Got Swiped! Any idea on rear bumper replacement cost?

[TheTinMan]

My neighbor swiped my back bumper. Any idea on rear bumper replacement cost? Are replacement panels on a huge back order? If anyone knows, I'd appreciate it! thanks.

[NY Smartie]

Originally Posted by TheTinMan

My neighbor swiped my back bumper. Any idea on rear bumper replacement cost? Are replacement panels on a huge back order? If anyone knows, I'd appreciate it! thanks.

when he gets out of the hospital, make him pay for it.

what? you didn't stomp him? ;)

[Big Panda]

Originally Posted by TheTinMan

My neighbor swiped my back bumper. Any idea on rear bumper replacement cost? Are replacement panels on a huge back order? If anyone knows, I'd appreciate it! thanks.

noting the time on this post, my guess is that your dealer is either OPEN right now OR about to open. in any case, just call them. like anything else online, you'll get a wide range of prices: for instance, a price from a dealer in Washington State won't be of much help to someone in Florida.

call your dealer when they are open.

Originally Posted by NY Smartie

when he gets out of the hospital, make him pay for it.

what? you didn't stomp him? ;)

yea, if that had been me.....well let's just say the the price of the bumper would be the least of my worries. ;)

[Figaro14]

The colored panel directly below the hatch -- which I consider to be the real bumper since its what gets the impact first -- is $158. The lower black section which looks like a fin and does't ususally get much impact is around $100. Your dealer will order a replacement in your car's color. You can install it yourself. Mine has gotten a bunch of scratches and indentations from parallel parking. It was usually caused by the screws that hold license plate frames in on the other car. It only takes a very small tap to cause a scratch or indentation on the Smart Car's plastic bumper. I'm trying to find a good set of bumper protectors for mine!

[Macaw]

Rally Red prices SYMMV

The left rear fender is $153 + tax and the center part of the bumper is $132 + tax

[121 ridge]

After my wife was "tapped" by a woman who was driving too closely from behind, the body-shop that was recommended by "Smart" charged her insurance over $3000.00. You may be surprised...we were.

[John_H]

Originally Posted by 121 ridge

the body-shop that was recommended by "Smart" charged her insurance over $3000.00

This sounds way out of line. How many hours does it take a clueless body shop to repair damages? Just because they don't have standardized workups on time and materials for the Smart yet doesn't mean they're justified to commit insurance fraud.

[Macaw]

Ummm.... for $3,000 you could almost buy 3 entire sets of body panels!

[SuperGeek]

Any impact from behind is absorbed by the designed-in crash box, the "real" bumper. Panels are just facade. Behind the panels you have layers of structure, and depending on how big that "tap" was, it might have actually bent/altered the structure of several small pieces - lights, etc. If you get rear-ended by someone, you'll want your car brought back to its previous condition, no gaps, scratches, smudges or cracks. Beyond cosmetic appearance, you want to be sure that bumper can still hold up to a second impact at its original specs (10mph?).

That said, 3 grand seems pretty high for a "tap." But I'd expect anything beyond a bike to damage more than the $150 panel.

[Wdhitch]

Originally Posted by 121 ridge

After my wife was "tapped" by a woman who was driving too closely from behind, the body-shop that was recommended by "Smart" charged her insurance over $3000.00. You may be surprised...we were.

That shop just made a killing off your insurance company... The panels aren't over $200 and the installation time is only about an hour... Even if they replaced the whole rear end, the total shouldn't have been over a $1000.