[midlifecrisis]

My car was parked in front of my next door neighbor’s home this morning and I was working in the front yard when I heard a loud crunch. I immediately got that sinking feeling - the neighbor had rear-ended my car while backing out of their driveway. Ugh.

At any rate, I was amazed how little damage there is, especially considering the noise the contact made. There’s just a sharp horizontal indentation about 4 inches long, right above the diffuser and below the parking sensor. I’m guessing their exhaust pipe punched it, although it doesn’t appear to be cracked or punctured. The sensor still seems to work.

I’m wondering whether this is even worth fixing because I’m afraid the cure could be worse than the disease. It’s pretty deep and would need to be filled, and I’m a little concerned that the paint match for Portimao might be difficult, especially on a flat surface.

What do you think? Fix it or leave it alone?

[Needsdecaf]

Fix it. You'd be surprised how good paint match is these days.

[PVC]

If you're keeping it for a while, you may wanna leave it alone especially if it's not that noticeable.

[nosbocaj]

I had a similar dilemma a few months back that you can see in my post history. A lady backed into me while I was parking and left a slight dent in my front bumper. I went back and forth for a while and ultimately decided to get it fixed. In the end, her insurance covered the fix, respray and the new PPF. The repair didn't show up on my CarFax. It took a while to resolve, but I'm glad I did it. I used a BMW collision center and the paint match to IOMG is perfect.

It's definitely minor and likely you are the only one that will notice it, but if it bothers you, I'd get it fixed.

[MSchfiftyFive]

I live in a city where the majority of people treat cars more like appliances than anything and front and rear bumpers as parking aids, they do not give af. Inevitably I have to park near other cars and always end up with incidents about like this out of my control, have fixed a few, have also had good luck with Dr. ColorChip kits for at least making it so that you can't notice it unless you're detailing the car. Lots of YT videos on how to properly apply and blend it, just take your time and make several passes, something this size is totally doable and the kits are like $60. If unhappy with it you can always get it fixed later.

[/ / / M3]

Originally Posted by midlifecrisis

At any rate, I was amazed how little damage there is, especially considering the noise the contact made.

You may want to have a shop remove the bumper and check for hidden damage. A tiny scratch would not cause a loud noise.

[midlifecrisis]

The front of my car got sideswiped last year in a parking lot and the PPF saved my front bumper. There was only a little chip on the edge of the intake. I had the PPF removed and fixed it with the BMW touch-up kit applied with fine artist brushes to build color and clear coat followed by a wet sand and machine polish. After a month I had PPF reapplied. Nobody can tell, but the current one is much deeper and on a flat surface rather than an edge. I might just touch it up and see how it looks. This car isn’t participating in any concours, anyway - esepecially with 25,000 miles on it.

[Burrcold]

I'm super anal, so I'd have that being repaired ASAP.

[BryanCO]

Neighbor covering the expense? Assuming so, I would fix it. Taking money from my neighbor and just pocketing it would seem weird (implying the damage wasn’t worth fixing but still taking money from a neighbor).

[SwankPeRFection]

“They send your car to the body shop, you send their car to the wrecker lot!”

“That’s the Chicago way!”

🤣

[ash_schwin]

I would just live with it.