So I was in a small accident today and rear ended someone at probably about 3-5mph. His car was fine we didn't even exchange info.
But now I have a big hole in my bumper and a crack and one of the clips on the side broke off. Thankfully all the components are good. fog lights DRL and headlights are all fine. The lower grill and upper grille are fine.
So what do you think the best course is? Im looking online and bumper covers cost about $60-80 My question is are the SX and SXL (with the LED DRL) the same bumper cover?
Should i buy it online unpainted and then get a shop paint it? Or should i buy it painted? I found a website that will ship it painted for about $530 shipped.
First I would get a quote to paint the new bumper cover. Then I would compare if it is cheaper to buy it painted. I think SX and SXL are the same bumper covers.
Yeah I got a quote from a really good shop ive done business with before and it was $350. The problem now is finding a good bumper cover. Ive found some factory bumper covers for about $230-250 but then they want $250 shipping. The dealer wants $505
I might have to go through insurance.
Also does it matter if its Korean built or US built. In some of the pictures ive seen a hole for a tow hook. But mine currently does not have that.
I ended up with a crack on the bottom part of my bumper recently, due to road debris flying up and hitting it on a corner. If you claim, keep in mind that your premium will likely go up. The quotes I got from a couple of body shops in my area ranged from $1300-1600 range to replaced the bumper ($505 at both places), but painting and install was 2/3'rds of the cost. My deductible is $500, so in my case, I've decided to avoid claiming and looking at a painted bumper and installing it myself. Good luck on whatever you decide!
Edit: you mentioned the Korean vs US built. I believe it would fit whether you go with the KDM bumper or US bumper. I'd make sure that if it's the KDM that you're getting also has the tow hook cover. I've seen some where it's the KDM bumper, but the tow hook portion you'd have to add separately.
Edit #2: if you like the clean look of having no front plate, this may be your chance to get one with no holes.
Yeah I got a quote for paint at $350 from a really good shop. And to get a factory bumper shipped I was looking at about $500 and the dealer also wanted $500. So I decided to go through insurance. Which is a $300 deductible and since i have accident forgiveness my rates wont go up.
I noticed the tow hook hole on some of the listings. So thats whats different between the KDM and USDM version. I wonder why there are so many weird little difference between the two markets for the Optima.
I did about 10hrs a week before i got the job i am currently at which was about 2months ago. I haven't since I started at the job. But I might have to do some more to pay for this repair.
If you're buying any aftermarket bumpers from Ebay, make sure they fit before you have them painted. Working at a body shop, I can tell you that a large majority of aftermarket bumper fit horribly, either too long, too short, retainer clips on the bumpers don't line up or don't work in general. If it is an OE bumper you're fine, but if its OEE (original equipment equivalent) you better be extra careful.
Yeah well I went with insurance. And im gonna request they use OEM parts. Because the last time I had my Corolla fixed they went with aftermarket front fender to save money (thats what the guy even told me) and it ended up not fitting and they had to order a OEM one from Toyota. And it added 2 days to the repair time which pissed me off because i was paying for a rental out of pocket.
Yeah, that happens pretty often, we've had a few customers here that insurance companies push to have them allow aftermarket so they do not knowing exactly what they're gonna get. We've had to redo entire jobs because everything fits like absolute trash, but there's just nothing you can do sometimes. Thankfully we get paid to redo everything, but for a customer like yourself that has to pay for rental it's really sad that ins. folks set you up for failure.