Auto Body Shop Rip-Off Attempt
On Mon, 27 Mar 2017 16:21:19 -0400, Ralph Mowery
wrote:
In article ,
says...
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!
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 .
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.
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