In April a lady backed her car into my (parked) car. I had literally gotten out of the car just 15 seconds ago and crossed the street. I heard the impact and returned to my car to inspect it. Her car had hit my (rubber) license holder, which seems to have absorbed the impact and there was no apparent damage. I should have gotten her insurance info anyway but thinking no harm done I stupidly just accepted her apology.
Flash forward to yesterday and I noticed for the first time that my front bump was slightly misaligned with the rest of the car. It’s off by maybe two millimeters and I would not have even noticed had I not happen to see it from a certain angle. The whole section moves slightly when I push it, and when I used my knee to push against my license plate, the movement was especially noticeable which is why I am pretty sure that it was that collision that dislodged the bumper slightly.
My question is, do you think it’s worthwhile to take it into the mechanic? I am a first time car owner and I dunno if this may be something I can fix by myself?
The misaligned piece is a painted plastic cover for the real impact absorbing bumper behind it. This cover is held on with plastic tabs and plastic fasteners that are supposed to break on impact. Most likely the incident knocked off some of the fasteners. A body shop can rehang the cover and the charge should be just a few bucks.
It is better to be sure the cover is secured, if it comes off while you are on a highway it will be damaged and a new cover needs to be painted to match the car and then you are talking some real money.
Agree with @UncleTurbo on all points.
Can you do it yourself? Impossible to say. We don’t know how handy you are, you didn’t say or even tell us what kind of car this is. Kinda hard to evaluate in the vacuum of the interwebs. ;)-
I also agree with @UncleTurbo on all points.
Thank you Uncle Turbo.
Sorry I thought I had put in the make and model. I have a 2015 Honda CRV.
It probably just needs a few plastic rivets or pushins. Even if the holes have pulled out through the edge of the bumper cover, they can be fixed and reinforced with an epoxy kit from AutoZone for about $10. They have the plastic hardware too, in small packages for high prices. The black inner fender probably covers what you need to get at to fix it. New bumper cover and repaint by a body shop, $750. Fixing it yourself, $15.