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Styling Doh - Need a new front bumper

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Styling Doh - Need a new front bumper

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TallAndy

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:bang:

Well what can I say got distracted by my hands free :eek: and bumped into the back of some chap in a VW. Only very slowly bout a 10mph impact or so at a junction my fault. Ah well nobody hurt just a broken bumper for me. :rolleyes:

Sooooo... need a new front bumper for a 100hp in black. Where's the best place to go the dealer?

Cheers,

Andy
 

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bugger:( still no one hurt, so major bonus, and no lights taken out either(y)

i think one of the lads on here had a similiar bump, but took ages to get the bumper through the dealer network, purely because the factory was taking forever to turn them out. can't see it being any quicker through the pattern parts people either.

good luck(y)
 
Check the lugs on your headlights as on most cars these days they need minimal force to break. Without even looking check the light doesn't wobble about at all. Also check your front cross member (the steel beam behind the bumper) as these are designed to collapse upon impact. It's unlikely the cross member will have gone but the 'trumpets' that hold it to the chassis legs instead - it all comes as one piece.

We've got a Saab 9-3 in at the moment that had a very similar 10mph impact and he's looking at a bumper, cross member, headlight, engine undertray and an air conditioning condenser.

243 quid isn't too bad for a primed bumper either to be honest - just try and get some trade discount out of them as the price quoted will be the full retail rate, and they'll supply them to traders with a 15-30% discount.

If you want any further help give me a shout - I run a body shop so it's second nature to me.

Ben
 
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BenP said:
Check the lugs on your headlights as on most cars these days they need minimal force to break. Without even looking check the light doesn't wobble about at all. Also check your front cross member (the steel beam behind the bumper) as these are designed to collapse upon impact. It's unlikely the cross member will have gone but the 'trumpets' that hold it to the chassis legs instead - it all comes as one piece.

We've got a Saab 9-3 in at the moment that had a very similar 10mph impact and he's looking at a bumper, cross member, headlight, engine undertray and an air conditioning condenser.

243 quid isn't too bad for a primed bumper either to be honest - just try and get some trade discount out of them as the price quoted will be the full retail rate, and they'll supply them to traders with a 15-30% discount.

If you want any further help give me a shout - I run a body shop so it's second nature to me.

Ben
Click to expand...

Awesome thanks for the advice. I'll give the car a good check at the weekend and see whats what.
 
Just had another quick nosey under the bonnet this time. And your right about the left headlight got an issue there :( See the attachment, some cracked plastics.

Think its gonna need the bodyshop afterall. Not as simple as just swapping the bumper...
 

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Ah...

That plastic that's broken on the right hand side of the picture is your front panel which is essentially the carrier for everything at the front of the car - headlights, bumper supports, radiators, bonnet catch etc, so it is going to be a bit more expensive that you first thought. Cooling system will have to be drained down too at a guess as the front panel doesn't usually come off without taking the rad out.

The OS headlamp has broken too and whilst those lugs can sometime be glued, it's so hard to get them back exactly where they came from that for headlamp accuracy you'd really want to be replacing the unit.

I'll have a look on the system at work when I get there to see how long is given for doing a front panel and will also get some prices for you so you at least have a ball park idea of what it's going to cost.

Ben
 
Not a silly question no. But when you have 1 year NCB and a an accident in Feb last year. If I claimed i'd be driving around in a g-wiz for a premium of £2000/year. :rolleyes:

Oh and thanks for the help again BenP be interested to know the costs.
 
OK this is done purely on the assumption that only the bumper, OS headlamp, front panel and front crossmember is damaged and requires replacing. It's generated using a Thatcham Time based estimating system - i.e. someone at Thatcham has actually timed how long each operation takes so I haven't overcharged on anything - it even generates how muh paint is needed. The prices for parts were obtained from my local Fiat supplier and are quoted retail ex. VAT.

Front bumper - £211.83
Front x-member - £92.01
OS headlamp - £106.50
Front panel - £107.20

Time allowed - 9.2 hours (£322 at 35/hour)

Paint/materials - £150.70

I've also added £17.50 for coolant (5x£3.50), £5 environmental charge and £10.27 sundries (2% of parts).

The total job from us would cost £1023.02+VAT, so £1176.48 inclusive.

Amazing what you can do with such a little bump!

Hope this helps - guess it means you may end up claiming and also I stress that this estimate is on the basis that nothing else is damaged.

Ben
 
Thanks for that Ben really appreciate it. Taking the car to a local bodyshop on Saturday to see what they think. Amazing to think that could be 1k and you could by a whole used 100hp for 5k :)
 
£1200 just for that :eek: amazing.

Thank God I didn't do an bodywork damage on top of my £1500 worth of damage then :eek:

Even thou they did replace the arch moulding (£15.96p) cos it had a scuff.
 
Herts Hillhopper said:
£1200 of damage caused by an incoming phone call (you don't say if you answered it...) Goes to show that even 'hands free' is 'not good':( There's a morale in there somewhere...(sorry - 'sad old git syndrome' there. I put my iPhone where I can't reach it, so I have to pull over first. Really is the only safe way to do it)
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I think the key is to have a good hands free kit. The one in my car doesn't require me to take my eyes off the road as it's very easy to find the button to answer a call :)
 
I have to agree with Herts Hillhopper - I get distracted driving even when using a handsfree kit, so I simply don't answer calls.

Not telling anybody to suck eggs as we're all different, but personally I find it too much of a distraction to take the risk - hands free or not.

Ben
 
BenP said:
I have to agree with Herts Hillhopper - I get distracted driving even when using a handsfree kit, so I simply don't answer calls.

Not telling anybody to suck eggs as we're all different, but personally I find it too much of a distraction to take the risk - hands free or not.

Ben
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Not disagreeing with you all on purpose but what handsfree kit do you use? :)

I have one of these in my car and as you can see the answer button is quite distinctive and well located so I can press it without needing to look at all. If I get a Panda without Bluetooth I may yet put it in as I really do like it and it's got an iPod connector as well :)

pioneer-deh-p55bt.489838.jpg
 
At the risk of creating 'an argument', its not where the button is or how easy it is to press. Its the issue of choosing to press it at all, diverting part of your brain from 'driving a car' to 'talking on the phone'.

You can have the radio on, but the brain is clever enough to be able to 'blank that out' as background noise if your eyes tell it to do something else, like spotting the need to apply the brakes. But if you choose to make the brain do something where it needs to listen, reason, and then speak, as well as drive, you 'overload' that 'reflex' ability. Its different if you have a conversation with a passenger -- they can react for you, and say 'watch out' if they think you're not paying attention. Someone at the end of the phone can't do this...

Note that even 'hands free' you can still be prosecuted if its shown that using the phone caused a distraction:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/think/focusareas/invechiclesafety/mobilephones?whoareyou_id=&page=Overview
You can watch the powerful tv ads on that page too, top right corner.

If the call was urgent, they can leave a message... You choose. Personlly, I choose to live for another day.

[My last reply in this thread]
 
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