Hi all,

I have a 03 4Runner and somebody just clipped my left rear bumper this morning while I stopped on the red light and broke the driver side red reflector and scratched the bumper (she was passing me on the left to get on the left-turn lane and her right front bumper hit my left rear bumper). I was amazed that our platic bumper is so durable. I saw only a few scratches on the bumper but the reflector shattered. Should I be worried about any possible structural damage? If not, I'll replace it myself first and then figure out what to do with her (she has no insurance but I got her driver license info and address etc...).

How's the rear bumper reflector mounted? I saw no screws whatsoever and the dealer quoted me $116 just for the part.

Thank you.

-Mike-

What is with people these days? I am finding more and more people without insurance. This is getting ridiculous!

The reflector is mounted with a 10 mm nut accessible from under / behind the bumper.

Copy the receipts and tell the other driver to pay for any and all repairs you do. Take before and after pics.

If they don't pay. You can take them to small claims.
You should file with the DMV. In California at least, you fill out a form (sorry forgot the form #) and report the idiot for driving without insurance. It is an automatic fine and license suspension. You should do that just to help any potential future victims of this "it's ok to drive uninsured" mentality.

The bumper cover is not structural and it sounds like you got off a-ok. I would check to see that all the retaining clips are intact and that there is not some broken plastic or mounts underneath.

Good luck!

Thank you for all your responses and I appreciate it.
I was so mad this morning. I have comprehensive insurance but my deductable is $250 so I'm thinking of just buying the red reflector and install it myself. I can probably live with a scratched bumper? I'll definitely will go after her to have her paid and I'll report her to the DMV for sure.

If I use my own insurance to repair it, will they replace the bumper usually? Mine is a Titanium silver color with dark gray plastic bumper and the cratches are deep enough that they show the white plastic undernearth. Is it painted from the factory?

Thank you again.

-Mike-

no matter what, report her butt to the police or DMV. She should get into some deep crap if it was her fault and has no insurance. Maybe she has no insurance because of too many accidents or incidents. Either way she sould pay dearly for her screw up.
As said above use a 10mm wrench.

B4 you let her drive off in the sunset, I would take your vehicle to a flat, level parking lot, stand back about twenty feet and make sure your bumper is not bent or misaligned. I had some drunk bozo hit me at a stoplight doing about 10mph. No visual damage when I looked at it right after the collision, but two weeks later in the sunlight, I noticed the bumper was tilted to one side and crooked. The struts holding the bumper to the vehicle were crushed and it was $250 out of my pocket to fix.

I would report her to the CHP and DMV at the least. My insurance just went up because of her negligence and illegal actions.

BTW...this accident was not in my Runner but a VW Scirocco, the Runner is built tougher, but all bumpers are built to DOT/EPA spec.

Thank you for all your support and I do appreciate it. I feel a little better after a good night of sleep.

After I got home yesterday, I went over everything and found that there was no bending of the bumper (as Sac State advised). It was easy to check as the bumper lined up with the tailgate's bottom so even if it's slightly tilt it would be easy to spot. Thanks to Billf and gaslight, I removed the one 10mm nut and removed the broken reflector (whatever left of it actually). Looking closely inside the now-empty reflector housing, it's a big empty space in there and I don't believe it could cause any structural damage by hitting the plastic bumper (only if the bumper was completely crushed then the body would be damaged). I'm attaching a picture here. It actually looks worse than the picture. My 03 4Runner is only 8 months old. I was so upset.
Thank you again. I'll see if DMV has an online form that I can report her.
-Mike-

Attached Images

 

testrider,
based on personal experience with a similar situation, this is what you should do,imo.

1. Go get 2 estimates from body shops on cost of repairs. Bring the broken reflector too.

2. After that, it looks like you can rub out most of the marks with a cleaner or polish. touch up paint the rest if you can live with that.

3. File the DMV report. It is just a one page sheet to tell the DMV the other driver is uninsured. I think you have 30 days from the accident...anyway do it, it takes 2 minutes.

4. If they don't pay. Don't stress. File with small claims and since it is a open and shut case (and you have 2 estimates to show cost) you should get a judgement right quick.

If you didn't take pictures of the other car at the accident, take a pic of their bumper too (maybe when you meet to discuss payment or get payment). Best to document that since you don't have a police report.

I'm sure looking at the picture your bumper cover just flexed from the impact. You got off lucky!

I have the same situation on my hands right now!!! I posted a message here on the boards but nobody responded with any detailed info like on this thread.

So it's a 10 mm nut that is under/behind the bumper. So how easy or hard is this to do for an average person like me? I can have my brother help me out with it... but is there anything else I need to know?

Thanks alot in advance!

MaRiA

Nothing hard about it. Search under the rear fog light mod to see more closeups of the reflector housing. A 2 minute job.

I just checked your thread. Uneek posted a link to a very comprehensive page on how to turn those bumper reflectors into brake or turn signals. Lots of pics there.