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Hot take: I miss when we used to actually fix bumpers instead of just swapping them
I was working on a 94 Camry fender bender about 3 weeks ago at the shop here in Modesto and the insurance adjuster told me to just order a reconditioned bumper cover instead of repairing the crack. Back when I started doing this stuff in the late 90s we would have plastic welded that thing, sanded it down, and had it looking factory in a couple hours. Now everything is tap a keyboard, wait on a box, and hope the color matches out of the can. I pushed back on the adjuster and he actually let me repair it, took me 4 hours, customer paid nothing extra, and the shop made better margin on labor than we would have on the part markup. What killed me is the kid I trained with asked me why I would waste time when a new cover is $180 shipped. I told him $180 plus paint plus blend time is not cheaper than 4 hours of my hands and some 3M panel bond. Got me thinking, are we losing a skill set on purpose or is the industry just pushing us that way? Curious if other guys are still plastic welding or if I'm just the old guy yelling at clouds in the bay.
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hugos676h ago
Plastic welding is a lost art and that kid will figure it out when his parts keep showing up wrong or back ordered for weeks. Insurance adjusters push the swap game because its faster for them and the parts vendors love it. Been there with a cracked cover on an old Corolla and the customer was way happier with the weld job than waiting on a box. Keep doing it your way, the hands on guys always end up busier in the long run.
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