Rear Quarter Panel & Bumper Fix Advice
 

Crappy day today as I backed into a dumpster this morning and dented my rear quarter panel and scratched up the bumper. I'm trying to figure out my best options (if any) to fix this. I'm not really very mechanically knowledgeable about cars and so would appreciate any advice. My current thoughts are maybe PDR for the rear quarter panel and maybe a used painted bumper replacement? Any resources or tips are appreciated. Thanks and hope your day was better than mine!

PDR will be able to take care of the quarter panel for sure. Wash and clean the bumper and then use a rubbing compound to see how much comes out. You can likely get rid of a lot of the scratches (the black ones are there for good)

:slap: what the hell is wrong with you, are you old or something! - :iono:

When you back into things - hit them straight on - your car will suffer less damage.

See the attached picture of how I did it - see, no scratches.

Seriously, I'd suggest you take it to an auto body shop and get a repair estimate. Then, find out what your insurance deductible is.

Then have a PDR person look at it and find out what they could do for it and how much it would cost.

For mine, the body shop wanted $1,000 to replace and paint the bumper. I haven't checked with a PDR person yet. Why not? Because I'm lazy - :iono:

Good luck getting your car fixed up.

https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...f?format=1500w

This might be useful:


https://www.automotivetouchup.com/

PDR Not Hopeful...
 

I got an evaluation from one PDR person so far and it doesn't look good.

He said: "not much help there with that one that kink at the lowest point where it meets the Bumpers spot which won't move out and it's probably broken paint as well I'm sorry but it's a recommendation of a body shop conventional repair"

Oof definitely thought they could do that area of fender. Sorry bud! Good luck!

Dang, you are much better than me at backing into things! Hit them straight on...got it! Question is how much practice is this gonna take...it's gettin' expensive. I think I may have to see a body shop but with that quarter panel, it's not gonna be cheap or I may have to just live with this...gasp!

Pop out the fender liner clips in wheel well. try to push/pop out the dent worst case your fender stays damaged...
bumpers aren’t too expensive might be cheaper to get a used bumper then repainting. Pretty easy to remove/install just google DIY it.
And honestly you look like a prime candidate for a wide body kit. Just cover the damage. No one will ever know it was damaged but you.

Oh, it took me years of practice, but it wasn't too expensive, spread out over 70 years. Yep, it ain't gonna be cheap. You may see if you can get up under that fender and punch it out, then buff out the rest and hit it with some touch up paint - then see how much it bothers you.

At least the dumpster you backed into isn't gonna sue you or embarrass you. Which leads me into a back-in-the-day backing up story. You see, I was somewhere I wasn't supposed to be, when I wasn't supposed to be there, with someone I wasn't supposed to be with, when she backed her car into mine.

See, it could always have been worse - :iono:

Well, your bumper is already shot, so if you get a lot of practice in now it shouldn't cost you anything.

I have an observation and theory for you. Before one starts backing up, they look to the front, both sides and behind them. Then, while one is backing up they do the same.

HOWEVER, once the person is "finished" with the backing up and puts their car in first gear to go forward, their focus is to the front and somewhat to the sides BUT NOT THE BACK anymore. However, the car is still drifting back for a foot or so.

That's when stuff jumps out and behind the car!

So, the "cure" is when backing up, STOP the car completely, before you engage the going forward maneuver.

One exception is that when you are a senior citizen, sometimes one has "senior moments" when backing up, in that case when that stuff is in your way, it's been there for a while - :iono:

Wow, I wish mine were limited to only when I'm "backing up". What's your secret, Humfrz?

Oh, I've had a few moving forward, into parking places (stops), just check out the scars underneath my front clip - :sigh: