Due to a clown in a Pajero who backed into my car last week I have a 3" gouge in the surface of my rear bumper. It's been approved for repair by insurance and goes in next week.

There doesn't appear to be any damage behind it but obviously the bumper will have to come off so is there anything else I should look for when the car is returned apart from making sure the reversing sensors work?

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

Due to a clown in a Pajero who backed into my car last week I have a 3" gouge in the surface of my rear bumper. It's been approved for repair by insurance and goes in next week.

There doesn't appear to be any damage behind it but obviously the bumper will have to come off so is there anything else I should look for when the car is returned apart from making sure the reversing sensors work?

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Make sure the bumper is painted off the car so the gaps don't get filled with paint (unless it's a localised 'smart' repair) and check all the lines where it joins the body and nice and tight and flush with the rear wings.

The Twins said:

Make sure the bumper is painted off the car so the gaps don't get filled with paint (unless it's a localised 'smart' repair) and check all the lines where it joins the body and nice and tight and flush with the rear wings.

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Seconded, bodyshops (even fiat authorised) sometimes use cheap non genuine parts which don't fit properly, I had this issue with a fiat approved repairer who had the audacity to say "it's not a rolls Royce" no it might not be but the old damaged bumper fitted better than the piece of trash they fitted, next time around the bumper fitted perfectly and acquired all the appropriate fiat stickers and numbers on the back

Also be sure to look at it from any and every angle to make sure the colour matches 100% even the smallest error in colour match can be seriously amplified after a year or two of sun fading and a few coats of polish

I do think the colour match on bumpers is always a bit off on 500's even from new. Both our cars seem to have slightly off shade bumpers, noticed this on a lot of cars these days.

The Twins said:

I do think the colour match on bumpers is always a bit off on 500's even from new. Both our cars seem to have slightly off shade bumpers, noticed this on a lot of cars these days.

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Yep mine are crazy different, front is considerably darker, rear is lighter but both equalise in sun light, all down to primers and plasticisers apparently. (Euphemism for poor fiat finish!!)

I hope your claim is not affecting your no claims bonus as it I have just bought a second hand bumper in the right colour on eBay for £25. I had an annoying dent in my old one which I was going to leave, but as I saw this one for £25 it was a bargain.

I drove over to Essex to collect it, fitted it a couple of days ago. Took me about 20 minutes. Perfect fit.

I have fitted third party front bumper before and it was an awful fit, struggled with it so much and was never happy with the fit.

As others have said, watch out for the fit around where it meets both back wings. The gaps should be straight and equal.

typecastboy said:

I hope your claim is not affecting your no claims bonus as it I have just bought a second hand bumper in the right colour on eBay for £25. I had an annoying dent in my old one which I was going to leave, but as I saw this one for £25 it was a bargain.

I drove over to Essex to collect it, fitted it a couple of days ago. Took me about 20 minutes. Perfect fit.

I have fitted third party front bumper before and it was an awful fit, struggled with it so much and was never happy with the fit.

As others have said, watch out for the fit around where it meets both back wings. The gaps should be straight and equal.

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Thanks for the tips everyone!

I'm reasonably confident the repairer, which I've used before, will do the job properly but I shall look out for all the issues mentioned here.

Typecastboy, my no-claim shouldn't be affected as it was the other drivers fault entirely and all information has been supplied to the insurer. It is possible, with his aggressive attitude, that he will try to counter-claim but as I have high-quality video from my onboard cameras I'm not too concerned about that.

Thanks again folks.

I have a forward looking one in my Cmax, but a rear one is a good idea too.

typecastboy said:

I have a forward looking one in my Cmax, but a rear one is a good idea too.

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Definitely. I recommend a rearward-facing, wide-angle camera attached to the windscreen. In this case it provided excellent vision of the other car as it approached from the side and struck the rear of my vehicle. A camera mounted at the rear screen would have picked up nothing.