Flash Silver Rear US Bumper Cover (need advice)

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Hi,

My 87 16V was hit today in the side of the rear bumper by a beat up Ford
Escort. It put several nice deep scratches in the plastic bumper cover
for the rear bumper, on the passenger side. I was exiting a parking lot
when the idiot pulled out right into my rear bumper. He was shocked that I
even wanted his insurance information for such "minor damage". His
girlfriend was very rude and aggressive. She suggested to her boyfriend
that he should "kick my ass and steal my car". She said that he should
have just driven off "hit and run", be he couldn't because I was in front
of him. There were 3 to 5 other guys in his car. I took down his license
plate, and insurance info. He kept trying to get me to just "let him go",
saying things like "it will make your insurance go up too", and "it'll
only be like $5".

I guess I was lucky that it wasn't worse. But I got this aweful sinking
feeling when I was sitting there behind 2 other cars and all of the sudden
the car jerks to the left and lifts up on the right side a little bit.
Some people just shouldn't be driving....

Well, now I'm trying to decide what to do. I would be happy just having
the car back in the state it was before. I'm hoping I could get a brand
new flash silver bumper cover for $25-$50 from the dealer and settle it
without insurance hassle or a lawsuit.

I called the stealer and inquired about a silver US bumper cover for an
87 scirocco. The guy looked and looked, and finally told me it would be
$305 and he'd have to order it (duh). Oh yeah, and that was for an
unpainted bumper cover. Just the plastic, no trim either. I called a
second dealer and they quoted me $306.20 for the same thing. Sounds like a
new US bumper cover is out of the question except for an insurance
settlement. So that leaves me with several options:

1) Settle with his insurance, get brand new bumper from VW, pay shop to
   have it painted ... ~$500 - $700
2) Settle with his insurance, have appraiser look at it and decide it is
   repairable. Have shitty bondo job and paint-over job done by cheap body
   shop. Loose bumper texture in the process, giving ugly glossy look 
   and poor paint match ~$200 - $300
3) Settle with his insurance, have appraiser look at it and decide to buy
   an aftermarket bumper cover that looks "different". ~$200 - $300
4) Settle with his insurance, have appraiser look at it and decide to buy
   used bumper cover of similar condition. Have fun finding that in
   silver, boys. ~$150 - $250

...which of the above happens is probably out of my control. I will not
settle for a bumper that looks like shit. I want it the way it was,
absolutely no worse. I could use some advice here as settling with his
insurance is seeming like the most likely course of action here.

5) Settle privately, find a shop that will do a decent job repairing and
   painting the bumper. Loose texture, and have paint-match issue as well.
   Get to have fun squeezing the cash out of him myself. ~$200 - $300
6) Settle privately, buy a new bumper from VW and have it painted.
   Highly unlikely that he will pay this much for that scratch. ~$500-700

and lastly,

7) Settle with insurance, get money. Use money to buy euro bumpers. Long
   wait, I'll have to find silver euro bumpers (hard) or switch to black
   (not preferred), plus I don't particularly like euro bumpers. They look
   great, they loose weight, and thats all wonderful. But they're 1)
   expensive, 2) less likely to be fixed or replaced when damaged, 3) not
   covered by insurance in an accident, 4) not legal, 5) not designed to
   protect the car chassis as much. Having euro bumpers could cause more
   chassis damage and mean the difference between totalling the car and
   fixing it, 6) if insurance finds out they're not legal, they might not
   pay for damage in an accident, 7) I need the -rear- bumper. if i was
   going to buy euro bumpers i'd probably get a front only. because i am a
   good driver and IMHO its more likely that i get rear ended instead of
   rear ending someone. 8) putting on a rear euro worries me because the
   back end of the car isn't exactly modular. In the front you can bolt on
   a new fender, hood, grille, etc. The rear is all one piece and a PITA
   to replace/fix.
8) Settle with insurance, get money. Use money to buy euro lights, other
   accessories for my car. Live with deep scratches, sand them lightly and
   dab with touch up paint for crappy look but better than present
   condition.

Right now i'm considering three of these options actively.. in order #8,
#1, and #7. I need to call on insurance tomorrow if I'm going to do so, so
I'd appreciate any input people have on what to do here. I don't need the
scratch fixed immediately, but i need to get a plan together on what i'm
going to do. I've got this aweful feeling that the insurance company
doesn't pay much for plastic pieces, especially on 13 year old cars. But I
hope if I can talk to them and show them prices/estimates they will
cooperate and pay a fair amount to have it fixed. I'll have to mention the
bumper covers are a North America only part, and they're hard to find in
silver.

Sooooo....

if anyone has any ideas on how to repair the bumper, or where to get a new
bumper cover, or if anyone is selling a rear US bumper cover in
near-perfect condition (silver only please, i'm not a fan of
non-textured glossy painted bumpers), or if you know of a good set of
silver euro bumpers for sale, please let me know.

Thanks for listening,

-Toby

--
'87 Flash Silver Metallic Scirocco 16V

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