Expert: William Forster - 3/10/2007

Question
I hit an ice chunk with my 2006 Honda Civic sedan the other day and it put two cracks in the plastic shell of the front bumper. They are located on the far right side, one on top and one on the bottom both directed towards the license plate. One crack is approximately 6 inches long and the other is 8 inches long. They are both fairly jagged but when you push them back together they are almost invisible. When I called the body shop at the Honda dealer they told me that it would cost something like $600 to replace it (which they claimed was my only option). I was just wondering if i could possibly fix it myself or have a non-dealer body shop do it for considerably cheaper? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
A 2006 Honda is no vehicle to learn to do body work on. The bumper is trashed with a total of 14 inches of cracks in it. I bet there is also hidden damage, such as broken mounting tabs. You can try visiting a couple of independent shops, you might get lucky and one will agree to fix it, but expect to still pay at least 400 bucks. To repair a cover, it must be removed from the vehicle, and all foglights, grilles, and moldings removed. These things take time, and time is money. Fixing plastic bumpers is a real bear without proper materials and training, and it takes a lot of time to do properly. You don't just super glue them back together, the back side must b repaired in a similar way to a fiberglass panel, then the cracks coved  out on the front side, then filled. All with bumper repair material, which is costly. Bill