On Thanksgiving, my Prius got "backed into" by a family member. The damage appears to be minimal. Front license plate mount needs replacing, and the front bumper needs to be refinished and repainted. Less than $800 on the estimate and should be that way unless the body shop finds something damaged underneath. Since this is being handled through insurance, I know it will show up on a VIN check. Will it just say there was an accident or will it give more details? I'm concerned that if I ever sell/trade the car, I'd suffer significant value loss because of a history of an accident claim. I can save my paperwork to prove what was done, but still....
That and take some pics of the damage. I don't believe details of damage are maintained when a collision claim is filed.
find a bumper the same color at a salvage yard and don't report it..might cost you $200 and another 100 to install.. a freshly painted bumper might not match the rest of the car as its 3 year old paint and has faded..ask the body shop if they can locate one for you and install it..
Too late. Frankly, I'm hoping when they refinish the bumper, they get rid of several "blemishes" that have shown up since I got the Prius. I don't know how extensively they repaint/clear coat the part. It'd be less guess work to do the whole part rather than try to do a spot and "blend" it to match.
I'm just trying to muzzle myself, hate these glass jaw fairings that have replaced real bumpers. They likely will get the blems, repaint the whole bumper.
I have mixed feelings. On one side, it's great that the new bumpers have "flex" and can conceal minor dings, but the way unibody construction goes, shift the panel out of alignment, and you likely damage all the other touching panels, and it's a lot of work to make it go back to OEM spec.
When they first came in, the "fairing" bumpers tended to be left the solid-colour black, and they had a pebble finish that was at least a bit self-healing. Then we progressed further. You know, maybe they should take a cue from some motorcycle manufacturers: some full fairing bikes have (or used to have) sacrificial prominences, at the connection point of the fairing. They're sometimes black rubber, or at least a small piece, easily replaced. With cars the business end of a front "bumper" is typically a license plate holder, with some screws or hex bolts sticking out the furthest. I really should sit this out though. Todays bumpers are like a red flag to a bull to me, start me ranting, lol.
