, but the car probably took 3 or 4k of damage. Frankly, I don't care if the entire car is Kaput: nobody was hurt.

 

[mathjak107]

i love those suv bumper guards,the ones that wrap around and look soooo tough. they are all so flimsy that anything more than a shopping cart bends them back.

i love the look on the drivers faces when it folds back and takes out 2 fenders and the hood with just a tap.

the rear ones are even better. you know the ones that glue on to the light lenses. anything touches them and the lens cracks..

 

[mickeyd]

Update: I obtained two additional estimates yesterday ($550, $465) and am quite content to pay 1/3 what the initial estimate quoted ($1450).

This reminds me of a book that I just read Why smart people make big money mistakes by Belsky and Gilovich. The book mentions something called "anchoring" which is basically a point of reference that we use when contemplating a purchase or an investment.

My anchor cost of $1450 caused me much pain. But when I later got 2 more estimates that hurt much less, I felt much better. I still have no idea if $465 is a good deal or not, however in comparison to my anchor cost ($1450) I think I got a good deal.

Another point that learned in this process is that the initial cost of $1450 was from a repair place that probably thought that insurance would be footing part of the bill. The later two estimates of $465 and $550 were obtained by me stressing that I would be paying 100% out of my own pocket and no insurance would be paid. They figured out a way to repair the damage rather than replacing the small damage with costly new dealer parts.