I am so pissed at myself for this. It could have been avoided but I was impatient and caused that scratch/gouge on the back bumper. I have factory touch up paint available but my hands shake pretty bad. Probably not the best person to do it myself tbh. Does this look like a costly fix? I am hoping and thinking it can be touched up okay with the factory touch up paint? I wanted to get it fixed ASAP to avoid chipping etc. Subject line should have said Nicked sorry about that. K on the brain.

 

One tip might be to use a wooden match stick (not the fire side) to slowly apply some primer to fill the gouge, then start to apply the factory touch up in even layers allowing for a few hours drying time. Get some 2500 grit auto sand paper and lightly sand the resulting touch up area to smooth the edges, then apply the clear coat over the top. Will it be perfect? No but with a darker color, it will not be as noticeable. Otherwise you may end up with a total bumper repaint if perfection is required. Good luck and report back

 

I can't tell if that's a scratch on your bumper or a shaky picture of a map of Bermuda

 

I can’t tell.. I looks like some sort of a lab photo taken through microscope eyepiece

 

I think it looks like something my cat barfed up this morning.

 

I think it looks like something my dog barfed up...and then ate again! So I didn't get a real good look at it and can't say for sure. But it will probably make another appearance soon!

 

I decided just to get some cover on it for now because of the weather. And touch it up further later on. Its been cold as all hell lately. Adding paint to it actually brought it out worse imo. I am still kicking myself in the ***** for this happening. It could have been avoided in the first place. Perfection is no doubt a complete bumper repaint.

 

And a complete paint job on your bumper will run about $650. Just an fyi.

 

Meanwhile, I'd continue to lightly sand each layer of paint with 2500 grit paper and eventually you will get the spot to blend in better. Once you get that done, apply a little clear coat

 

ouch that stuck out like an eye sore. kind of hard to ignore.

 

Figure 4 hours at $80 an hour, plus $120 for materials, you're looking at $440 on the high side, figure another hour remove/reinstall at $60 total, still right at $500. And that's high. You could probably negotiate a decent shop down to about $300-$350 pretty easy. Especially if you just drop it off. downside would be if you want them to do any blending into the Quarters, then, yeah, you're $650 might actually be low.

 

Yep the old man had to one up me. All because someone parked funny and he did not want to page them to move it. So he would rather cause damage to the car instead. He nailed the metal trailer portion backing out. Damage is on the left side passenger door area. Not only are those scratches. Its also a dent with a slight cut in the metal. Big money? Complete panel replacement?

 

I got a quote of $872 for that latest damage. Only 1 place so far. I headed next door to another body shop. Color me skeptical. He said if I did not want to go the long route and don't care about that minor dent. They would remove the scratches for me etc and use my touch up paint provided by myself do it for free. You know your gut says its to good to be true kinda thing? What do ya guys think? No one does something like that for free and make it look decent?

 

Rubbing compound will likely clear up 85% of that. But you'd have to buy the compound. The fact that the guy offered to do it for free, and they have experience with paint, they'll likely hit it with a buffer wheel. If done right, they can take it the next mile past where doing it by hand will go.

You know why he want's to do it for free don't you? It's good PR, he figures since you got dents and scratches all over your new car, it's only a matter of time before you get into a serious collision, and have an insurance claim. You'll remember what a nice guy he was, and bring it to him.


Me personally, I say take the free labor, that buff out fix would likely cost you $50 at a detail shop. Get him to do it, and when you really need body work, remember him.

 

All depends on how **** you are about scratches and nicks on your ride. You will always know where that free repair job is on your car because no amount of buffing even with fairy dust will get all that out.

 

Think I will let him do it then. Getting back to the first quote and price. It was not so much about the money. It can be paid. It was what he was telling me they would have to do disassembling major pieces of the car and re blending etc. This car was was not in a wreck and he made it sound like it was. He said they would need to remove the back bumper, rear door, and left side tail lamp. I said to myself hell no this is a brand new car. Once again if it was in a decent sized wreck that is another story. The other guy willing to do this for free said he should have given me a choice. Doing it right with a tear down depending how **** I am about appearance or buff it out leaving the minor dent and use some touch up paint.

All I am worried about is rust, chipping etc. I wanted to avoid that. So if this band aid fix works out. Wonderful. I would also imagine on a trade in I hope they don't ding me to much if it gets traded in at some point. I would think not since most dealers have their own body shops and it would be a cheap fix for them to do it themselves.

 

I have such mixed emotions with this. Seriously. After I cooled down and got to thinking after that post. I really do want it done right in the end with that minor dent removed as well. What would you guys do? Pony up for the repair with out insurance claim? Or go the touch up route?

 

You said you really want it done right. There is only one way to do it right, you will be satisfied in the end.

 

You are exactly right. Gonna cough up the bucks and get her done right.

 

Do you own the car or lease? I missed that. One thing to note, if you go the route of the serious paint job with the disassembly and blending, first off, that is the right way to get it to look invisible. Provided they don't get overspray in places someone else will look, think when it comes time to trade it in, will it be obvious that it was repainted by looking under, or inside doors, what have you. The other thing to concern yourself with, even without the car being in a collision, it's possible a job this big will be reported to the carfax via the vin. I hear a horror story about someone repainting a bumper that had bug and chip damage, then went to trade it in, and got a low ball offer. They told him based on the carfax and the minor evidence of the repaint, they considered it a damaged car. Point being, find out what the body shop does with regard to reporting this repair. Last thing you want to do is drop $1000 on a repair, then lose $3000 on the market value of the car because of it.

 

And you'd be surprised how easy it is to figure out a car has been repainted. It may look exceptional on the outside, but you look in all the right places, trust me used car appraisers know what to look for, that paint job will cost you a lot more in depreciation/devaluing then just trading it in with minor scratches. I guess what I'm getting at, maybe wait a little longer, see if you can live with the scratches.

 

The car is owned. My father gets itchy to trade in cars right before the warranty comes up on them. So every 2-3 years pretty much. I did have the thought of it reported as being in a car accident even though it was not. Still listening and open to all suggestions. I do appreciate the input from everyone on this. MadMax should I even try to get some of those scratches removed as that one guy was willing to do it for free? Or just leave them there as you said since it might effect trade in if touched up like that?

 

I had an issue at my house, new teenaged driver (daughter) backed into my car. Popped her bumper cover back into place once I reshaped the metal fasteners that bent. I masked her whole bumper off except the areas where paint actually came off (her bumper lined up with my taillight, so it took off her paint), sprayed in about 3 light coats one heavy (all after sanding a little) pulled off the tape, can barely notice it. It's not even matching white, just a gloss spraybomb from home depot, but my initial tests showed the tint was really close. Of course if you go down and look, you can see the work I did, it wasn't professional, but it was one step back from that. My car needed a new tail light, $530 from the dealership, found a Kia (Cadenza) parts dealer that sold it shipped for $325. I had to hammer the housing a few times to get the light to line up with the trunk lid. Then just buffed out all the marks on my car. Can barely tell there was a collision. Of course it is NOT show worthy, one spot on mine the bumper flexed at a crease under the taillight, so it has minor cracking but it's not pealing off, it just looks stressed small area, again, you gotta go looking for it...but it's got over 50,000 miles, has 3 years left on the extended warrantee, and no need to file a claim on either car. Sometimes you just make due. Helps that I worked in a body shop as a kid, so I know a few tricks.

I guess the long story short version, Yes, take full advantage of the free paint work at the body shop, they work paint every day, and will make it practically invisible is my guess. Be extremely grateful, and tell him you'll be a return customer when that time comes. (don't have to go back, but tell him you will). Worst case it still bugs you after the work, and you get it painted anyway. but try this route first.

 

I took it to that shop and they worked on it for about 45 minutes to an hour. While not perfect he told me its at least protected now and they got a lot of the scratches smoothed/out. They shined that whole area up etc as well. So seeing some reflections in the picture. I am grateful and pleased even if you guys think its a bad job for a freebie. Its no longer an eye sore and you have to actually get up to the car close and start looking to notice it. Nissan factory touch up paint was used and is what I handed them. Glad I had enough factory touch up paint for them to use what was left.

 

It looks good. You'll get used to it, and eventually in 3-8 years you'll trade it in and still have $1000 in your pocket from the potential repair you didn't do. You'd never have gotten that money back in value for the trade, as a used car is expected to have a few dings and dents, and they won't give you more because you didn't have any. Good show, just remember that shop if you ever need a big repair!

 

Do you think its going to effect trade in value by a lot? I know the dealer could eat the cost and repair themselves. Since they have a on site body shop as well. Or maybe they would just sell it like that but I some how highly doubt it.

 

buy a can of spray colour match touch up paint from your local auto supply store. I'd used hardwood floor filler glue, then painted over it.

 

Car's are going to have wear and tear, door dings, chips, it's all part of the normal factor. How it affects trade in value is always subjective. How valuable/resalable is pretty high on the list, recondition costs, unless they plan to auction it...which case they will lowball that. Torn seats, high mileage, old age, once you reach a certain point, paint damage doesn't even matter. Now, if you're serious about bringing back a 2016 in 2018, you should seriously consider leasing in the future...you're getting beaten up by depreciation if you're buying new and trading in every 3 years.

 

You think that's bad? just had some ******* BMW driver rear end my car and take off.

 

 

Heart breaking. I totally feel for ya man. If it makes you feel any better. Years ago when I had bought my first brand new car. 2001 Ford Focus. I had someone come right in my lane and side swipe me good. Did not even have the plates on yet! What made it worse the guy had all fake documents and the piggy cop let him go. Mean while I had to make a claim and pay my deductible to get it fixed along raising my insurance rates for a few years. New driver and only 18 at that time. When the insurance tried to go after the chump. He was a ghost and they could not find ANYTHING on him.