My eldest did a bang up job

In a stunningly uncharacteristic display of efficiency, my son managed to damage both our family cars in one swoop by backing the minivan out of the driveway and into the 4Runner. He cracked the left rear taillight, popped the rear body piece our of flush, and damaged the rear valence. Here are some pics of the damage:

https://imgur.com/a/78NYLD3

I know this is going to cost me, but is it something that I can do the labor myself assuming I can order the parts or do I have to take it to a professional? Thanks

 

Ouch, that sucks… hate to admit it, but I’ve done similar in the past. Extreme face-palm moment lol.

You might be able to get away with replacing or gluing the cracked valance. The bumper cover needs to come off to get at the clips. You’ll probably be able to snap the bumper cover back into place without having to fix anything. The tail light you might be able to get one from somebody who bought aftermarket lights and who is selling their original lights.

For any scuffs, I’d personally prefer trying to buff those out instead of getting a repaint.

 

Good time to get a black rear valance since the silver one is damaged.

 

Oof…. Should be a simple fix. Start with taking the bumper off and look for hidden damage, then go from there.

 

I'm only looking at that one picture.... but I'd opine that there is a good chance you can probably make a DIY repair that will get it back to 99%. I've had my rear bumper off 3x in the last month and it's a super easy process to swap in most replacement parts... most of which are available cheap/used on eBay.

 

The good news is some owners are giving those silver valances away after swapping in black ones. I'm in the very small minority that thinks the silver valances with the MGM paint scheme look good.

Someone on here might offer theirs for shipping cost. Boom.

I have to say, though, the thread title had me opening it to see some great 4Runner modification that had you beaming with pride, only to find the other kind of modification. Kids...

 

I didn't say it in the original post, but I was thinking the same thing. That, and him hitting my car instead of the neighbor's, might be the one silver lining in this whole debacle.

 

Look on the bright side, it could be worse. Over the summer my youngest nephew was "test driving" his fathers car while his father was out of town. A brilliant move as you can guess... Well, he opened the garage door to back out, but put it into drive instead of reverse.

He hit the gas and drove through the back of the garage door. Luckily it's a detached garage, otherwise he would have driven into the house. But he caused structural damage to the garage and massive front end damage to the car.

When my sister told me what had happened my only response was "When's the funeral? I'm gonna miss that boy."

 

I’d use this excuse to make him work it off. He needs an opportunity to learn from this. Def show him the final bill & teach him about saving his money for emergencies