I'm looking at a used 2002 Subaru Legacy that had a minor rear end accident. Apparenlty, the rear bumper was pulled off. I have a photo.

 

The seller is telling me that this is $900 to fix, and I wanted some other opinions. I'll be test driving tomorrow.

 

I uploaded a photo of the piece that was pulled off.

 

Thank you for any input!

I dont exactly understand what the $900 is for....to put the bumper on? to repair and install it??

 

You could find a bumper on ebay, prolly in the same color if your patient. It should be fairly easy to put on - you could do it yourself with some simple tools.

 

If they are saying it is $900 use it to your advantage...talk them down.

Then fix yourself for at most $200 (new/used bumper), or just slap the old one on.

doesn't look like there's any damage to the bumper...did the seller say why exactly the bumper cover was removed??

bumpers are weird. I had one damaged from a chain reaction while parked, it broke the grill too. the bumper had a scrtach

 

guess how much

 

go ahead

 

no higher

 

1800.00

 

get a second opinion from a body shop to just hang the skin. it sounds like the are replacing it OR repainting it.

 

nipper

Apparently you can't simply re-attatch the bumper, you have to replace the entire panel. The part that is on the ground has since been discarded, apparently.

 

I'll try to make some calls to a few dealers, and see if they will hazard a guess.

Quick bump for more opinions.

$500-600rough estimate for pro paint assuming the bumper skin needs replacing. They might even charge more to refinish a damaged bumper (that may not be repairable for less than the cost of a new one).

 

I'd get a used one from a junkyard or if you must have a new one, then on-line would get you going. If you are tolerant of B-rated paint jobs, then consider shooting the pain yourself with rattle cans. But by the time all of this DIY blows over, you might find yourself closer to a pro job than you expected.:-\

 

That said, here is a write up on my bumper repaint using rattle cans ....total cost about $100 and 4 days (which includes kid interruptions - I guess fumes are not supposed to be that good for them? )