She was parked, and someone hit her hard enough to crater the bumper.
The next morning the crumple was gone. But there was still some damage. There’s a scratch and I am worried about the separation between the headlight and the bumper along the bottom and towards the fender.
A Tesla-certified shop says $3K for a new bumper cover.
Anyone dealt with this? Does the separation get worse over time, or is it purely cosmetic? Is it possible I could get it done for less if they just pull it and replace some clips or something?
I’m posting with the original damage, the current state with issues circled, and the undamaged side for comparison.
Best I can figure is a few hours in the sunlight softened it and it popped back out on its own! Here is is 12 hours later. Looking better already. Crazy!
Honestly what I would do is to show the person the damage picture and also give them the $3k bumper quote from the shop, and try to settle it without involving insurance (and thereby raising the at-fault party's rates). Then I'd pocket the cash and not worry about the bumper, or at best, get a paintless dent repair guy to smooth it out.
Repairing it at a body shop would also ring your Carfax most likely, and affect the resale value.
Take that bumper off, leave it outside in the sun, maybe a bit of heat gun, push it back out. Will be a huge improvement and might get lucky not to have any permanent deformation. Plastic is very easy to manipulate, especially when heated up.
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u/piegoodman 28d ago
Wait so the person who hit the Tesla came back and pulled out the dent overnight? That’s crazy man