Auto Body Shop Rip-Off Attempt

My daughter lives about 2.5 hours from me and drives a Honda Civic. The front bumper cover is really low and she hooked it on a curb when backing out, pulling the driver's side off from where it clips under the headlight. A friend used a zip tie to hold it up so it wouldn't drag.

She took it to a body shop and they wanted over $600 to replace the bumber cover. They said it was "cracked". She told them that she wasn't going to use insurance, but it didn't change the price. I told her to wait until she was home so I could take a look at it. I know that I can get a bumper cover on-line and install it myself for a lot cheaper, even if I to get it painted (basic black).

So she comes home this weekend and I found the "crack" that they were referring to. There is a single screw that holds the cover to the underside of the fender. The round "hole" in the bumper cover was now a "U" instead of a full circle meaning that the screw would be more of a pressure fit hold since it wouldn't be encircled by a complete hole. That's it. There was no other damage other than a bunch of missing push fasteners that held the splash guard to the bumper cover under the radiator.

I fixed the screw hole issue by drilling 1 hidden hole and using a (black) zip tie to secure the bumper cover just as an extra precaution in case the screw loosened up. I used a half dozen (black) zip ties in place of the push fasteners to reattach the splash guard.

A half hour of labor and pennies worth of parts that can't even be seen instead of $600+ to have the bumper cover replaced. What a rip-off!

Reply to
DerbyDad03
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Yep, if one has any degree of mechanical ability one can save a ton of money.

Last time I cracked some plastic piece of junk on my car they said a new piece would cost $100

I just glued it and it's been holding up fine for five years now.

Reply to
philo

So you did not really repair it, you Afro-American rigged it.

How much would you have paid a repair shop to do the same thing ? Maybe $ 100 or so .

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Are all black people from Africa?

Reply to
Meanie

That is one reason I learned to work on my own cars the day I bought my first.

Reply to
Meanie

You are a dick head.

A pointless response from a dick head.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Zip Ties ARE a "hack". The proper fasteners were likelya bout $20 and would have taken no more time to install.

You'd have REALLY bitched if you paid a body shop $100 and they did what you did.

Reply to
clare

Zip ties are a hack that will hold until she comes back home next month. At that pont I will have the proper fasteners.

After driving 350 miles back from working on my Dad's house for 3 days, I had less than an hour to diagnose and repair the vehicle before she left for her 2.5 hour drive back home. There was no way I was running out to auto store to buy a half dozen push fasteners.

You can call my repair anything you like. I call it the perfect solution for the time being and still call the $600 quote from the body shop a ripoff.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

He must like you. He called me a dick head for saying about the same thing.

But a hack is a hack by whatever name one calls it.

I bet he would have bitched if they would have even charged $ 50 at the body shop to do the same hack. A shop with any reputation is going to do a factory restore job and not Afro-American rig it.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

No, I called you a dick head because of your use of the term "Afro-American" in your description of my fix.

And a dick head is still a dick head.

Wrong again dick head.

Really? Charge $600 for a something that required a .$01 fix.

Bullshit.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

SNIP

A small repair shop in my neighborhood was started by a couple of nice guys who (legally) immigrated here from South Africa- eventually becoming US Citizens.

Correctly called African-Americans, I encouraged these two white boys to apply for AA-only government small business programs, loans, freebies, and subsidies. Much to their credit, they declined.

They told me they left South Africa shortly after the end of apartheid because it became uncomfortable and often dangerous being an educated, wealthy white person there. They became fearful leaving family members home alone after they went off to work each day

Reply to
Wade Garrett

The $600 may be a fair price for a replacement if that was needed or requested.

A reputable person would see a young girl with a problem that they could help with at minimal cost. I do know of one old timer with a small shop that would have had her back on the road in a short time for little more than coffee money but she ran into a sleazy SOB opportunist that just saw $$$.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Maybe he saw an old Obama bumper sticker, a more recent Hillary bumper sticker, and a sticker promoting free tuition and student loan writeoffs.

Reply to
Taxed and Spent

Painted black or black colored? Color sealed bumpers can be buffed out but painted ones need to be painted and if that were the case $600 is high but not outrageous. I've had encounters with both kinds. Color seal black, which I scuffed backing into garage, I had buffed out but paint splattered ones on wife's car had to be painted. Insurance paid all as it was a road hazard (sloppy line painting not dried).

Reply to
Frank

I'm still wondering if all blacks come from Africa. Perhaps dick heads can't answer that question.

Reply to
Meanie

Tru dat!

Reply to
DerbyDad03

....and to assume all black people come from or should be labeled African American is pure asinine.

Reply to
Meanie

My kids know better than to ugly up their cars with bumper stickers.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

As long as you intend to fix it right, the band-Aid" is acceptable - and yes, MANY times body shops are a rip-off. To the point they often charge insurance (or customer) for replacement parts they do not install.or install parts that are not needed, just to make the job easier.

Reply to
clare

Those are OK emergency patches. When employed as a "permanent" repair it is a different story.

Reply to
clare

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