So I'm stopped at a light today, and then all of a sudden the light turns green and before I start accelerating.. BOOM! Some dumb lady in a Lexu RX330 slams into me (she had been stopped but hit the gas pretty hard from the jolt) Anyways....I check the damage, and the ONLY damage is the bumper is cracked on the sides by where the license plate goes (that if you didn't know to look, you would never even bother.) So since she doesn't want her insurance to go up (and she looks like she has money.) I got her Drivers' License and telephone number. She'll pay cash for whatever it costs. Given that... would they actually replace the full bumper or would they simply bondo it?

Of course.. this happens a week before my aero kit is to be delivered.

 

It should ultimately be your choice whether the bumper is replaced or fixed. I suggest you get it replaced... faster, better quality, and less problems in the future, although it costs a bit more but not by much because labor can cost a grip by itself. If a bodyshop wants to repair the bumper without asking you which you want to do, I suggest you take the car somewhere else...

 

I will probably end up getting it replaced, but when I do, I will do it when I get my aero pieces to only do it once.

 

The bumper is just a COVER. I can promise you under it that there is some damage.

 

I understand that it is just a COVER But what I was referring to is that the COVER didn't take alot of damage.

 

If you can't even see, why do you care?

 

Our bumpers are design to absorb shock from impact. ONCE.

Next time you get rear ended without replacing (or at least checking) the shock-absorbing parts of the rear bumper system, the bumper won't do it's job, and people inside the car can expect to get much more serious injuries than a nasty jolt and a bad neck.

I've told the story many times; I got rear ended and from the outside of the car it looked like there was literally NO damage aside from a scratch. Inside the trunk was a different story. The floor of the trunk was buckled and the crumple zones beneath the bumper cover were annihilated. It was a $4k repair and from the outside the car there was not even visible damage. The insurance adjustor was dumbfounded.

You might want to open up the trunk, lift the carpet and check everything out.

 

How hard did you get hit though? We were both stopped and she had just accelerated into me.. so at most she was going 15mph..

 

Take it somewhere and get it fixed right. Years ago, I got hit in the back and I didn't see much damage. I let the teenage girl off the hook for a hundred or so bucks. Later, I noticed more damage where the paint was wrinkled. I regret not taking car of the problem properly.

 

we were both in very slow traffic, probably both going 15mph, she was about 10 feet back, and hit the accelerator instead of the brake. NOT high speed at all. She wasn't going much faster than me at all but she accelerated into me.

This was what the inside of the trunk looked like:


This was the ONLY visible damage from the outside of the car; a small scratch and the bumper was out of place (it clicked back in and after that it was invisible)


I'd get it looked at.

 

Just because you don't happen to see any damage does not mean that it does not exist. Have it checked out, just in case.

 

Definitely get it checked out by a shop - doogie is the expert, having been in such a collision, but all it takes is a little physics to determine how much force a collision like that creates, even at under 15mph. A large chunk of metal, in this case an SUV, traveling at 15mph creates something like ~46000j of kinetic energy, enough that one of the cars *should* crumple up to a foot, which accounts for the damage on doogies car.

I'm done being a geek - get your car looked at.

 

Yeah in my case it was a Ford Taurus, not an SUV, but those things are made out of like cast iron. I HATE Tauruses

 

I agree, have it checked by a reputable body shop. Do not try a do-it-yourself quick fix.