New Bumper

The Everyman

While following my friend the other day, I accidentally hit him while we were at a red light. Rather than deal with the insurance, I offered to pay for the repairs to his bumper.

The thing is pretty tweaked, and needs to be replaced. The first shop he took it to quoted him at $700 to buy and replace the bumper. I thought that sounded a little excessive and encouraged him to get a second opinion. The next shop said $580.

I think I found the bumper online. He drives an '04 Nissan Frontier, and after a little googling I came across this: http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/details/QQNissanQQFrontierQQReflexxionQQStep_BumperQQ19982004QQR11402951.html?apwcid=P1135867996W43b3f85c7ab9e&gan=1#desc

The price there shows $281 for the new bumper. I understand at the shop I'm paying for labor, but is ~$200 common for that kind of work, just to replace a bumper?

My girlfriend's mom us friendly with a couple mechanics. I was going to try calling them and hopefully seeing if I could get a better deal.

I guess I'm looking for a little advice. Should I try to find another mechanic? Just buy the thing online and have it shipped, take it to a shop and have them put it on? Try to put it on myself?

FF

I'm not sure how much mechanics charge per hour for labor, but if they're anything close to plumbers you're looking at around $75-100/hr for labor. Depending on what's attached to what where, I suppose it could take a couple hours to do.

Gilbert0

I recently just got rear ended. Dented bumber a bit and the trunk won't seal properly. After getting the estimate it's like $1500 for parts and almost $3000 for labor.

So yes, mechanics charge A LOT.

Daedalus

You could see if you could do it yourself. I'm not familiar with that particular car; some are easier than others. You've got a Haynes manual, right?

The real question is whether or not you've damaged anything other than the bumper.

illig

1. The bumper you linked is an after market replacement, not an OEM bumper. Have you checked with your friend that he/she will accept such a part? Personally, if someone hit me and then tried to cheap out by buying a Chinese pattern part instead of OEM, I'd turn around and call my insurance. The part price quoted by the mechanic likely uses an OEM bumper (which will be considerably more expensive).

2. An impact strong enough to damage a bumper is likely to have damaged the bumper supports, or other pieces... again, make sure those are fixed as well.

Daedalus

illig wrote: »

1. The bumper you linked is an after market replacement, not an OEM bumper. Have you checked with your friend that he/she will accept such a part? Personally, if someone hit me and then tried to cheap out by buying a Chinese pattern part instead of OEM, I'd turn around and call my insurance. The part price quoted by the mechanic likely uses an OEM bumper (which will be considerably more expensive).

2. An impact strong enough to damage a bumper is likely to have damaged the bumper supports, or other pieces... again, make sure those are fixed as well.

Just so you know, if your car's more than a couple years old and you've gone anywhere but the dealer for service, every wear/replaceable part under your hood that you've ever had replaced, from the distributor cap to the clutch, is probably a Chinese-made part rather than OEM.

edit: and it's a body-on-frame pickup truck so he might have only damaged the bumper, although he should be careful to check.

Iceman.USAF

You very likely didn't damage the frame or mounts, bumpers (and really, trucks) are made to take a certain amount of abuse.

$580 sounds fair. Really, $700 would be fair if it needs to be painted as well.

Daedalus

If it's your own car, I would definitely say you should just wing it and try and do it yourself; since it's not, you should ask your friend what he'd rather you do.

eternalbl

OEM 04 Nissan Frontier bumper lists for $350 for a crew cab, 315 for a king cab. If it doesn't need paint, that $580 sounds alright, if it does need paint I'd almost be wary that it's too low.

Daedalus

eternalbl wrote: »

OEM 04 Nissan Frontier bumper lists for $350 for a crew cab, 315 for a king cab. If it doesn't need paint, that $580 sounds alright, if it does need paint I'd almost be wary that it's too low.

Are you sure you're looking at the rear bumper and not the front? It's a pickup, the rear bumper shouldn't need to be painted.

The Everyman

I have no idea what a Haynes manual is.

I also had no idea there was a difference in the bumper I linked and what is on his truck. It was honestly one of the first hits on google.

I also am not sure what OEM stands for. Not very car savvy here.

There's no painting that needs to be done, as far as I'm aware of.

I think I might just tell my buddy to go for the $580 mechanic, just to save some hassle. If a rear bumper lists for 350, then I guess 230 for labor sounds about right. Right?

Figgy

Around here, mechanics charge around $80/hour for labour. It shouldn't take more than an hour to replace a bumper, but chances are that it needs to be painted.

Haynes manuals are books that list how to completely tear down / build up your vehicle. They are sold based on make/model/year range. It's good to have a copy of your car's manual, so if you ever need anything fixed, you can look it up and see just how complicated it is.

OEM stands for "original equipment manufacturer" and means exactly that. The opposite, aftermarket, is a part made to be sold after the sale of the vehicle. This industry basically copies car parts to sell to consumers cheaper than what the dealer would charge.

eternalbl

Daedalus wrote: »

eternalbl wrote: »

OEM 04 Nissan Frontier bumper lists for $350 for a crew cab, 315 for a king cab. If it doesn't need paint, that $580 sounds alright, if it does need paint I'd almost be wary that it's too low.

Are you sure you're looking at the rear bumper and not the front? It's a pickup, the rear bumper shouldn't need to be painted.

I've never seen an 04 frontier, just know of a good place to get list price on OEM parts and have a good idea how much time some jobs can take.

Xai

You'll probably need to get it sprayed too as i doubt it comes in the colour of his car so i'd say 580 sounds good actually.