[Windswept]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray Similar thing happened to me a few years ago: a man in his seventies reversed his pickup into my path in a car park. I didn't have the heart to get the insurance companies involved, but I did end up needing a new bumper, quarter panel, and headlight, so fairly substantial damage. I did my own maintenance work when I owned a car, and changing a front quarter panel is fairly straightforward, so I got the parts from scrap yards for a total of £80 and installed them myself. The bumper was more difficult than the quarter panel but I managed the whole lot in about three hours. I refuse to live my life in a perpetual tizzy about resale value, so didn't even consider that aspect. Painting a bumper will cost more than buying it in the first place, so if you can call a bunch of scrap yards to find a white one it would save you some cash. If you're not feeling up to dealing with a scrap yard personally (they're institutionally sexist in the UK, probably the same in the US; in addition, unless you look like you live under a bonnet you'll be ripped off) get a male friend to do that part of the job for you. All that will remain then will be to find a little garage in the countryside that charges so little you'll feel sorry for the owner and give him a tip. These places exist in every country I've been in, so at a guess they exist in the States too. They'll charge 25% of the city garage quote and probably do a better job.

I enjoyed reading your post, Dorian.

I think I 'will' start calling around to check the availability of white bumpers. It couldn't hurt, and will help me make up my mind about what to do.

And, no, I *don't* actually look like I live under a bonnet ('car hood' = translation from Britspeak, for those who are puzzled ). But I 'have' found that a bit of sweetly subtle flirtation and a soft smile can work wonders. heh

[Maciej]

Originally Posted by bassplayinMacFiend It was a Hyundai Excel rebadged as a Mitsubishi Precis, but had Hyundai stamps on the body & motor.

The reason I ask is because I know a number of foreign car companies are using a more modern water based paint, that domestic (in USA) companies do not. This is because the EU has higher standards for car paint, that America does not adhere to right now.

In the end this means that the body shops here are using the older paints. Thus when you have a foreign car painted, they like to paint a little bit extra so that the color matches up, since the paints aren't technically the same. This happened to our BMW.