The Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG), in an effort to provide collision repairers with another tool to assist them in their quest to prepare more complete and accurate estimates, has developed a matrix of major vehicle manufacturers (OEs) and the condition in which their bumper covers are shipped.

“The DEG has received several inquiries regarding the varying condition in which OE’s ship their bumper covers, (Raw, Primed, In Color, etc.) and related questions as to whether database labor reflects additional labor associated with the treatment of raw plastic," says Bud Center, DEG Administration. "In response, the DEG has developed a simple matrix that will assist collision damage estimators in identifying how each of the major OE’s ship their bumper covers. This will help estimators to prepare more accurate estimates, and where appropriate, to include the unique additional refinish labor operations that are often necessary to prepare a raw bumper for the refinish process.”

Nick Kostakis, DEG Joint Operating Committee member, adds that the CIC Database Committee has been working this issue with the information providers for some time now.

“It is our goal to work with the information providers to automate the additional labor operations necessary to prepare raw bumper covers vs. primed bumper covers," he says. "This tool, prepared by the DEG, will help collision repairs to more easily identify raw bumpers at the point of estimate preparation until such time as the Information Providers can automate this information.”

Below is information on bumpers.

OEM Bumper Covers – Condition as Shipped
Project Scope: The scope of this project was to contact each of the OE’s to determine in which condition their bumper covers are shipped. (Raw, Primed, or R/P Sometimes Raw – Sometimes Primed)
In an effort to obtain this information we made phone and/or e-mail contact with the OE’s noted below to inquire about the bumper cover condition as shipped.

The following OEs ship their bumper covers primed:
• Ford – The only parts currently shipped raw are mirror skull caps.
• Volkswagen
• Chrysler
• Audi
• General Motors
• Saturn
• Honda – Or surface finished ready to install
• Acura – Or surface finished ready to install

The following OEs ship their bumper covers raw:
• Toyota – With the exception of a few Corolla parts coming out of one specific plant.
• Lexus
• Subaru
• Hyundai

The following OEs ship their bumper covers a combination of raw/primed/painted:
• Volvo – 95 percent are shipped painted and the other 5 percent are raw. No consistent make/model shipped raw but typically older models or rush orders.
• Mazda – Currently shipped primed or raw but in the near future all covers will be shipped raw.
• Nissan
• Infiniti
• Mercedes – Most covers are shipped in color or primed but some do go out raw.
• Mitsubishi – 2004 and newer Endeavor, 1999 and newer Galant, 2000 and newer Eclipse, 2001 and newer Eclipse Spyder, and 1997-2003 Diamante are all shipped Raw.

Bumper covers shipped in the RAW condition require additional steps to prepare them for the painting process.

For more information, visit www.degweb.org.