[Holmey]

A few months ago somebody ran into the back of my daughters Silver 2012 Mk1 Kuga crunching the rear bumper and back hatch, with the insurance company of the person who ran into the back of her being brilliant, quickly arranging for a like for like courtesy car, (they gave her a new 1.5 Kuga), and arranging for it to be repaired at one of their approved bodyshops.

The car ended up being away for almost 3 months, the problem first being that the back bumper was on back order from the factory, then because it was pre painted and the one delivered being the wrong colour, but she eventually got it back.

The problem it seems is with the pre painted rear bumper which is now an easy spotted different colour to the rest of the car as it's paint has faded over the 10 years on the road, something that makes it clear to anybody who looks at it that it's had accident damage repaired

Surely today body shops have reflective galvometers so they can get an exact match for a cars paint colour to prevent this, and fitting a different coloured, (even if pre painted), bumper is the wrong thing to do on a 10 year old car that's paint will have faded over the years.

Should she complain to the insurance company/.body shop because the car looks a mess as it is, and when she comes to sell it, any prospective buyer will spot it, or will she just have to accept this colour difference?

Holmey

 

[NigelB]

They should have colour matched and she does need to raise this.

 

[The Painter]

I’ve just altered my reply because I’ve just re-read your original post.

I assume the colour is moondust sliver, if so a decent match can be achieved, provided the car is original manufacturer paint finish.

another consideration……. is the new bumper the correct paint colour (Paint code) for the car.

 

[Psshaw]

All my fully coded factory new builds to me have drawn comments from neighbours that they bumpers, especially the rear looked a different shade.
I guess it’s a tough call when the car has faded. Thanks.

 

[davidoff]

For a start 3 months is taking the pee big time. why did they wait for a pre painted bumper if they were doing paint anyway. they could have ordered the bumper in primer and painted it with the rest of the car.
When i had my rear spoiler painted before fitting it on my original Kuga he put a scanner onto the paint on the tailgate to exactly match the paint, not difficult is it.
Go back to them and tell them to fix it.

 

[The Painter]

All my fully coded factory new builds to me have drawn comments from neighbours that they bumpers, especially the rear looked a different shade.
I guess it’s a tough call when the car has faded. Thanks.

Yep it’s because bumpers are made from polycarbonate materials and metallic finishes from the same paint can sometimes lay differently on metal and polycarbonate mainly due to the metallic flip tone

 

[davidoff]

It makes no difference providing they are properly prepared and primed.
Getting bumpers from the factory that manufactures and paints them and expecting an exact match when they are fitted during the build is a lottery. Nissan are the worst I have seen.
The only way they will ever match is to repaint them.
My youngest daughters other half works for a specialist automotive company which includes high end vehicles. they will always remove and repaint bumpers to get an exact match.