I had a rock from a truck hit the center of my hood on the highway in July. It chipped the paint off down to the metal and put a little dent there, too. I got some touchup paint and it's not that noticeable, but there's quite a bit of normal road wear and tear on the hood and front bumper from the previous owners that I'm not opposed to fixing to keep this little car looking nice (..and then getting the hood and front bumper wrapped for extra protection going forward). The Toyota dealership quoted me $690 to repaint the hood panel. They said repainting the entire panel is the only way to fix the rock chip and dent. I feel like $690 for a just a hood repaint is a little high and I should get a second estimate. I'm seeing brand new primed Prius C hoods and front bumpers on eBay for decent prices. As far as repainting the plastic bumper, I'm pretty sure it would just have to be replaced right? Again, the car still looks great, but the front is where a lot of the wear and tear is, and I think I'd like to give it some TLC.
Why in the world would you ask a Toyota Stealership how much for re-painting a hood? You could buy a hood from a wrecking yard for less than 1/4 of that price. Or if you don't want to do that, take your hood off and drop it off at any local body shop and they'll fix it for a reasonable price. It boggles the mind how people are so loyal to highway robbery at their local dishonest car stealership.
The service center at this particular Toyota dealership is good. I know a lot of people come to this location from out of town because of their good reputation and service they offer. I just got the estimate from the body shop / collision center while I was getting the oil changed and tires rotated. This is a different department and I wasn't impressed with my brief interaction with them. Glad to get confirmation that their quote is too high. I will call some other places.
You also might get prices on a wrap for your hood... They can fix the dent before they put the wrap on and if you don't drop the car off and crowd up their lot and only drop the hood off that might be the second to least expensive solution. Buying a used hood from a wrecked Prius will be the lowest price and fastest fix.
