justjames

Guys! I can't believe my luck this week!
Driving back to the gym tonight very late for a dinner date, I managed to smack the bottom front of my Fabia going up a hill which had a rather large dip in. It's cracked the front bumper just where the front fog lights should be. Don't quite know what to do. Or where to get a replacement. I am guessing my dealer is going to charge an arm and a leg for this. Any advice would be very much appreciated. I think the colour is Brilliant Red.

Thanks

James

devonutopia

Roads around here can be a bit bad at times. I would say visit a bodyshop first to see if it's not too hard to re-bond the bumper, and just repair it. Probably not as bad as you think. My current bumper had a split in it, but you wouldn't know now as it's been repaired and resprayed.

I can recommend some bodyshops in Devon to avoid. Which area are you from?

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justjames

Hi there.

Plymouth area, but often around Exeter, Taunton as that's where my parents live.

I should think your right. It's still attached just I'm concerned at where the crack is as I think the fog light cover will work its way out.

Thanks for your advice

rich17865

Contact the local council for the area that the poor road is in. Tell them that you are looking to recover damages because of the poor condition of the road causing damage to your vehicle. Tell them that you intend to take them to court, (and include a copy of the receipt for the work), they will probably send you a settlement out of court. You might need to send a second nastier letter after the first.

My dad recently did this to Bristol city council after hitting a pot hole on his motorcycle that bent his motorbike forks. Funnily enough they paid out for the full repair cost, and the road has been fixed!

justjames

Just phoned the local Skoda dealer. Basically £118 for the bumper and underside spoiler and then the cost of spraying.

Recommended by the garage was Ivybridge Body Centre. Here's the lowdown:
Bumper: £126.90
Paint: £ 58.75
Labour: £123.38

Total: £309.03

That's one expensive bump and just realised they didn't include the cost of the bumper's spoiler which will easily be £10 + VAT.

Is this the real cost of having a new bumper fitted and sprayed?


James

justjames

Thanks Rich. Will have to try this. Can't believe the cost of a new bumper

Furthermore, DVLA just sent me a letter telling me I didn't notify them that I had sold my old vehicle - what a load of bull. The sales guy wrote out the slip and the envelope and I posted it. Just can't believe my luck sometimes!

ctheo

there is one on ebay, just cant make out which fabia it`s for

Little Jo

You can reclaim the cost of fixing this from the local authority. Contact them and get a claim form.

There's nothing like a nice expensive bill to get council Highways departments off their bum!

Jo

d96em

This reminded me enough of what happened during the first weeks of ownership of my previous car (which was a SAAB btw) that I felt compelled to register and share the story. I think I'd had it for about a week or so when one morning I went down to the garage to go to work. I saw this Chrysler PT Cruiser standing awfully close to the front of my car, lights on, engine running. It turned out that the lady driving the car had been parked next to mine, and started turning a bit too soon when leaving the space, so she'd caught my front bumper with her rear right wheel. In an apparent attempt to override all common sense and block out whatever impulse she might have gotten to abort her mission upon noticing the resistance, she then floored it rather than reversing and trying again. The result, of course, was an ugly dent in her passenger door and "wheel house" (sorry, don't know the English word for that), and a broken-off bumper with all sorts of nasty scratches and dents on my car. Good thing I caught her red-handed, as the repair bill was somewhere around 6000 SEK (~£500 if I'm not mistaken).

Then, just a few weeks later, some dimwit performed what he later described as "a failed attempt at parallel parking" next to my poor blue beauty. It was, in fact, not parallel at all. Although not quite perpendicular either, it was somewhere in between, and resulted in his rear-view mirror placing a nice 40 cm long dent just behind my passenger window. How he managed to not notice the sound of his mirror eating its way into the side of my car, or take any concern what so ever in the fact that he was close enough to easily take a bite out of it (had his window been rolled down and my car made of cheese), I'll never know. I caught this one too, and I'm happy as long as he never comes near my car again.

Anyway, don't really have anything to contribute here except for wasting other people's time. Well, perhaps one bit of advice then. Next time, be sure not to cause the damage yourself, but be equally sure to catch whoever does in the act. And I too would forward the bill to whatever public office is in charge of road conditions where the damage occured (and I'll keep my fingers crossed that UK authorities are a tad easier to deal with than their Swedish counterparts). Good luck!

Now: afternoon tea.