Help!Dented front bumper on leased i3Rex

Hi all.

I was driving on the high way at night w a speed of 55 mph and a flashing object flew at the car. I heard a loud pop and when i got to a safe spot i found it had dented my 5- days old front bumper! It hurts so badly! It can be covered by a credit card but i think this is a dent therefore will be deemed unacceptable by bmw

What should I do? Get it repaired or replace at lease end? This is the first time I ever lease a car, and not sure what kind of penalty this would cause.

Thank you all for your input

If it's just a dent, it may be able to be pushed out from behind.

I dont know how to post picture from my iphone but it is not a smooth dent. It is pitted and rough so i am not sure if it can be pushed out. How do you post pictures?

Posting images howto:

http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=419

you might be able to slightly reshape with a heat gun. will need pictures though

Here are the pictures.

I think it is slightly larger than what BMW will consider small ding (no charge)

What should I do to make it better? I am afraid it might spread/get bigger?

Thank you!

This is an example of a hidden lease cost from my perspective, one of the reasons why I prefer to buy rather than lease.

If that were my bumper and I owned my car, I wouldn't fix it because it doesn't affect the car's functionality. Functionality is much more important than appearance to me, but I realize that others have different priorities.

If my i3 were leased, I'd be forced to fix it to avoid paying for damage at lease end or would be charged for the damage at lease end. If I fixed it, I'd have to either file an insurance claim, pay my rather high deductible, and risk increasing my insurance rates, or I'd have to pay the entire repair cost out of pocket.

My experience not my opinion:

I had something like that on my 128i lease when a jackrabbit ran in front of me doing 90 in Death Valley at 3am

Because I have a relationship with the local dealer .... they just took care of it at lease end along with not charging me for its worn out tires

especially since I leased the i3 and probably paid too much

It might be easily and inexpensively restored. I'd check with a repair place...doesn't mean you have to spend the money now. You might end with other things over the lease, and might want to wait until then to potentially fix some other bits at the same time. At least by checking now, you'll have an idea if it's a new bumper cover or a little heat and tweak or something in between.

Just stick a California carpool access sticker on it and call it a day haha If you're in CA dealer wouldn't suspect at thing. We get three and one is supposed to go right there too lol




But in all seriousness, you can probably get it polished and removed all the black markings so the dent doesn't become as noticeable.

That is what is called a damage vaccination!

Your car is now vaccinated against damage. In the extraordinary event that the vaccination doesn't work and you have a larger prang, then I'm sure the whole bumper will be replaced.

Just buff out the marks and move on.

Thank you guys for all your input!
Pardon my ignorance but what kind of repair place should I call? Like a body shop?

i like the damage vaccination theory

RexCaparis said:

i like the damage vaccination theory

Click to expand...

:lol:

Try this:
https://youtu.be/y9OGa9vB42Q

I'd get a pro bodyshop to do it, rather than a diy job or a mate with a spray can.

You might be surprised how reasonable the price is if you shop around, plus you know for sure its done properly and won't get picked up when you hand the car back.

Watch this:
http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/FinancialServices/LeaseReturnInformationFlash.aspx