Hi I'm a newbie and need some help. I have a Fiat 500 1.2 lounge 2013.
I have caught my bumper on passengers side, pulled it away from body work and cracked the paint. I need a new bumper I think. it is due for service and I know they will suggest I get it done with them (main dealer), which will cost an arm and leg. any advice would be good i.e. just go with it or buy from else where. (any suggestions) or buy it primed and then pay for painting. not sure what road to go cheapest would be great. thanks to anyone who can help.

take it to abody shop and get them to take alook,

they might be able to repair bumper and correct the damaged paint on it,

Where are you located? PRS in Bury was spot on when I used him 6 years ago!

There are ads on eBay for aftermarket front bumpers supplied painted and ready to fit for under £180. I don't know what they are like but I paid more than that to have my rear bumper resprayed after someone ran into the back of me and caused the lacquer to crack. Well, I didn't actually pay, the lad who ran into me did!

To be honest, I think the bodyshop were less than truthful with their billing. I had an estimate and they said that the most it would cost, if they had to sand all the paint off and plastic weld any cracks would be £200. There is no evidence of any plastic welding but the bill was still £200! This was an insurance company/Fiat approved bodyshop!

staffordmike said:

To be honest, I think the bodyshop were less than truthful with their billing. I had an estimate and they said that the most it would cost, if they had to sand all the paint off and plastic weld any cracks would be £200. There is no evidence of any plastic welding but the bill was still £200! This was an insurance company/Fiat approved bodyshop!

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I think I must be missing something here, but surely that is a good thing??

If there was evidence of it you would be less than happy with the finish wouldn't you....

louieboy said:

Hi I'm a newbie and need some help. I have a Fiat 500 1.2 lounge 2013.
I have caught my bumper on passengers side, pulled it away from body work and cracked the paint. I need a new bumper I think. it is due for service and I know they will suggest I get it done with them (main dealer), which will cost an arm and leg. any advice would be good i.e. just go with it or buy from else where. (any suggestions) or buy it primed and then pay for painting. not sure what road to go cheapest would be great. thanks to anyone who can help.

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Why would you need a new bumper?

Sounds like like stress cracks in the paint? If so it'll just need repainting.

MJG said:

I think I must be missing something here, but surely that is a good thing??



If there was evidence of it you would be less than happy with the finish wouldn't you....

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I'm happy that the bodyshop didn't have to do any plastic welding, but it would have been nice if their invoice was a true reflection of the work done and not the worst case scenario quote.

staffordmike said:

I'm happy that the bodyshop didn't have to do any plastic welding, but it would have been nice if their invoice was a true reflection of the work done and not the worst case scenario quote.

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But I'm still not sure how you would know they hadn't.

We once had some done on my wife's MX-5 front bumper after somebody drove into her. The work was to such a high standard it was completely indiscernible from the rest of the bumper, which of course is what you would want it to be.

I know they didn't do any plastic welding because when I got the car back the bumper wasn't properly aligned. I had a look underneath and noticed a) the wire for the parking sensors was trapped between the bumper and the steel reinforcement, b) no sign of plastic welding except for on c) the black plastic bumper trim where they had snapped the securing tags during removal!
Really not impressive for an insurance/Fiat approved bodyshop.

staffordmike said:

Really not impressive for an insurance/Fiat approved bodyshop.

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Anything fiat approved is normally **** from recent experience

Sadly with it being such a new car you would need to go to a fiat approved body shop to get the work done otherwise you could find your warrantee invalid or at least the bodywork guarantee