Should I repair the damage?

I damaged the rear lower valance on my Gallardo by backing it into a curb. The impact was at low velocity but resulted in the cracking of the valance near the bottom right rivet, resulting in a fragment of the valance where the rivet is attached to the underbody frame being broken off from the rest of the valance. There is slight buckling in the main piece of the valance as well. (Layman's terms: I backed the damn car into a curb and the plastic piece under the bumper cracked).

This damage can easily be seen if you are looking for it, since the whole piece cracked off, but otherwise is hard to notice (because of the fact the car sits so low). To repair the piece, the lower valance is a $1800 part with about $200-$300 labor to install (quoted from Lamborghini Ohio).

I have three options: to repair the valance at my own cost, to claim under my comprehensive insurance policy (there is a $1000 deductible, so basically in this case I pay half they pay half), or to simply live with the damage.

Living with the damage is an annoyance because I will always know its there, but Lambo Ohio service dept has assured me that the issue is cosmetic. Sadly cosmetics is one of the reasons for having the car, however, I can say that if I don't point it out, someone would have to be really looking underneath the rear of the car to notice it. Incidentally, the service manager advised to just forget about it, which I felt was a very honest and praiseworthy attitude considering the potential conflict of interest. I will remember that in my future dealings with them.

As for repairing it on my own money, I'd probably only do that if I thought I was selling/trading the car and it would be an issue in terms of depreciation. Although it is a major annoyance, I don't think that a barely visible piece of plastic is worth the price Lambo is charging for it, although who knows in time if it is annoying enough I might end up changing my mind.

The question is whether to take advantage of my full coverage/comprehensive insurance. If I make the claim I get it repaired for $1000 my money, but I do not know if this will affect my rate in the future and whether it makes sense to make the claim.

If anyone has done something like this before, I'd appreciate advice. I know the general "rule" is to not make small claims on insurance to prevent a rate hike but I want to be sure since after all I am paying for the comprehensive every month and I want to use it if it makes sense to.

 

Thanks for the heads up Nera. I am trying to decide if the level of damage would warrant concern about induced drag causing the bumper to rip off. If there is any possibility of that then it will get repaired period. I was led to believe it was only a cosmetic item, clearly I have to reassess. I am not intending to replace the part with CF as I prefer to keep it stock. However, I do not know anyone here personally and will not send hundreds of dollars to someone I do not know. As a viable alternative, is there a dealer/reputable parts supplier who will be able to sell me this part at a discount (for perhaps a used piece)? The usual lambo accessories web sites do not have this piece and as mentioned I am not eager to go for OEM parts, I prefer to stick to stock if possible.

Attaching a photo of the part for those of you who do not know what a rear diffuser is.
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Sadly no marinas nearby, and also from what I read its a real heck of a job getting this piece off, I might want to get someone who knows what he's doing to take it off rather than risk making things worse on my own.

If anyone knows a reliable source of this piece or a really good way to fix it, I'd appreciate the tip. I do not want to pay the $1800 for this piece of plastic that Lamborghini is asking. I know that there are postings on various places from people who claim to have a Lambo rear diffuser for sale for a few hundred dollars, but I'd only trust a verified source if I am sending that much money to an unknown person on the Internet!

Also as for fixing it with resin/etc I have thought about that but the thing is since its cracked I need to take the whole diffuser off as stated earlier. The reason is that the diffuser is riveted onto the underbody and there is some tension. Now that the piece is cracked off, it takes quite a bit of force to bring the two pieces together again and I do not see a way to do that without removing the whole piece. And even if I did repair it with some glue/sealant, with such a small contact area, I think it might just come apart again once its riveted back in.

 

Your assumption is correct and that diagram is helpful. I am looking into the possibility of removing the piece myself, now that that is available. However, I lack any sort of specialized tool or a car lift/ramp. If anyone has had experience actually removing this piece, please do let me know, as I would appreciate the assistance.

The piece is slightly higher off the ground than in the photo normally. When the piece broke off, the tension was released and the diffuser dropped down maybe 3/4 of an inch. One way to picture it - do you see a slight gradient from left to right along the bottom edge of the diffuser? That edge is normally parallel. The gradient is caused by the crack detaching that part of the diffuser from the underbody. If you can visualize how high it would be if the slope were eliminated, then you would have a pretty good idea of the actual clearance.

 

I want to thank everyone on Lambochat for the advice. At this time, this is my decision:

Firstly I have decided to repair the damage because I agree with nera that there is a potential safety issue here. For what it is worth, the offset of the diffuser is only slight, and I do not actually think it will rip off, but it is better to have peace of mind.

As for how I will repair it, I have decided not to go with the Lamborghini dealer route, because, as several people have mentioned, this is a piece that is likely to get damaged again, and I don't think that piece of plastic is worth $2000 to replace.

So that limits the choices down to repairing the diffuser or getting a used one from somebody who has a spare. I am currently talking to a body shop to see if repairs can be made. This is likely to be a big repair job, so I will ask the body shop to see if they will allow me to take pictures as the repair is undertaken. If repairs fail, then I will resort to buying a used diffuser from someone.

I will post photos once the repairs are complete.