So someone hit my back bumper (while I was watching, oh the horror) and the sucker deformed like 3 inches in. Fortunately it popped out, so I was happy at first. However, the optics in the area compressed are off now. Apparantley I'm the only one who notices it (women don't get it), but I still want to fix it. Is it a matter of polishing it out with an abrasive. Buffing it maybe?

Any tips appreciated.

I hope you got the insurance info on the other party. Then you don't have to worry about it and let the insurance guys pay to have it professionally fixed.

Haha.. no women don't get it.. my ex looked at it and said that you could barely notice the big dent in my car!
This happened to me alittle while ago... Most the guys on the board that saw the pictures suggested I pop it out.. which is the route I think I'm gonna take.. (yeah, it's been a few weeks but I still haven't taken care of it). It's going to cost about 600 to get a new bumper and paint.. depending on who you go to and where you find the stuff.
Good luck trying to get it back to where it was!

I was recently rearended at about 5 mph in a parking lot. My rear bumper had two small cracks in it, and the right rear quarter had the tinyest buckle that you couldn't even see it from 4 feet away. Final cost after all was said and done was $2,110.02 I hope you got that person's insurance info. Our bumpers are not meant to withstand even the slightest taps it seems.