Auto body broke my front bumper

[Tempyy]

My car was delivered almost one year ago, January 13th, 2016 and when they took my car off the truck they scratched the front bumper just underneath the headlight. It was a bad enough scratch that my dealership told me they'll send the car to their body shop to repaint the bumper and that we will never know it's there. Fast forward to today, almost one year later and me and my buddy (who is a certified technician for Ford) were in his driveway and we were going to put in the RTR grille I got yesterday. He unscrews everything and I'm watching like I always do because I have no idea what to do since that's his job, but when he gets to the part where the clips on each side of the bumper pop out, they're stuck and really hard to come out. When we eventually get them out, the clips were broken off and the only thing holding the bumper together was epoxy glue. Now if I call my dealer and tell them what we discovered, there's no way they're going to believe me and they're going to say I broke it. I have no idea what to do, my friend and I tried to epoxy the bumper back on but it didn't stick because it's too cold and there wasn't enough time for it to cure. I have no idea what I'm going to do or what I'm going to say but the bumper doesn't fit flush anymore no matter how we do it. The pictures show, the bumper having no clips, the clips being stuck into the car and the misalignment after because I am not gluing it back to the car like what they did.

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[Clink]

Worst case scenario - http://www.ebay.com/itm/2015-2016-F...ash=item43fbe987c9:g:EAgAAOSwUfNXSwI5&vxp=mtr

 

[mustang1]

... the clips were broken off and the only thing holding the bumper together was epoxy glue.

:tsk:

 

[Bartly]

Go all out after them file a negligent work report with BBB. You have a witness, that might help. Talking our my arse, but that pisses me off. Can't stand seeing the stuff shops seem to get away with.

 

[daltron]

You positive they broke them? I tried 3M, epoxy, and Loctite and none of them most certainly kept my broken clips on for even a day. I drive agressively, but even so a year is a LONG time.

 

[BlueThunder]

The clips up there break really easily if you don't pull them off in the right direction. Believe me, I know. I can't really remember what the area looks like, but if there's enough mating surface, you'd be better off with something like double-sided 3m automotive tape and mashing it together (just make sure you clean the area really well with alcohol and dry it with a microfiber). Those clips don't bear any load so as long as you can get it down flush cosmetically, it should hold forever.

Unless you have a good dealer, they're likely not going to do anything for you. They might send you to the shop that did the original work to have them do it but it'll probably cost you.

IIRC those clips don't take much to pull off, if you do it correctly, but they're also pretty fragile and break if done incorrectly. If you do try to get the dealer to fix it, make sure you bring any paperwork (hope you kept it) you had from the original fix so you at least have some proof somebody before you had the bumper off.

 

[vernonator]

Did/does the dealer warranty their repair work? If so take it back to them as a fix - tell them they came loose and you discovered the shoddy repair.

 

[Agent_S550]

That's strange. I don't understand how anyone breaks the clips off of these bumpers. I've removed mine with pretty much no issue. All newer cars use the same design

 

[paullyd210]

wtf body shop did the exact same thing during a repair, i didn't find out till about 8 months later but i still requested them to replace the entire bumper and they agreed go back to the source

 

[Cobra Jet]

A year is too long to go back to any Dealer or Body Shop to claim shoddy work on their part. The only way you'd be able to claim that is only IF (a big IF) the Body Shop's work is warranted for the life of your ownership. Some offer it, some don't. Even so, it would still probably be your word against theirs, for the mere fact a year has passed. If it was within 30 days of the repair, you'd have a better shot of them making things right...a year later...not.

Just grab a bumper cover off eBay, there's many of them and the prices are very fair. Quite a few folks have done the same and swapped damaged for eBay covers.

 

[Traffic22]

If they warranty the work they did, they should fix it. The year time frame is tough. If they warranty the work and give you the run around, ask for the name of the dealership's insurance company.

Tell them you are going to file a claim with the insurance company. They will S themselves, because they don't want a claim filed, as it raises their already really high rate. (A buddy of mine sells insurance to auto dealerships.) However, this approach only works if you are on solid legal ground. Look at the receipt from the repair. If you are in the right, this is how you force them to do the work. If you are not, the insurance company will tell you to get bent, and deny the claim.

 

[Guard]

You positive they broke them? I tried 3M, epoxy, and Loctite and none of them most certainly kept my broken clips on for even a day. I drive agressively, but even so a year is a LONG time.

I tried "Plastic Welding It" didn't work either. Got a new bumper from ebay instead. If the tabs were to break again, I would sand the area, clean it very good, use a fiberglass cloth with epoxy for plastics and let it cure.

 

[Tempyy]

You positive they broke them? I tried 3M, epoxy, and Loctite and none of them most certainly kept my broken clips on for even a day. I drive agressively, but even so a year is a LONG time.

I don't think they glued the clips back to the bumper, I think they left the broken clips in the bumper and just glued the bumper back to the car, it would stay on a lot longer that way then just glueing small clips.

 

[Southview]

Looks like they glued the bumper to the bracket. Looking at you pic, the plastic looks clean. I think they glued it originally and you guys might have ripped it off. Still should not have happened in the first place. :frusty:

 

[Blk2015GT]

The dealership isnt going to do anything here, dont listen to people saying file BBB and insurance claim etc.

It's been a year and there is proof now that you took the bumper off, witness or not (and he is likely not going to risk his job speaking against Ford to be your witness). They will fairly easily claim you tore the clips tugging it off.

Luckily those clips arent holding much up. Plenty of studs in the front and that little bolt inside the finder holding it to the fender. The clips really just hold it tight against the body. Nothing wrong with gluing it but you will likely need to replace the bumper cover.

Again luckily, used ones are in good supply (all trim lines use the same bumper cover) as they are frequently changed out and not expensive at all. You can find them without grills or foglights and transfer those over for usually $250.

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