08 Aurion Presara Claim or DIY

[User123]

Hi Guys, new to the forum but been lurking since i bought my 08 Presara 6 months ago.

I've tried searching but wasnt sure whether to post a new topic or add a reply to an old one. I apologise if this is bad form.

Anyway.

Had the misfortune of nudging the back of a car with a tow bar just enough that the cars didnt actually touch other than the tow bar punched a hole a bit bigger than a 50c piece through my front bumper 6 inches to the right of the number plate.

I have the option of claiming through my insurance and paying a $500 excess, but after reading through this forum i would like to have a go at it myself.

I would like to ask the assembled great minds here if this is realistic. I would like to avoid having to put a claim through so i can avoid my insurance premiums going up, but if its going to cost me significantly more than the excess i might not bother.

I havent had any experience working on cars but am otherwise generally 'handy' (replacing stock HU with a CarPc, will post photos when completed) and i have all the common non-automotive tools.

In my head i am imagining ordering the replacement bumper, having it sprayed to match my colour, removing the current bumper by undoing a bunch of bolts, disconnecting parking sensors, putting the new bumper on, attaching the bolts, reconnecting the wires for the parking sensors, beer and post photos.

Im picturing this process taking 4-5 hours and being completed in an afternoon (after recieving and having the bumper sprayed of course)

So Im sure that im missing a bunch of things, budgeting ~$250 for the bumper and ~$300 for the spraying. Is this realistic? Are there any other brackets or parts i will need? any specialised tools other than sockets/spanners? does the bumper have any connections to the airbags that i need to worry about?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated!!!

- User123

[Dauphin3]

It's all well and good replacing the bumper, but you need to make sure that the towbar punching through the bumper hasn't caused any damage to components/items behind the bumper. I had a similar accident once and I too thought it was simply going to be a matter of replacing the bumper. What I didn't know (until quoted by the panel beater) is that when the towbar had punched through the bumper, it had actually hit and bent one of the radiator support posts and damaged some of the mounting brackets for the head light. In the end, "the simple job of replacing the bumper" turned in to well over $1000 worth of work.

[User123]

It's all well and good replacing the bumper, but you need to make sure that the towbar punching through the bumper hasn't caused any damage to components/items behind the bumper. I had a similar accident once and I too thought it was simply going to be a matter of replacing the bumper. What I didn't know (until quoted by the panel beater) is that when the towbar had punched through the bumper, it had actually hit and bent one of the radiator support posts and damaged some of the mounting brackets for the head light. In the end, "the simple job of replacing the bumper" turned in to well over $1000 worth of work.

Thanks for the feedback, sounds like it might be worth having a panel beater quote for the repair before i decide whether to DIY or Claim...