Rear-ended yesterday

[Lefty]

The Ford dealer is always going to be the most expensive way to fix anything. A body and fender shop is usually cheaper.

Me and my buddy both purchased old Rangers. We resurrected ours by going to the U Pull yard. We've pulled glass, a tailgate, a hood, four doors, and two seats, among other things. His would have been totalled in a garage fire, but we chose to save it anyway. I just wanted to restore mine and make it new again, so I had an auto body shop do most of the work. Maybe you can lower the bill by working out a deal with the right shop.

Personally I'm all for keeping Rangers on the road as long as possible, even restoring or upgrading them.

I wouldn't worry about that bill, not even if your Ranger is old. That's why we have insurance after all. The photo shows mine totally restored. His still needed 2 doors when I shot this foto.

 

[franklin2]

Along with confirmation that the frame is straight, the Ford body shop also sent an estimate. $2995... to replace the bumper, brackets, and paint to match. Oof. I checked on the Tasca parts site, and while this shop added an obscene markup, the OEM parts are insanely expensive even at wholesale. $560 for the passenger side inner bracket alone (body shop had it invoiced as $800 something). Amazingly considering how many of these trucks were built, they must be running low on some of these parts. In addition to the fact that hell will freeze over before my best buddies at Progressive () go for that, I don't feel like sticking it to the other guy. He goofed up but pulled over, had insurance, did the right thing. My one criteria is that I'll be pissed if Progressive tries to make me take a clapped out used one which, given where I live, will probably be worse than the twisted one on the truck now, but otherwise I'd be fine with a decent chrome aftermarket one from RockAuto. Now that Progressive has all the pictures to make their estimate, I'm tempted to just grab a couple wrenches and mess around with it today and see if there's enough wiggle room in the brackets to at least get the thing parallel to the tailgate from the back which is the biggest thing that bugs me.

A little hammer work on the original bracket may be enough to get it back where it was. The bumper doesn't look that bad. A few little dings and scratches add personality.

 

[Danno1985]

The Ford dealer is always going to be the most expensive way to fix anything. A body and fender shop is usually cheaper.

Me and my buddy both purchased old Rangers. We resurrected ours by going to the U Pull yard. We've pulled glass, a tailgate, a hood, four doors, and two seats, among other things. His would have been totalled in a garage fire, but we chose to save it anyway. I just wanted to restore mine and make it new again, so I had an auto body shop do most of the work. Maybe you can lower the bill by working out a deal with the right shop.

Personally I'm all for keeping Rangers on the road as long as possible, even restoring or upgrading them.

I wouldn't worry about that bill, not even if your Ranger is old. That's why we have insurance after all. The photo shows mine totally restored. His still needed 2 doors when I shot this foto.
View attachment 92067View attachment 92067

Nice looking trucks! Is that a modified Explorer grille? Don’t think I’ve seen that before, but it looks good.

Yeah, I feel the same way. If this were a work truck or even my last Ranger which was clean but had plenty of elderly driver bruises, I’d be like “whatever”, do my best to straighten the bumper out and call it a day. With this one, I went out of my way to find one in a southern state that was in great shape, so considering it’s something as easily replaced as a bumper, I’d rather just have it be right.

 

[Lefty]

One very nice truck! By all means get something that is either new or looks new.

And thanks for the comment. Yes that is a custom grill made from two Explorer grills. I had to cut them into 4 pieces and epoxy them back together along with some perforated aluminum mesh and some bondo. I wanted something different. I was rather bored at the time.

 

[4.0blue98]

Geez 560 for the bracket!!! I used this set and they seem like pretty good quality to me. Just slightly cheaper...

Bumper Bracket

 

[Danno1985]

One very nice truck! By all means get something that is either new or looks new.

And thanks for the comment. Yes that is a custom grill made from two Explorer grills. I had to cut them into 4 pieces and epoxy them back together along with some perforated aluminum mesh and some bondo. I wanted something different. I was rather bored at the time.

I like it. It’s subtle enough that it looks like it could be factory.

 

[Lefty]

I like it. It’s subtle enough that it looks like it could be factory.

Righto, Danno! That was the muse. This was once a Ford Edge. That grill looked just a little boring. Besides, I liked going strictly old school. That egg crate style has been around for a very long time.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Took the truck to a body shop that’s associated with a Ford dealer. I figured they’ll be on the high end $-wise but I really wanted to have someone who knows what they’re looking at check out the frame before Progressive sends some cut-rate hack.
Frame checks out ok. Whew. Looks like just a twisted bumper and bent brackets. The estimate for oem ford parts actually wasn’t that bad, but I’m sure Progressive will try to coerce me into accepting a “used” bumper which is going to be rusted out scrap if it’s coming from anywhere around here. Seriously over their bs. I’ve had progressive since 2008 and this is the second rear-end collision I’ve been in where they’ve acted like they can’t be bothered to pick up the phone or help me out.

Truck aside, feeling like someone punched me in the back today. Went to urgent care and aside from some soreness in my back and neck, everything checked out ok there too, so hopefully everything’s on the up and up.

I have a body shop buddy. He said to get Mercury Insurance if I can. I asked why. He said because they have the coolest insurance adjuster, and are the easiest of insurance companies to work with in general.

This may vary based on location, but local info like that is good to know.

I dont think Progressive even offers policies in CA anymore lol.

 

[Danno1985]

Well, Progressive's estimate came back. $591, which is fair, all things considered, but only because I'm willing to do the work myself.

They did exactly what the Ford body shop said they would - quoted me $250 for an "A-Grade" used bumper from a 2008 Ranger in Milwaukee (A-Grade or not, I've seen the way these painted bumpers rust and there's no way a 2008 bumper in a Milwaukee junkyard isn't going to be full of rust) and then labor to slap a coat of paint over it to match my truck. Yeah, nope. I'm not even going to waste my time going that route.

Certifit has a CAPA-certified chrome bumper assembly, and I can throw that on, have a brand new bumper that's straight, and pocket a couple hundred bucks, so this works for me.

 

[Danno1985]

Fixed.

To be honest, getting this new bumper aligned was a huge pain, and I don’t think it’s 100% right but I’m a perfectionist and it’s probably better than the way some of these left the factory. Lots of room in all the mounting holes. Easy to see where the old one was bent, I think the brackets might be ok actually. I’ll throw the old one on the classifieds in case anyone needs a rust-free bumper and doesn’t mind the bend.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Fixed.

To be honest, getting this new bumper aligned was a huge pain, and I don’t think it’s 100% right but I’m a perfectionist and it’s probably better than the way some of these left the factory. Lots of room in all the mounting holes. Easy to see where the old one was bent, I think the brackets might be ok actually. I’ll throw the old one on the classifieds in case anyone needs a rust-free bumper and doesn’t mind the bend.
View attachment 92340

When I replaced the one on my 2011, I couldn't get it 100% "perfect," either.

Looks good from the photos tho.

 

[Danno1985]

When I replaced the one on my 2011, I couldn't get it 100% "perfect," either.

Looks good from the photos tho.

Yeah, there's a lot of play in the brackets, and I can tell the aftermarket stuff doesn't quite fit together the way the OEM does, unsurprisingly. I got to a point where I was like "screw it, I'm not taking this damn thing off again", cracked open a beer and called it a day. I'm happy with it. I much prefer the chrome, too. Somehow it makes the truck look more old-school.

 

[RobbieD]

Somehow it makes the truck look more old-school.

Chrome makes it look faster.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So, I’ll throw a couple things out there…. Since I’ve been through this sort f thing before….

If you haven’t already, I would find a reputable chiropractor to go see. ERs and MedFast and the like just look for obvious damage. Chiropractors take a closer look at the actual mechanics of your body and try to get everything lined back up. I knew better but still waited a lot longer than I should have to go to a chiropractor. The first adjustment there I got a noticeable amount of relief, but it’s been a fight because things were misaligned for so long.

99% or more of insurance companies suck. They do their best to screw you at every turn. Hartford and Progressive have been some of the worst I’ve had to deal with so far. State Farm isn’t really any better either. They tried to convince me to trade my F-150 in on a new Chevy when I hit a deer. No thanks, I’ll take my truck back. The only time I got what was right out of an insurance company was when my 92 Ranger got wrecked. They priced it out as a base model (it’s an STX) and added 100k to the odometer. After considerable arguing, they finally fixed the valuation. 176k actual miles instead of the 276k they applied means it went from being able to be valued at what similar trucks sold for to blue book value, which was around twice what they originally offered thanks to CoVid. Glad I had the full coverage on it, lol.

 

[sgtsandman]

Insurance companies are the devil no matter who it is and are a necessary evil unless you can prove you are able to self insure. Their goal is to take in money and not pay it out. And when they have to pay it out, they pay as little as they have to.

Think about how much you’ve paid in premiums over the years and then consider how much you’ve gotten back in claims. For most people, the two numbers are nowhere in the ball park to being close. Hell, you’d be lucky if they were in the same state.