Can plastic bumpers be successfully repaired?

I had damage to a plastic bumper (one of the smooth glossy finish ones) and it was repaired - they did an amazing job, and you really couldn't see it afterwards (and I looked hard because the rest of the work the garage* did was absolute shit - wrong colour paint etc !)

Aye. But it really does depend on the age of the bumper - some bumpers cost naff all as long as you're happy with pattern parts.

It's like all repairs. It's only as good as the person doing it.

Perhaps they fitted a replacement and charged accordingly! :o)

Done properly, it should be an invisible repair.

If they did, it wasn't listed on the bill of parts (although by not buying the right colour paint, and using a work experience kid from the local MENCAP centre* they might have recouped that cost)

• perhaps they didn't, but it would worry me more that trained mechanics could fail to repair to a "reasonable" standard - like a boot that shut and stay shut when driving, paint of the correct colour

- or even close - and replacing the headlining fixing screws they removed (which left it hanging a couple of inches below where it should have been).

The actual damage is a couple of shallow dents on the bonnet and some new scratches to the bumper, caused by someone knocking a motorbike onto the car when leaving a parking space. Two main dealers - two completely different results. One says: double skin construction of bonnet means it can't be pulled out, need new bonnet but bumper can be repaired. Other says, bonnet can be repaired by welding onto the dents and pulling but the bumper will look like shit if it's repaired, need new bumper! I suspect both the bumper and the bonnet are repairable, but obviously a new part will be better (in the case of the bonnet, probably not that much more expensive).

Personally, if it's a fairly new/good car, then I'd push for a new bonnet. Any repair to the bonnet will most likely be visible on the inside of it.

The bumper, by the sounds of it, is repairable, but it depends on the bodyshop having the right equipment to repair it.