I have a 2011 Hyundai Sonata that I am planning to trade in for a new 2017 Hyundai Sante Fe Sport in a few weeks. There are several spots on both front and back bumpers that needs to be touched up from several bumping incidents as well as being sideswiped. The rear bumper isn’t crumpled in at all…just that the paint has been scraped off in several places. Is it worth it if I touch up the paint? Please advise. Thank you.
An image would be helpful
But when working with these plastic bumpers, the repair can end up looking worse than the original damage.
Tester
Attached the pictures.
On a trade-in, I don’t think you’d get your money back. If this were a private sale, you might.
Are you thinking of the “touch up” as a diy’er job? Or are you planning to have a body shop do it? I think if you were really careful in applying the paint you’d be able to sell the car for more money than the bottle of touch-up paint you had to buy. But to have a body shop do it, hard to imagine you could do better than break even.
@GeorgeSanJose yes I am considering doing it myself…I wouldn’t mind leaving it alone if it wouldn’t bring any extra money for it.
Yeah.
This is one of those situations where an amateur can make the repair look bad, and where if done professionally, won’t recoup the cost.
I’d let it go as it is.
Tester
I think it would make the car easier to sell. You could either parlay that into a quick sale, saving you some personal time on the transaction, or increase the amount you could sell it for.
Lots of long scrapes, only good way to fix it is repainting the bumpers, in my opinion. Not worth it.
fix this one, and in a month you will have another one or two. You will be in a never ending mode of retouching.
You trading in the car so don’t waste your time or money. The dealer will either fix it in their own shop or just run it through an auction.
I keep my cars until they’re long-since fully depreciated and they fall apart in the middle of the street, so for me it isn’t a monetary returns issue. For scratches of the type I see in the photos, I mask off everywhere but the scratch and use a touchup spray. Over the years, as the dings and scratches accumulate, they tend to be meaningless. The variation between the original paint and the touchup fades with time.
If you keep your cars a long time, I guarantee you’ll get a few more scratches and dings. They won’t be significant come trade in time.
Thanks y’all for the feedback. I think I’ll keep it as is and see what happens when comes time to trade it.
If you can do a pro job, then maybe. Otherwise leave it alone. They include the cost of reconditioning in their price. Mine was never the still charged me.