403portside

Our 2011 Q5 S-line was swiped in a parking lot and there are some scratches on the rear bumper cover, and a crack as well in it.

Looks like the bumper cover will have to be replaced. Am going to get estimates this week but anyone had prior experience replacing the bumper cover? What was ballpark cost?

I am bummed that our 4 month old car with only 2,500 miles had this happen to it, but I'm hoping that replacement with another OEM bumper will make it like new.

BCD-1

Can you post a picture of your damage

BCD-1

CrustyNoodle

A few of the guy's on the forum have removed the bumper cover to fit towbars. It is a fairly easy task - especially as you are going to ditch the old one. You'll need to pull all the electrics out of the old one but it all pretty obvious what needs to be done there.

I suggest you search the forum for the tow bar install thread for instructions or pm poncherelly or myself with your email address and either of us can send you them in a word doc.

JohnBoyToo

The hidden damage is what you need to look at....

go by any body shop and they will give you a free estimate of what they can see... ask them for options, repair and/or replace 0 then you can decide...

audi40

I had the bumper cover on my '09 A4 replaced by my dealer's body shop after someone backed into me. IIRC it was about $1k to replace (covered by the other guy's insurance) and there was no structural damage to the components under the bumper.

mz3_2000

A very similar thing happened to us. Someone rear-ended our Q5 with less than 1,000 miles on it. Here are the before and after pictures. The guys at First Choice Auto Body in Arlington, VA did a great job. Total cost: ~$2K

One interesting thing to note is that the bumper they replaced with was the European version with a removal panel for the swing out trailer hitch. In some ways I like the fact that I might be able to replace just that small part surrounding the hitch if necessary. What do you all think?

mz3_2000

One additional question - and apologies for hijacking the thread,
but if I wanted to add some trim around the cut out for the trailer hitch, does any one have recommendations on what to use?

Thanks,
--mz3_2000