heres some pics of it :









i have a 90 honda crx si, and a big black chevy truck with a solid metal bumper backed up into my rear bumper, putting a dent on the corner of the drivers side and it broke the orange part of the lense of the tailight also.

the guy said he would prefer me not to make a claim with his insurance company and would rather just pay me out with cash, so i did'nt make a claim, and got a quote at service king and they quoted $725,

i don't know what to do really ?, i want to get it fixed so it is the way it was before but also get the most money i can, and i know how to do a lot myself also, so i was thinking if i gave him the quote and he give me the money i can get a used bumper (i saw one good for $50 and tailight perfect condition on ebay for $75, and i can easily put tailight on and i know how to remove and install bumpers, so i can just paint it with this good quality aerosal spray can product i know of online that paint matches to your color and has good nozzles and stuff, and that would be good enough for me since its a crappy faded paint job anyway, so i would just spend like under $200 or so, and have $525 left, something like that would be awesome.

but if i did that, would the guy know i did'nt use the money on the quote and got fixed at service king ?, i mean he would want to see the quote from service king before giving me the money so he has proof, but he would'nt know if i used it towards the getting fixed there?

or would it be better if i just made a claim with the insurance company like i supposed to ?, but i was thinking if i did that, then i would just get a check from the insurance company and would have to use the whole check, giving it to the shop using the whole amount on the check since it was the amount i was quoted to get it fixed ?, so i would'nt have any extra cash to be able to use on other stuff ???

cause i could really use some extra cash since i'm unemployed right now and need to catch on some things.


or could i possibly repair the dent in my bumper using a heat gun to pop it out ? since its not that big ?, or too complex to do good ?

or could i fill it using plastic filler or something and sand it down til its back to shape and prime and paint that area ? keeping my bumper not having to replace it ?

any thoughts or input would be helpfull on me deciding what i should do

 

He caused the damage, get a legit estimate and give it to him. Fix it if you choose or just keep the cash. What is the value of a 23 year old crx? I know it's your car but all in all. It's 23 years old and not really a classic.

 

Dealing with insurance people takes time. You will not be able to get a check for another couple of weeks. I would take the cash from the person that hit your car.

You kind of answered your own question...being that the rest of the car paint is faded.
Look around for another bumper to put on. Less work than repairing the old bumper.

Basically, you'll have that repair money to do whatever since you are not having your car repair through a shop or insurance. Insurance only needs to pay for your loss and CAN NOT force you to repair the car or even go to their own shops.

 

if you are in las vegas, you will everything fixed plus whole car paint job for 1000usd