Bumper Repair Costs

[fiestalux]

Hello,

I managed to scratch the rear bumper on my 2015 Fiesta Eco Boost. The scratches are on one corner more or less (2-4 inches long) but have scraped down to the plastic removing the topic coloured layer. Before I head off to my Ford Dealer and ask them. I'd be grateful to know how you could go about repairing or replacing it and an approximate cost? I don't live in the UK so the price will of course vary but at least I would get an idea of the magnitude of any costs.

For example does this require a complete replacement or can a touch up work?

Cheers,

 

Rod

[LondonFiesta]

About £50 smart repair

[fiestalux]

@Londofiesta thanks for your reply. Sounds very cheap.

Here is an actual photo, the large white lines are reflections its the smaller scratches near the reflector which are the damage. Fortunately none of the metal bodywork was scratched..

 

[tef89]

I have some neighbours who would appear to have the sight of moles and I have acquired some similar (but not as bad) scratches down to the plastic and my paint guy (trusted professional) quoted me £60 to £90 for the bumper respray. 

[LondonFiesta]

The good news is that as you don’t appear to have metallic paint (on my phone so pic tiny) they should be able to match up a smart repair nicely.

 

Usually they quote per corner so have a look around and remember it’s best to go on recommendations as they are mainly franchises

 

[fiestalux]

Yes I will see if there are such things here in the country where I live, which is notorious for high prices. You are right its non-metallic... 

[isetta]

what is a smart repair compared to a traditional repair. As I see it, it needs sanding down and that area respraying with colour matching paint. Is the method any different to what it was 50 years ago?

[LondonFiesta]

Smart repair means they do a smaller patch rather than the whole bumper. They colour match quite well so there’s not a huge amount of blending areas in etc. Plus it’s quicker so less labour cost.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Smart repairers claim that improved materials and technology enable them to repair damage over a localised area without the need to strip, prime and paint a much larger area (such as the whole panel) to blend in the repair, and usually they can do it at your home or workplace which is a lot more convenient, erecting a "tent" over the damaged area in case of rain. 

I have had a few in the past with very satisfactory results. The "traditional" bodyshop I use for larger jobs caution that (in their opinion) such repairs can fade over time but I have had cars 4 years or so after a smart repair with no problems apparent.

I would guess the damage in the photo which looks like fairly shallow scratches in the paint would be do-able by a smart repairer. Some idiot (me!) damaged my Mrs's Fiesta in a similar place a few years back, but that put pretty deep gouges in the plastic of the bumper itself, so in that case I turned to my bodyshop who did a superb job.

[fiestalux]

Eric, thanks for your reply here I will look at smart repairers as well. The car is out of warranty (just) so I can be a bit more flexible I suspect the Ford dealers here will as usual offer very highly priced repairs...

[wild_one]

In my experience, finding a 'smart repair' guy that knows what he's doing is the difficult part?

 

[fiestalux]

Thanks for all your tips etc. In the end I had a few other faults that developed with the car in the meantime so I took the car back to the dealer, to also get the scratches fixed. Initial offer for the bumper repair was €500, after I said I won't be putting it on insurance and wanted a touch up it fell to €250. Given the cost of the country I live in that is not so bad. Probably not the cheapest but should atleast by covered by a Ford repair warranty as well.