Had some scratches on my rear bumper, but was living with them. However, this am I backed into a friend's car... and now there's a decent puncture wound on the bumper. I'm going to swing by an autobody shop tonight but thought I'd ask you pros first. What's the going rate for a replacement bumper and install? I think I saw a thread from years ago saying that it was around $1200 For something like a bumper replacement, would you be comfortable going to a local autobody shop that felt confident they could handle it, or would you insist on the tesla recommended places? The nearest ones to me are 45min to an hr away and our local shop says they can do it. I found a reasonable looking one with a minor dent and scratch on ebay for about $300. Thoughts on buying a used bumper? Any advice about this is greatly appreciated
Very standard part and procedure. Any body shop can do it. I think you can even buy a new unpainted bumper from Tesla yourself (assuming its really the plastic bumper cover you need, not the structural metal part). There are two authorized Tesla shops near me. One does primarily imports and exotics and is crazy expensive. The other is a vanilla body shop with standard pricing. Don’t leap to any conclusions about the cost. It doesn’t have to be that much. I’d guess $800 - $1000 if you shopped around, assuming you replace it. Might be reasonable to patch it. The cover is just decorative.
You would be amazed how much damage can be fixed in your driveway at home. Small punctures and abrasions can be plastic welded using a soldering iron. Respray over the limited area also. I have had my rear bumper done twice and challenge you to see the original problem. First time I reversed into the corner of a concrete pillar. Caused a linear vertical indentation and abrasion. Guy could not get behind the bumper to push it out, so he drilled a hole, put a screw in the hole, heated the bumper and used the screw to pull out the indentation. He then fixed the hole by plastic welding, sanded the whole lot and sprayed to match up. That cost me $300 Australian dollars! Second time I misjudged reversing out of my garage and hit an exterior light fitting. Smashed the fitting, damaged the bumper. That too was fixed for the same price.
