Is this excessive for a bumper scuff?

[lewisp8]

It’s been years since I’ve had any bodywork done so I’m completely out of touch with things. In early December i had a young lad scuff my front bumper of my BMW 8 series in a Tesco car park, the damage was minor, just scuffed paintwork and a the front lip of my bumper was dented. To be honest, if the rest of the car wasn’t so new I’d have just taken the hit and lived with it. My Insurers (Ageas) have booked me in to a “preferred” body shop in my area, I always thought the preferred ones were naff but this place seemed pretty high end and the reviews seem to back that up.

Picked the car up this morning and I can’t fault it, the work looks great. I was speaking to the bodyshop manager and he said that they removed & repaired and then repainted the front bumper, painted both wings and the bonnet and also did a 4 wheel alignment and ADAS calibration. Invoice to the insurers was nearly 3 grand!

My paint which is a burnt orange metallic is apparently a pain to colour match and in his words “you need to blend it quite far”.

I’m not complaining but does this seem excessive, and I’m now not sure how I feel about having new paint on half the car. I remember paying privately about £300 for a bumper repaint privately, albeit about 15 years ago and I thought that was on the upper end at the time?

Also why do you need a 4 wheel alignment?

[fooman]

It's mad isn't it? I totally get you'd want to be restored to pre-accident condition but ultimately we all pay for this excess. I guess the danger is you aren't satisfied and it costs more. In other countries they seem to accept a few bumps and scrapes as acceptable wear and tear but here everything has to be brand new. One of the nice things about driving a shed is when people bump it being able to say don't worry about it as it's not worth the hassle!

[DaveF-SkinnysAutos]

Yes it is! Absolutely bonkers, it's the perfect example of what the insurance industry has become.

I run an independent small custom bodyshop and I wouldn't touch insurance work, I just couldn't sleep at night.

The whole system is set up to make money out of replacing perfectly repairable parts with brand new parts at ridiculous prices, ideally with a long lead time so they can make even more money out of a lease car.

I get 'accident' claim reps in every week trying to sell me the dream of how much more I can charge, its just grubby and wrong.

I'd probably charge £350 for a bumper repair, a smart repairer would be even less, and yes you need space to blend, but not the entire front end of a car.

I'm getting angry typing!!!!

[Simpo Two]

lewisp8 said:

My Insurers (Ageas) have booked me in to a preferred body shop in my area

The bizarre thing is that the insurers 'prefer' a company that then rips them off... Is that laziness, ignorance or some cunning reason I haven't thought of?

[Bluevanman]

When I was in the industry we were told by Mercedes some front bumpers couldn't be resprayed at all because the extra paint thickness would affect the operation of the sensors behind the bumper on some models......also recalibration of these sensors could only be done by main dealers.
As a 1 man band I just didn't get involved in these jobs,not worth the hassle