So this week I noticed that the back reflector was loose. I tried to see if I could put it back on but no cigar. I called my dealer because I figured this would be covered by my warranty (my car is 7 months old) and made an appointment. I went to my appointment yesterday and right away the attendant said that it wouldn't be covered by the warranty. He said that someone must have hit me and loosened the reflector. He said that is easy to do (it doesn't require a hard hit) because it was only glued on. He called a body shop nearby and explained the problem: the reflector came loose, it needed to be glued on, and the bumper area needed a buffering to get rid of some minor scratches. He had told me not to pay more than $150 to get all this done. Well, the body shop owner, a friend of his, told him he would do it for free. Cool. I went there but the owner wasn't there. The mechanic saw it and said that to fix it properly, the bumper needed to be changed. I told him what the Mazda dealer had told me, about the reflector only being glued on, and he said that they said that because they don't know. He said that the reflector is not glued on, it is held by screws. When I said that replacing the bumper seemed like, well, overkill he said that he could glue it on but didn't know how well it would hold. He said that I needed to bring it another day, he would take the bumper out, glue the reflector, and put the bumper back in. The whole ordeal would take about 1 hour.
Anyway, so that's where I am right now.
Anyway, so that's where I am right now.
- So, who's telling the truth? Are the reflectors glued on or screwed on?
- Is replacing the bumper really the best alternative here?
- If I go through my insurance, is this going to ding my record even though I wasn't at fault here (in fact, this must've happened when my car was parked)?
- Anyone had one of these reflectors come loose? If so, what did you do?