Last Thursday night, I did a stupid, stupid thing. Pulled into a parking spot between two pick-up trucks, and instead of paying attention to the parking curb, I used their parking depth as a guide for how far I need to pull in. Needless to say, my much-lower front bumper ended up on the curb. While backing up slowly, I heard some grinding sound and resistance.

After I got out of the car, I saw that the parking curb had two metal rods that were sticking out about an inch or so, instead of bolts holding it down. They'd gotten stuck under the bumper and damaged the underside of the bumper when I backed up.

I inspected it after getting home that night and in sunlight the next day, and the clips in the middle are still good, but on the sides (below the fog light area on each side), the clips on the black plastic part that holds the bumper seem to be damaged, and on the outermost edges, the bumper's clips have come out of the black plastic part. I tried to put it back in, but I realized I was stretching it more and didn't want to cause more damage in the process. There is some play in the bumper (not loose, but gives a little when I push or pull with a little force) but I'm not sure if it's normal. While driving, I haven't noticed anything unsual (thought I heard some rattling the first day when I took a bump hard, but I may have been paranoid).

Took it to a collision repair shop affiliated with the dealership and got a $650 quote ($63 for the black plastic part the bumper clips into, and the rest for labor: remove, repair, paint, reattach). The guy said the bumper is still securely in place. I'm going to shop around for some more prices.

I have a low deductible policy ($250 for collisions and comprehensive) but I'm afraid to use it because in all likelihood, it will send my premium up considerably. Or will it not?

If anyone knows of any decently priced body repair shop / folks in the Orlando area who do quality work, please let me know.

Has anyone had a similar experience and DIY'ed the repair job?

I'm attaching a few pictures of the damage. It can only be seen from some angles or when looking at the bumper from a distance, but it's still bothering the heck out of me. Suggestions welcome.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad news. I had my car one week and I took off the passenger side mirror. I as referred to Dayas in Orlando. They are incredible and have a reputation of being a premier body shop. I considered paying for the repair myself but when I heard the estimate- that quickly changed. I filed a claim through my insurance (similar deductible) and had it repaired. I did not experience a premium/rate change. It does, however, depend on you insurance claim history. Good luck with the repair.

 

Thanks AkaSigFreak! I'll google them, but if you happen to know someone in particular over there, please PM me the information. I haven't had a claim since 2002 (well, except for a call to fix a chip in the windshield, but had to cancel it because the guy said it was too small to fix; and an accident on my wife's car and the other party was cited at fault, and their insurance paid for the repair).

I'm with Esurance now, but was with Geico for many years until I realized I was getting a much lower premium with lower deductibles at Esurance.

 

that sux, this is why I'll never get that that front lip spoiler, LOL......

good luck, it's only money

 

oh no that sucks, happened to be quite a few times, also scrape sometimes on these crappy orlando roads. ever since i added my front lip im extra careful with parking

 

And I thought the lip was supposed to help (it's been on my radar for a while now, but goes against my keep it "stock or oem" philosophy - trying to reconcile the two).

Went to a body shop off Old Cheney and Forsythe because one of my co-workers set an appt for me, and the guy says he's worked on German cars before but isn't "MB certified"... he's asking for $450. I'm gonna check out Dayas tomorrow or Wednesday (the place the AkaSigFreak suggested).

I also heard about two other places: Brennan's and Recovery Room, and I'll check them out too.

I'm assuming that there is a damage threshold above which a collision shows up on a vehicle's history report (such as Carfax). Does anyone know what the damage threshold is (in $)? The body shop I went to today discouraged me from filing a claim saying that it would end up on the history and affect resale value. I can't imagine "curbing" the car while parking would diminish a car's value, especially when it is fixed right. Am I wrong?

 

Sorry to hear about that. Yeah, have to be extra careful with lowered cars and especially with lips. That's why I always back into spots now.

 

first week after I got my car, same thing happened... got caught on metal protruding rods from the concrete I did not account for...

luckily, I was able to just snap the bumper back into the side clips that it popped out of... one broke, but you cant tell and it is still securely attached with the others so I never did anything about it...

just painted the underside with white touch up paint and it looked good as new

 

You know, I always did that until one time at DJ in Irvine, some lady in a Honda Pilot almost crashed into me. She thought I wasn't going to take the parking spot since I drove a little past it to back my car in so she decides to step on the gas and turn in. I just let the butt of my car stick out a bit more than others now. Lol.

Anywhoo, to the OP. I feel your pain. Two weeks into getting my car the same thing happened to me and one of the clips on the far passenger's side was ripped/scraped off as I was backing out. Luckily I haven't had any issues. Some tricks I've picked up are to either see if you can get a reflection of your car and the curb on the cars next to you, to park about one to two side mirror's lengths less than other cars, or (if there aren't any people on your behind in the parking lot or you're not at a crowded plaza or at Costco) just back it in.

 

LOL - I do the reflection thing all the time - easy during the day or well-lit places.

Funny thing is, when I got back from dinner that night a green W204 was parked right next to my car, and it was backed in, like you said you do.

It may belong to someone on this forum, because the tail lights were blacked out, the headlights were smoked, bumper mounted turn signals were blacked out, and it was lowered. Had a nice CLS style single line grille too. It looked good! (Thursday night, Dr. Phillips / Bay Hill area, by Seasons 52, in case the owner is reading this).

 

i feel your pain, my bumper is filled with these, even the lateral sides of my rear!
oh the joys of buying used.

 

"..I saw that the parking curb had two metal rods that were sticking out about an inch or so, instead of bolts.."

No bolts are used, usually 18" of rebar is pounded into the pavement until near flush with top or concrete bumper.

AJ, I know it was your mistake, but the consequences should not be that severe. There may be a commercial building standard for parking lots and concrete "parking bumpers", that states the rebar should not project more than 1/2 inch or so.

Might be worth exploring, looking at other parking lots, codes, etc. Lot owner should foot the bill if they protruded too much, per a commercial code in your state.

.

 

Hmmm - I wonder if I should take a picture of the parking spot. I'm skeptical as to how much luck I would have in finding the lot owner (as the area is shared by multiple restaurants), contacting them, etc. But I am not averse to exploring this option.

With regards to the bolt, on some parking curbs, the exposed top part / head of the metal rod looks hexagonal in shape, and that's why I assumed it was a bolt.

 

I guess some bolts are used, vs cheaper rebar.

Definately take pic of protruding rebar, with ruler along it.

Do the code footwork 1st, before approaching the lot consortium. Start with the Government pages in the phone book. Look in City and County sections, for "Building" or "Engineering" titles.

It's a multi-step process to get to who you need to talk to. You can get short-cuts from secretaries that sometimes pick up phome.

.

 

Ive done this many times, but never broke a clip or anything. Just enormous scratches that were engraved in. Luckily my pops works at a private helicopter ("dealership" if i can say that) and they repair and build copters from scratch, so they just got a new paint booth and the paint guys told me to take of the bumper, and they sanded it down and repaint, and now it looks amazing!


Before you start buying expensive cars, try and make some friends in the auto business just in case something like this happens

 

Dayas is known to be a premier collision center (Lambos, Ferraris, Rolls, etc) so I know they are not inexpensive. As far as liability- my friends damaged the front bumper of their W203 they same way. They took pictures and contacted the property owner who covered the repair. Definitely go take pictures before they fix it.

 

I bought my E350 a month ago and I've scraped it at least 10 times. Don't worry about it...

 

I learned my lesson with those f-ing parking curbs. My last car got the whole splash guard ripped out from one of those rebar rods sticking up from the concrete. It was an older Accord, but it really ticked me off. Now, I do the reflection thing whenever I can.

 

Two nights ago, after work, I went by the parking lot and took pictures (even though the parking spot was occupied) or the curb, and one picture where both the curb and an establishment adjacent to the spot can be seen.

I also got the phone number for the property management that is responsible for the lot, but I was in meetings all day Friday and could not make the call during business hours.

Today, while I was at the dealership taking care of my tire / alignment issue, I got under the car after they raised it, and I saw that only clip on the left was broken, and two on the right. There were two or three that came unclipped and I adjusted them with ease.

If I can't reach an agreement with the property management, I may just use some touch-up paint for the black scratch on the underside of the bumper, and live with it. After the unplanned 2x front tire purchase today, I have no appetite for another repair bill.

 

Ouch. I've had my fair share of some love taps with the concrete center pieces before.

 

Ouch, this stinks, but certainly something most w204 owners have experienced. My suggestion, is to just ignore it. I can guarantee that 98% of the rest of the people in the world will never notice the damage. And if you don't do anything about it for a week or two, eventually you will get used to it and forget about it/not even notice it. Heck, take some sandpaper and sand down the bits that are hanging down to make it less noticeable. Almsot EVERY w204 I have ever seen has scratches under there, mine included.

 

Thanks to everyone for your constructive advice. It helps knowing my car's not the only one with curb rash. I think I'm leaning towards the sandpaper suggestion. That and some touch-up paint.. and giving myself a healthy dose of "get over it."