Accident - few questions

sorry to hear about the situation! matching the bumper skin to the metal is outside of the factory so don't expect perfection.
others hear have some real good advice with dealing with the ins. co.

 

We've had 3 repairs now, never any talk about pulling the battery. Just looking over our guy's website, see no mention of a heat booth, though.

 

Sorry to hear about your accident. Yes I agree with Spiderman, don't expect the Blizzard Pearl to match with the factory original paint job. I had to have my front bumper repainted three times after a scooter cut in front of me. It still doesn't match and I got tired of taking it back so I'll just live with it. Make sure you ask for OEM replacement parts and not knock offs. The first bumper they tried to screw me with was a cheap knock off and it didn't fit right, especially around the grill insert area. Needless to say I'm still pissed off about this, and no I did not allow them to blend it in with the hood or front side fender walls because I didn't want to take the chance of them screwing that up too! Good Luck with yours tho!

 

I made the mistake of trusting my local insurance company to take care of everything the first time. Big, Big mistake! When I went back to look over the estimate after the first bumper was installed with imperfections it clearly stated non OEM bumper as a replacement. Make sure you take control and demand in writing OEM parts then make sure it’s on the estimate paper before agreeing to it. I always learn the hard way.

 

this is not the way to fix bumper..
new OEM bumper is the only way to fix..

I had been there arguing to use OEM parts not to fix it. mostly they will agree. Just Stress to them to replace Not to fix.

well.. ins company always to pay the lowest repair bill..

I had once car that had fixed bumper from previous owner, the bumper was waving due on summer heat after years. the putty(bondo) got peel-off and completely off after that.

 

I thought I read on this forum that Geico was notorious for using used repair parts rather than new parts. For that $230 bucks I would certainly get a new bumper skin.

Mike

 

Good call, but, to my eyes, the paint on the bumper is wayyyyy off.
Sad to say, but I've done better matching of the BP when I painted the license plate bracket on mine using only rattle cans and blending by eye.
They'll give you a song and dance about how difficult it is to match, but, in truth, a good painter with a good eye can do it - just takes a little more time and care than they're willing to devote.

 

That rubber seal should be just below the surface with the hood closed. I can see mine and it is just below the surface. Also my bumper and fenders line up with perfect gaps all around and the same on each side. I am using 5k daylight lighting in my garage and my bumpers look the same tint as the sheetmetal. Like Dan said above, a good painter can match paint. The quickie shops slap it together and whip on a bit of paint and call it a day. You want a good finish that will fade like the rest of the car not having one part of the car looking nice 10 years from now and the repainted part pale and not glossy looking :-(

Mike

 

Unfortunately, it's off to some degree even straight out of factory because of plastic vs. metal especially with light colors such as BP. This problem exists across the board among manufacturers. Some people claim they can't see the color difference but they aren't looking carefully enough and from all angles (unless their color perception is poor).

 

OP, I'd do a couple of things differently if I were you. Always go through your insurance company from the beginning if you were not at fault. They'll pursue the other party for damages and get your deductible back (i.e., costs them nothing so no potential increase in your premium). Always go with the recommended shop by the insurance. They won't question the recommended repairs and get it done right away (no appraiser needed) and they offer lifetime guarantee on repairs done by recommended shops (at least good companies like Farmers do; do not know about Geico).

You live in California. That means you must pursue the claim against the 3rd party (Mercury), but DV is difficult to do in California (if you can succeed at all) so I wouldn't bother.

 

I would agree to "some degree". But looking at that picture I think that's an unacceptable difference.

There might be a very slight difference in a brand new from the factory but judging from the pictures the OP posted, that bumper paint job is horrible. To my eyes it doesn't even look close.

I wouldn't accept that poor a match. And uneven gaps between body panels?

I wouldn't be happy with that quality of work.

 

Quality of work aside, I've seen that big of a difference even on factory painted especially from certain angles. Go out and look at enough cars to check for yourself. It's not something people usually notice unless pointed out.

 

Staring at mine I can see the bumpers are darker shade. Close enough Different lighting and different cameras will show different shades

Mike