How to repair busted rear bumper

Sorry to hear about your accident, I hope you're ok. You probably need/want a new bumper and should have the underside crash protector material checked and replaced as needed. The bumper itself is fairly cheap, but the labor is the expensive part. Mine was rear ended and when I went to pick it up I saw the old one on the ground. I picked it up with one hand, it was as light as a feather.

 

Epp

What year do you have. I have an 05 that was hit by a large truck going about 8 miles per hour. He hit me pretty square.

I took it in for evaluation and my toyota body shop said that there didn't appear to be any damage.

It was fortunate too because it turned out the guy that hit me had fake insurance and a fake drivers license.

 

My suggestion is:
Watch out on eBay for salvaged bumpers of Prius. Best choice is one of the same color. If you have to repaint it, it won't make sense since your can probably buy an unpainted one for $250. The painting would take you $300-400.

I was lucky enough to find a very minor damaged bumper from eBay to replace mine of an Odyssey (badly damaged by wife). I spent less than $100 in total and have a decent loccking bumper (not perfect, but who needs a new perfect bumper on an used vehicle). The shipping is usally around $50 thru GreyHound, yes it's not a typo. GreyHound.

Federal removed the 5mph-bumper requirement. Today, most bumpers are a piece of painted plastic (1-2mm thick) with a steel tube (mostly rectangular pipe) underneath and some foam around the tube. I know some high-end German vehicles have sophisticated bumpers that could withstand 9mph impact. (which has to be 3X stronger than one that withstands 5mph - 9x9=81, 5x5=25, 81/25 > 3X)

 

Look at the damage below your trunk...

Someone ran into me @ 40mph and the bumper only suffered scratches, however the "floor" of the roof (where the spare tire goes) was heavily crumbled. You can take out the spare tire to diagnose this or get below your car.

That $300 "bumper" repair turned out to be a $2000 at the body shop with a replacement of the trunk floor.

 

I was hit by a car going about 20. The bumper had minor scratches but had been pushed down onto the tires. There are only something like 8 screws holding on the plastic bumper cover, so there shouldn't be major cost to remove that. I did so in about 20 minutes on the side of the road.

With the bumper cover off, I could see the attach point of the metal bumper had collapsed. The estimate so far is $2000. So I agree that you should have a body shop take a look.