Cars - For Car Enthusiasts

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Ask Cars: Body Repair Before Resell? (self.cars)

submitted 9 months ago by pslightlypsycho47 to c/cars

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Hey Lemmy. I have a 2010 Toyota Camry with 150k miles. The front bumper's bottom segment (maybe 2 inches) has a crack and the grill is out of place. Also, there's a couple small scratches in the paint elsewhere. Would it be worth it to have the bumper repaired as well as the paint touched up before selling it? I was given a quote of $1500 for the bumper repair but haven't inquired about the scratches. Thanks in advance!

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[–] PP_BOY_ 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

No reason you can't do those repairs yourself. $1500 is ridiculous, you'd be a fool to pay for that. Some bondo in the grill and touch up paint for the crack. Anyone buying used cars will expect some wear so I wouldn't worry about small scratches. Try buffing them out, but repainting scratches usually does more harm than good, cosmetically.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If you're doing bondo, you'll have to paint the bumper and blend it with the fenders which is way beyond your average DIY

[–] PP_BOY_ 1 points 9 months ago

I've spot patched dozens of cracked bumpers before without needing to do that. Maybe if you're repairing a car for personal use or show, you're right, but for prettying it up for market a spot of bondo and good spray job should be good enough. You can literally get rattle cans of Toyota OEM paint from Autozone

[–] pslightlypsycho47 1 points 9 months ago

Thanks I appreciate your insight. I'll do further research and see if it's within my scope. My technical experience with cars is limited to changing cabin/engine filters. Worst case scenario it sounds like selling the car as-is wouldn't be terrible.