2 months old and rear ended - so lets get a new bumper!

Last Wednesday a gal tagged me from behind. Yup, she was texting while driving. Good news is no one was hurt as she might have been blazing forward at the ripe rate of 3 mph or so.

Still, the rear bumper on my truck is completely trashed. It's scrap metal at best. See for yourself in the pictures...

This one gives a view of the most damaged areas. Obviously this is unsafe for road use at this point. I brought in an expert "bumper technician dog" and he agrees - he peed on the lawn after sniffing the scuffs. Clearly the bumper is fragged.


In this shot you can see a close up of the damage. Pretty obvious the truck is borderline undrivable as the plastic cover plate for the ball mounts is now torn off and broken...


Passenger side of the bumper with the scuff present. I mean, you'd think she was driving a dump truck with this level of carnage. Nope, a Chevy Malibu...


The bumper is so warped I had a hard time opening the driver's door for crying out loud! You can see in these next two pics how massive the differences are in the ends of the bumper from side to side!



The damage to her car was pretty light. She'll only need a new hood, light clusters, front bumper cap and bumper foam in behind, a new grille, mounts and a rad. A new front upper cross member will be needed to tie it all together, and maybe a new latch for the hood. The good news is her brakes will be fine, given the light duty workout they seem to get...


Now, if you havne't figured it out by now, I'm being sarcastic. Obviously her car is trashed and my truck is just fine. Still, her insurance called and the truck goes into the shop for an estimate this Friday. I was on the fence about whether to get the work done, but I know if I don't do it now, I'll have to bear the cost alone later, so in she goes...

And after a call with Billy at BruteForce Fab today, it looks like early in the new year my Taco will be sporting a new rear bumper! Billy was great, called me back quickly and took the time to answer all my questions. And yup, I used the Bumper thread here to narrow down my search, and Billy's product stood out as a perfect match for my needs.




Can't wait to get this unexpected upgrade sorted. The insurance company is going to write the cheque for the estimated damages, and I'll cover anything in excess of that. That should bring the overall cost to me down nicely, even after fab, shipping, painting and install. Even if the estimate comes in at only a couple hundred dollars, I'll happily take the reduction and put the money towards this upgrade.

Still, I wish she'd just not hit me at all... my poor truck...

 

can i buy your old bumper?

 

The same thing happened to me. Less than three thousand miles on my new truck and some 16 year-old girl hits me. I wasn't smart enough to get a new bumper like you. I just had the jackals at Jones West Ford repair the stock one. I'll never go there again.

The one you picked out looks awesome!

 

Sick. I wish someone would buy me a new badass bumper.

 

LMAO - THAT was fast! Hadn't even thought of that idea MXscott. Let me get things sorted with the shop on my end first. We'll call that a tentative yes, pending the timing. I won't be in a place to have it off the truck until at least mid-January.

Drop me a PM if you're still interested and we can sort pricing shipping, etc.

duane

 

Hard lesson I learned from experience with my Jeeps. Sometimes its best to be flexible when thinking of upgrades, because when sh1t happens, then might just be the right time to make the swap. Its a bit of f*ckery, but can be worth it if the insurance company is willing to work with you, and you can find the replacements in a reasonable time frame.

 

looks good . I want a bumper with a tire gate.

 

Tiregate - when tires go bad, start lying and stop listening to the voters!

 

Sorry to hear of your mixed blessing. Getting hit is never a good thing - but the bumper does look pretty cool!! I looked at their site and, also living in the PNW and having garage issues (I don't want to park outside), do you know if their rear bumper adds to the original length? It looks like it takes up no more room - which would be good for me!! Thanks & congrats on your new bumper!!!

 

Never thought to ask Tim, as my truck stays outside. (The Z4 roadster stays inside... )

I'd have to say it'd be close, though. I don't think it adds any more length, but again, I have no numbers to base that on. And my gut feeling won't help if you're a 1/2" too long for your garage...

I'll try to remember to ask Billy when we speak again, though.

 

Thanks!! I took up most of my available room with an Avid lightbar and lights....

 

Man I hope for your sake she does not have Progressive! My friend backed into the box of my truck in October and I am still waiting to get a claim from those assholes! Its really starting to piss me off too, have called and left them idk how many messages now.

 

Ummm...she does have Progressive. Not sure why its taking them so long on yours. I went to get the quote done yesterday to fix the bumper...and they gave me the quote ($880 for the bumper and paint work needed as the bumper chipped the paint on the bed)...and then they gave me a cheque for that amount and told me do whatever I want from there. Cash is in my account and a new bumper has a deposit on it with Bruteforce today.

I was frankly surprised at how painless this was with Progressive. Might have helped me that she admitted fault to Progressive, as they keep reminding me.

...and for them, this is a pretty small pay off, too.

Hope your situation is sorted soon, 2011Taco.