Rear Bumper on a 98 merc

insinkerator

Unfortunately i cant remember the exact model, but it was a big enough saloon afaik.

I ploughed into the back of him on the Cork-Douglas road this evening and i cracked his rear bumper. Just wondering how much it will cost to fix. Dont wnat to go through insurance as i am on a provisional, and had no full licence driver with me:o.

Unfortunately my little corsa didnt fare to well, and seems to be totalled:(

Pete4779

Inchape quote £291 for the bumper. This will translate to around €500-600 here (cost price ex VAT will be around €400 here). Add a few hundred for colour matching spray and labour, you are looking at around €1200.

insinkerator

damn, i was hoping to get away with 500.....

Pete4779

I am only guessing but a previous repair to an E-Class (1998) I knew of was €170 for the panel (front wing, so pretty basic bit of shaped metal!), and around €500 for labour and spray. The parts themselves are not coloured so a lot goes into the local hire of some spray paint guy to colour match, etc., . Then, the garage will charge 1-2hrs labour (usually e.g., €90/hr, up to €110 in a dealership or as low as €60/hr in a non-specialist independent).

You can browse UK heavily discounted parts prices at http://www.mercedes-benz-parts.co.uk but the price from Ireland is usually heavily marked up (around 50% higher than UK prices after conversion from UK£ to €).

kermitpwee

When he checks in the spare tyre well it could be a lot more than 1200 euro.

Seth Brundle

I presume that there are shock absorbers behind the bumper also and these may be gone.

insinkerator

Well i hit his towbar, so would that have deflected a lot of the damage on to me, also, the car was sitting in neutral with no brakes on, so he rolled with the impact, so that will work in my favour as well no?

Also, what do you mean when he checks the spare tyre? i didnt crumple the back of his car, literally, there is one crack on his rear bumper. Thats all that we could see at the time. Plus, i work in a tyre depot, so i can get tyres cheap enough, so i wouldnt worry about that

kermitpwee

Behind the bumper there is usually a reinforcer(metal bar) this can be pushed inwards and can lead to damage in the boot. Usually where the spare tyre goes in the boot can kink inwards after an impact. It depends on how much of a jolt you gave that merc.

I was examining a mazda last week with no cracks in the bumper after an impact. There was a fair amount of damage though. Would'nt have seen it unless i looked under the mat. The bumper had bounced out without cracking. On modern cars bumpers are light material, it's whats damaged behind the bumper that can cause the probs.

If its only the bumper then an estimate for bumper and spray on say a normal car(Ford Focus) you would be talking 700 euro. Merc bumper could be more.

kermitpwee

kermitpwee wrote: »

When he checks in the spare tyre well it could be a lot more than 1200 euro.

What i meant here is not the actual tyre but the hole( Well) where it sits in the boot.