Paint and Body
Bumper Repair and Replacement in Southern California
Typical range
$400 to $5,500
Shop hours
2 to 22
Labor rate
$210/hr
The short answer
Bumper repair and replacement covers plastic fascia repair, steel and aluminum bumper work, and full replacement on RVs, vans, trailers, and fleet trucks. Work runs $400 to $5,500, or 2 to 22 hours at $210 per hour plus parts and materials.
01
What this work actually involves
A bumper on a modern Sprinter or Transit is not a bumper. It is a painted plastic fascia covering an absorber and a reinforcement beam, and it is frequently carrying parking sensors, a forward radar unit, and camera housings. The cost driver on those jobs is rarely the plastic. It is what has to be recalibrated afterward, because moving a radar bracket by two millimeters changes where the system thinks the road is. Any equipped vehicle that had bumper work needs a post-repair scan and calibration, and carriers increasingly require that documentation in the file.
RV bumpers are a different animal entirely. Class A coaches have molded fiberglass front and rear fascias that are part of the cap, so a bumper strike is usually a cap repair. Travel trailers use a square steel tube rear bumper that doubles as a sewer hose carrier and a bike rack mount, and those fail from rust from the inside out, especially on coastal units and anything that has been stored near the beach in Oceanside or Long Beach. Fifth wheels and toy haulers see rear bumper damage from ramp loading and from the departure angle on steep driveways.
Plastic fascia repair is real repair, not filler over a crack. Polypropylene and TPO are welded with matched filler rod or structurally repaired with a two-part flexible adhesive and reinforcing mesh on the back side, then flex additive goes in the primer and sometimes the topcoat. A rigid repair on a flexible substrate cracks along the repair line the first cold morning in Big Bear.
Systems and brands we work on: 3M, SEM, U-POL, Fusor.
Location: All work is performed at our Yorba Linda facility. We do not offer mobile, roadside, or fleet route service.
02
What the job includes
- Plastic fascia crack, tear, and tab repair with plastic welding or structural adhesive
- Substrate identification so the correct repair chemistry and promoter are used
- Backside mesh reinforcement on structural fascia repairs
- Steel and aluminum bumper straightening, section replacement, and welding
- Rusted travel trailer rear bumper replacement including hose carrier
- Bumper reinforcement beam and absorber replacement
- Sensor, radar, and camera housing removal, reinstallation, and aim reference
- Bracket and mount repair where the impact carried through the fascia
- Refinish with flex additive and blend into the adjacent panels
- Post-repair scan and calibration coordination on ADAS-equipped vehicles
03
When you need this service
- A crack, tear, or hole in a plastic fascia after a low-speed strike
- Broken mounting tabs leaving a fascia sagging or gapped at a fender
- Parking sensor or driver assistance faults after a front or rear impact
- A travel trailer rear bumper that flexes, sags, or has rusted through
- A steel bumper bent from a loading ramp or a steep driveway strike
- Paint cracking along a body line on a fascia, which indicates the substrate flexed past its limit
04
How we do it, step by step
- 01
Assess and identify the substrate
The stamped code on the back of the fascia tells us whether it is PP, TPO, TEO, or PUR. The repair chemistry and adhesion promoter follow that code, not a guess.
- 02
Check behind the cover
Absorber, reinforcement beam, brackets, and sensor mounts inspected. A fascia repaired onto a bent beam will not sit right no matter how good the plastic work is.
- 03
Repair versus replace decision
We price both. On sensor-heavy fascias and heavily fractured covers, replacement is frequently cheaper than the labor to repair correctly.
- 04
Structural plastic repair
V-groove both sides where access allows, plastic weld with matched rod or two-part adhesive, and mesh reinforcement on the back so the repair carries flex.
- 05
Steel and aluminum bumper work
Bent members straightened or sectioned and welded to the correct procedure for the base metal, then treated and coated against corrosion before reinstall.
- 06
Refinish
Adhesion promoter, flex additive in the primer and topcoat where the substrate requires it, color matched off the vehicle and blended into the adjacent panels.
- 07
Reinstall, align, and scan
Fascia refitted with correct gaps at every adjacent panel, then scanned and calibration scheduled where the vehicle carries radar, sensors, or cameras.
05
Pricing and posted rates
| Item | Rate or range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Typical job range | $400 to $5,500 | Varies with extent of damage and parts availability |
| Shop hours | 2 to 22 | Quoted after teardown, not before |
| Body and paint labor | $210 per hour | 2026 posted rate |
| Paint supplies | $55 per paint hour | Calculated automatically on every estimate |
| Body supplies | $5 per body hour | Calculated automatically on every estimate |
| Parts | 100% markup under $100, 35% over | Special order parts require a non refundable deposit at order |
| Deposit | 50% at authorization over $2,000 | Additional 25% when parts arrive on jobs over $10,000 |
| Sales tax | 7.75% on parts and materials | Labor is not taxed |
Insurance billed jobs may be billed at carrier negotiated labor rates that differ from the posted retail rates above. See all posted rates.
06
On the insurance side
Sensor removal, reinstallation, and post-repair calibration are separate documented operations on the estimate so they are not absorbed into the fascia line.
07
Vehicles we do this work on
Vehicle
Sprinter Vans
Mercedes Sprinter vans run last-mile routes, trade service, and camper conversions across Southern California. Sliding door tracks
Vehicle
Cargo Vans
Cargo vans on Transit, ProMaster, Express, and Sprinter platforms carry trade tools, parts inventory, and route freight. Rear door
Vehicle
Travel Trailers
A travel trailer tows from a ball hitch behind the tow vehicle rear axle on an A-frame tongue, which makes it the most sway-prone
Vehicle
Class C Motorhomes
A Class C is a coach body built onto a cutaway van chassis with a sleeping or storage cabover extending above the factory cab. Tha
Vehicle
Box Trucks
Box trucks put a separately built cargo body on a cab chassis, and the joint between them is where most failures start. Rear frame
Vehicle
Electric Delivery Vans
Electric delivery vans including the Rivian EDV used by Amazon Logistics have a floor-mounted battery pack, bonded composite body
Vehicle
Tow Trucks
Tow trucks take structural load from vehicles they carry and pull, so the deck, subframe, wheel lift mounting, and tie-down points
08
Questions about bumper repair and replacement
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to repair or replace a bumper?
Depends on the damage and the hardware. A single crack or a few broken tabs on a plain fascia is cheaper to repair. A cover with multiple fractures, or one loaded with sensor and camera cutouts, is often cheaper to replace, because correct structural plastic repair around a sensor opening takes more labor than the part costs. We price both and show you the comparison.
How much does bumper repair cost?
$400 to $5,500, or 2 to 22 hours at $210 per hour plus parts and materials. Parts carry 100 percent markup under $100 and 35 percent over $100. A scuffed fascia refinished on a cargo van sits at the low end. A Sprinter front fascia with a reinforcement beam, radar bracket, and post-repair calibration sits at the high end.
Why does my trailer bumper keep rusting?
Because it is a square steel tube that fills with water and drains poorly, and it rusts from the inside out. By the time it shows on the outside, the wall section is already thin. This is worse on coastal units, and any bumper carrying a bike rack or a spare has been loaded well past what a sewer hose carrier was designed for.
Does bumper work require ADAS recalibration?
On any vehicle with forward radar, parking sensors, or surround cameras mounted in or behind the fascia, yes. Those sensors are aimed to fractions of a degree, and a system that is out of calibration frequently will not set a fault. It will simply be wrong. We coordinate the post-repair scan and calibration and document it for your claim file.
Will insurance cover a bumper repair?
Collision damage to a bumper is generally covered subject to your deductible. The practical question is whether the repair cost meaningfully exceeds that deductible, which on a simple fascia scuff it often does not. Where sensors, a reinforcement beam, and calibration are involved the number climbs fast, and that is when a claim clearly makes sense.
09
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Ready to move on bumper repair and replacement? Bring it to Yorba Linda.