Sorry to hear this. I used to have a little lotus that got pronged like this about once a year on average as I parked it on the street. I soon learned that there are two types of garage. Ones that do loads of insurance claims and more local or specialist bodyshops that also do non-insurance or refurb jobs. The ones that do wall to wall insurance generally charged roughly 5x the price. Seriously exaggerated the amount of work done. It's difficult to tell, but do you really need a new bumper? You'll be amazed what they can do. My old lotus had a huge hole in the front clam that the insurance guys said at least 2K fix on one occasion. Got it sorted for £250 (admittedly that was the biggest difference I had between two garages)
Gutted
- Thread starter sofasurfer
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sofasurfer
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That's my experience too...the body shop I used to use are now a body shop for the local Jaguar dealership. Whilst they used to be a bit more expensive than their local rivals their work was superb but now they seem to inflate their prices as most of their custom is from the dealership or insurance work. I'm hoing that I don't need a new bumper and they can sort it.
sofasurfer
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Thanks...feeling a bit more positive about it this morning but I was like a bear with a sore head last night.
sofasurfer
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And not so positive now...after a trip to Ross Packard the quote has come in at £3304. They say they will need to replace the bumper as it's cracked and so it's looking like an insurance job. Bang goes my NCD and now my premiums will be sky high. I might have to take a trip to Wack's recommended bodyshop and see what they say.
Ianed0
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Correct, a good bodyshop would remove the bumper & plastic weld that from the back, once filled and blown through you'll never tell, it can be done for a fraction of the cost of a new bumper, find a bodyshop that has plastic welding facilities, £600-£700 should be about right
sofasurfer
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That's what I was hoping to pay. Seems like I'm going on a hunt to find a suitable bodyshop over the next few days then.
sofasurfer
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No..not too far. I'm going to take out a trip there either today if I get time or Monday. Do you know if the guys at Waterlooville can plastic weld? I want to go somewhere that is recommended by a member on here and they seem to fit the bill.
Ryandoc
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Not much help but I recently had 2 quotes to respray my front nose, one around £700 the other around £500. The expensive quote was from an approved body shop that does high end cars.
Surely that can be repaired. Again not much help but twice last year my bmw 320d rear bumper was hit, very badly the first time. My local Vauxhall body shop (admiral approved place) did a cracking repair job you couldn't even tell it had holes in the bumper to start with.
3 months later someone went into back of me, they repaired it again and you genuinely can't tell
Hope you get it sorted
Surely that can be repaired. Again not much help but twice last year my bmw 320d rear bumper was hit, very badly the first time. My local Vauxhall body shop (admiral approved place) did a cracking repair job you couldn't even tell it had holes in the bumper to start with.
3 months later someone went into back of me, they repaired it again and you genuinely can't tell
Hope you get it sorted
Wack61
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Having seen the quality of the work and watching the guys work on various cars I'd be very surprised if he couldn't repair it
I got a professional respray from him for less than you've been quoted to fix a bumper so you'll get a real world quote not a insurance inflated quote
Plus if you were paying with your own money you'd source used parts if it needed them, well I would anyway
Edit
Just spotted that link to a used bumper in the thread , even if you had to buy that bumper at £300 I can't see the bill being more that £700 and I'm certain that can be repaired
Tell Phil he was recommended by Darren on SM , I was such a PITA he might double the bill though
sofasurfer
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Having seen the quality of the work and watching the guys work on various cars I'd be very surprised if he couldn't repair it
I got a professional respray from him for less than you've been quoted to fix a bumper so you'll get a real world quote not a insurance inflated quote
Plus if you were paying with your own money you'd source used parts if it needed them, well I would anyway
Edit
Just spotted that link to a used bumper in the thread , even if you had to buy that bumper at £300 I can't see the bill being more that £700 and I'm certain that can be repaired
Tell Phil he was recommended by Darren on SM , I was such a PITA he might double the bill though
Just got back and very happy. Phil said they can repair the bumper by plastic welding for £450 all in. I've booked it in for the 16th and it's a 3 day job. Seeing as that's less than my excess I couldn't be more pleased. Just wanted to say a big thanks to Wack and everyone who have offered advice etc.
conaero
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They do everything, tell him you've been quoted that price and when he gets up off the floor laughing, he will tell you how he will do it.
conaero
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LOL, posting frenzy, arrrgghh!
