My car was not even safe in my garage. I had a bunch of people over for football Sunday afternoon and folks were smoking in the garage. Sombody must have wanted to sit in the car to check it out and left it out of gear with the parking brake released. Later it must have rolled back against the garage door. You guessed it..when i went to open the door...scraaaape!!! The garage door handle ran up the rear bumper putting a deep gouge about a foot long from the plate area down. OUCH!!!!! I know it can be fixed but can they fill the gouge in the plastic bumper?

Bob Z

 

OUCH!!! I know anything can be repaired, but are we talking a gouge like you can maneuver a finger in there type of gouge, or just a small slight crease?? I think if it can be repaired without replacing the whole bumper, it will have to be heated back together and then repainted with a couple coats of paint and flex agent. Post a picture if possible to better evaluate.

 

It's a gouge you run your finger in. About 1/16 in deep or so. I hope they can fill it.

Bob Z

 

Nice friends you have there. Another argument for always locking the car - even in the garage!

 

This doesn't sound like it was done on purpose. Probably someone sat in there (maybe even an automatic driver), said "WOW, NICE CAR" and put the handbrake down not realizing you kinda sorta need to pull that lever when it's a manual transmission car.

Bob - I hope they can fill that in without it costing you too much. I'd spread the word to your buddies and see if someone fesses up to it. If someone does, and offers to pay for the damage, take the high road and don't make him pay - That's a guy you can trust. Remember that.

 

Too bad, but luckily it can be repaired. You can take it to a body shop. Odds are they will want to replace the bumper for $600 to $1000. Or you can have it repaired by the guy that does touch up/ bumper repairs for your dealer. Check with the used car manager, ask him whom he uses for his bumper repairs. Ask if he can show you any repairs he has recently done. If the guy is any good the repair should turn about perfect or very near perfect. Cost will run anywhere from a low of $75 to a high of $200. Here in central Jersey average cost is about $150. Deal directly with the repair guy, it will be cheaper than going through the dealer. The dealer will typically mark up the repair by a minimum of 10%. You don't have to go to a Nissan dealer, any dealer with a used car department will use a touch up/bumber repair guy. Sounds like a fairly simple straight forward repair. Good Luck.
MWest300zx/350zroadster

 

I know it was not done on purpose. Stuff happens, so i'll just have to deal with it. How do they fill the gouge marks? I figure it's going to be a couple hundred bucks.

Bob Z

 

Its gotta be more than 100 bucks cause it costs that much to fix a door ding. And remember, metal has memory whereas plastic (like your rear bumper) just doesnt have the memory to just pop back out into place. Unless you have just a straight line gash and no plastic was bent, it should be pretty easy to fix. Otherwise, it aint gonna be as easy as the other guy above mentioned. Even if they do attempt to fix it without replacing the bumper, they will have to remove the bumper and that will cost at least 100 bucks right there just to have them remove and put back on.

Somebody rear ended me recently and my bumper had a golf ball size dent from the heat caused by the hit and the plastic just molded into a dent. I took it to a bumper repair place and they wanted to replace the bumper, so I called around and found a guy that was willing to heat the dented area and massage it out with a door dent tool via my rear headlight assembly. Luckily it worked cause no paint was removed and that still cost me a $100. But in your case, I assume paint was scratched off and the edges around the gouge were bent.

To make an already long story short, just do a google search in your area and look for bumper repair specialists. And if they do have to end up repainting, I would spend the few extra dollars and goto a Nissan repair guy cause at least you know the paint will match perfectly. Cause whenever the repair guys tell you that they can match the paint off the paintcode or off the gas cap, it never looks 100% right. I know everytime you look at your car you stare at the gouge and it breaks your heart, so why not spend a few extra bucks and get it done right and not half-assed. Trust me, it will make you feel a whole lot better.

 

Why would anyone put the hand brake down if they were just going to sit in it? I think you need to find who did this and make him pony up for it.

 

Rear bumper cover is $250 + paint

 

That's it? That's cheap! Don't even bother filling it, just get a new bumper.

Get one of those cameras that monitors different places of the house (don't tell anyone about it). Have it recorded to a VCR when you have a party. Trust me, you find "good stuff" in it

 

hey flyzmd80..... are you an MD-80 driver??

 

N74DV,

Indeed I fly the MD-80. AKA... the Long Beach sewer pipe....Mad Dog....Super 80..DC-9-80.


Bob