scratched bumper

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MN
A month ago I was following a coworker to an afternoon employee lunch retreat. We both stopped at a stop sign, her brake lights went off and she (I thought) had made her right turn to our destination. I looked to the left, a car was approaching but I had plenty of time to follow her, so I let my foot off the brake(I did NOT accelerate) turn my attention to the front of my car and then realized she had not turned (she did advance a few feet) I hit the brakes & thought WOW that was close!! I almost hit her!! We get to our intended destination and she get out and says I did in fact *hit* her bumper. I was very surprised, as I did not feel any impact whatsoever. After lunch I looked at the bumper and there was a scratch on top of it. I told her to take it in right away and get it looked at, she said "no it's fine, just a little scratch I will get a small bottle of touch up paint, that's all it needs, DON'T worry about it." Well fast forward to yesterday, she brings me an estimate to remove and repaint the entire bumper for $400.00. My husband says we should not have to pay for an entire bumper to be painted since it was only a 3" long pencil thin scratch. He told me to tell her we will pay for the scratched area only which he thinks should cost around $100. The car is a 2002. I work with her and want to be fair, but does she really deserve to have her nearly 10 year old car bumper to be completely repainted at my expense??

If you scratched thru the clear coat and/or into the colored paint, the standard repair is to repaint the bumper.

With plastic bumpers now a days, they take the bumper off (probably takes about an hour of labor), sand and repaint the bumper, then put the bumper back on.

All of these repairs have standard times for labor, and paint. These are very standard and easy repairs for auto body shops. You can't just paint the scratched area for $100 as you suggest, it would never match and look absolutely terrible.

Just as a couple reference points.....a month ago I had someone slightly scratch my rear bumper (lightly scratched thru the layer of clearcoat paint), and the repair costs was about $550. That was pull the bumper off, sand and repaint both color and clearcoat, then put back on. On another car, I had both of the bumpers on my daughters car painted and installed (I had primed replacements ready), and it cost me about $650.

So although you may not like the $400 price given, that seems quite reasonable.

While I agree with you that $400 is a decent price to repaint a bumper. I do believe she has some responsiblilty for the accident. The law is to return her car to the condition it was in before the scratch. That does not include a brand new paint job. The car has other dings and scratch marks, it is after all 10 years old. As far as repairing the scratched area only, many reputable repair shops do offer that service. It may not be what she wants, but I believe it is what she is entitled to. It may not match perfectly but a brand new paint job on the entire bumper will not match the rest of the car either.
I would like to offer to pay 1/2 the cost of repainting the entire bumper, or pay the entire amount of repairing the 3" x 1/2" area that was scratched. Does this seem fair or not?

She has no fault in this whatsoever. You are 100% to blame for the accident. You were inattentive and hit her from behind.

The rest of her car and its condition is of no consequence. She wants the accident damage repaired - and I think that's fair.

Does this seem fair or not?

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Well you can offer whatever you'd like, and it's up to her to accept it or not.

You're at fault, and if she doesn't like your offer she can turn it in to your insurance company for a complete reimbursement (and possibly more, if they include loss of vehicle and rental car charges while it is being repaired). Then you get charged with an at fault accident, and what happens to your rates depends upon your insurance company, your policy options, and your driving record.

I have an almost identical situation (except it was my bumper scratched), and the hiter's insurance company agreed it was their fault and sending me check for the full 100% repair.

So offer whatever you'd like, and see if it fly's. If it was me, I would have already have sent off the $400 check.

bmbd84 said:

While I agree with you that $400 is a decent price to repaint a bumper. I do believe she has some responsiblilty for the accident. The law is to return her car to the condition it was in before the scratch. That does not include a brand new paint job. The car has other dings and scratch marks, it is after all 10 years old. As far as repairing the scratched area only, many reputable repair shops do offer that service. It may not be what she wants, but I believe it is what she is entitled to. It may not match perfectly but a brand new paint job on the entire bumper will not match the rest of the car either.
I would like to offer to pay 1/2 the cost of repainting the entire bumper, or pay the entire amount of repairing the 3" x 1/2" area that was scratched. Does this seem fair or not?

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Call you insurance company and let them take care of it. The woman deserves to be made whole not halfed

If there is pre existing damage to the bumper, an insurance company would apply a betterment charge, maybe 25% though not 50%.

Is there a corresponding scratch or paint transfer on your bumper? If not and you really feel there was no impact, turn the whole thing over to your insurance company. If the evidence supports your story, they will defend you.