Collision repair advice

I have a 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid XLE Touring. Only had it 3 months. I got too close to the curb with the right front bumper and scraped it at the very bottom. Two body Shops advised me not to get it repaired, just touch it up. It is hardly noticeable but I don't like it but I'll leave it alone. The point is, I feel your pain. That first mishap really hurts.

 

We got really good road rash on one front bumper lower edge, one time. I just buttered it up with a Toyota colour-matched touch-up pen. Standing, you barely see it, and it's not metal.

I'm really disgusted with the current "bumper" concept. It's funny how older concepts fade from popular awareness. It used to be a bumper had to capable of sustaining something like a 5 mph hit with little or no damage. There was typically a metal rail with a black rubber rub strip, hydraulically mounted. The legislation changed, and with the advent of clipped-on, black plastic fairings painted to match body colour, we basically no longer have a bumper.

I think there's lots of room for improvement, to continue to meet current collision safety requirements and bring back some durability and ruggedness, and cut repair costs.

 

That is exactly where my curb scrape is. If I would get it repaired the front bumper would have to be removed, the scrape made smooth and the bumper painted. The fog lights would also have to be removed. Too much involvement. Reluctantly, best left alone. I certainly agree with you about the non-durability of bumpers. If you hear or feel the slightest anything, you have expensive damage no matter how small the damage is. Been there done that and it just should not be that way.