by Father William J. Byron, S.J.

The expression “bumper-to-bumper” is often used to describe a traffic tie-up, a slow-moving stream of cars on a beltway or highway. Sometimes the expression is used to describe automobile repair services that can take care of any problem between the front and back bumpers of any car.

Recently, my bumper-to-bumper experience involved a case of being rear-ended by another driver whose brakes were faulty.

I was at a dead stop near an intersection, behind two other cars that had halted to let pedestrians cross a busy street. The thud that I felt came from behind. Another car moving not all that fast had an apparently distracted the driver at the controls who applied his faulty brakes a bit too late to avoid the collision.

The other driver was apologetic, appropriately concerned about any possible injuries to my companion and myself, and immediately cooperative in providing me with all the information I needed to contact his insurance carrier. I called my insurance carrier, who said an inspector would be there the next day to assess the damage and give me an estimate. I then called the other fellow’s insurance carrier and was told they would send an estimator to inspect the damage.

Meanwhile, I began to think of the difference in bumpers from my early teen years in the 1940s and today. In the old days, a bumper was a relatively thin steel bar – one attached to the front, another attached to the rear of the automobile.

I couldn’t help but recall how an older-looking, but still underage, teenager would be elected by his pals to go into a taproom and buy a couple of quarts of beer.

He would open them by holding the cap up against a car bumper and banging down on the bottle cap with the palm of his hand, and the open bottle would then be passed around. (Typically, kids didn’t have enough foresight to equip themselves with bottle openers before stepping out on weekend evenings!) Bumpers were thin and strong in those days.

Now the bumper is really the front or the back of the automobile. Bang it up, and you’ve got a major repair job on your hands. You have to go to a body shop or to a “collision repair center” to get your car fixed. You don’t just pay for another bumper; you pay for replacement of a significant part of your car plus a paint job.

I won’t name the insurance companies in this case, but my insurer estimated the repair bill at $970. I was not at fault and therefore not obliged to pay. The other driver’s insurer was unfailingly polite and prompt to notify me that the repairs would amount to $4,300. They gave me an itemized estimate – parts, labor, paint, etc. – and told me to submit it to the body shop of my choice where the work would be done. I was to instruct the shop to bill the insurer.

Isn’t that like a team giving its playbook to the opponent? Why the wide difference in estimates for the same job? And why can’t bumpers once again be plain metal bars, strong enough to protect and easy enough to replace without replacing half the car?

Isn’t there a lesson here for automobile designers, manufacturers and insurers? I think there is and can’t understand why none is interested.[divider]

Jesuit Father Byron is university professor of business and society at St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.