HOW MUCH DOES BUMPER REPAIR COST?
At our published DFW rates: bumper scuff and scratch refinish runs $300–$800, full bumper replacement and paint runs $1,000–$2,500, and sensor calibration, when the car requires it, is quoted per vehicle. Which lane your bumper lands in depends on what’s behind the cover — the painted plastic you see is the cheap part; the beam, absorber, brackets and sensors it hides are where estimates move. No honest bumper number exists until the cover comes off, which is why ours is written from teardown, not from the curb.
The Longer Answer
TWO BUMPERS, THREE PRICE LANES
Your car has two bumpers at each end: the flexible painted cover everyone calls “the bumper,” and the actual bumper behind it — a metal or composite beam with an energy absorber bolted to the structure. That split creates the price lanes. Lane one, $300–$800: the cover itself is scuffed or scratched but sound — it’s refinished, blended, and re-hung. Lane two, $1,000–$2,500: the cover is cracked, torn, or deformed past honest repair — a new cover, painted to match and fitted with your car’s trim, sensors and brackets transferred or replaced. Lane three has no flat price because it isn’t a bumper job anymore: a crushed absorber or bent beam is structural energy management, priced from what the teardown actually finds.
Two line items surprise people on bumper estimates. R&I — remove and install: a bumper can’t be refinished properly on the car, so the estimate carries labor to take it off and put it back, with every clip and fastener seated. It isn’t padding; a bumper painted in place shows tape lines at the seams. Sensor calibration: modern bumpers are sensor housings — parking sonar, blind-spot radar, sometimes the cruise radar behind the emblem. When a repair disturbs them, calibration is scheduled through our calibration specialists inside the repair timeline, the printed report verified by us before delivery, and quoted per vehicle because sensor suites differ car to car. The full decoder for these line items lives in our estimate-reading guide.
On parts: Tex. Ins. Code §1952.301 bars insurers from dictating parts brand or condition, so where a new cover matters — fit, sensor-mount tolerances, pre-primed quality — we argue OEM first in writing, price-match through OEM vendors second, and fit aftermarket only with your sign-off. And on honesty: plenty of bumper scuffs are cosmetic-only on a panel that’s doing its job, and if the honest answer is “this is a $300 refinish, not a $2,500 replacement” — or “leave it entirely” — that’s the answer you’ll get. The full breakdown, rows and all, is on our bumper repair page.
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