...the first fender bender...

...remember that Scout is a fairly new driver...and we think a rather good one...

...nevertheless...none of us have any control over the other driver...

...and in this case...the other driver backed out of a driveway right in front of Scout and he was unable to stop...

...so not his fault at all...and the other driver got the ticket...

...but his car was still damaged...a bit...

...and no one was hurt...which is really the only important thing...

...when he got home...we surveyed the damage and decided that we wouldn't even bother filing a claim...

...because we thought we could probably take the bumper off...and 'pop' that small dent back out...

...it took us a while...but that's exactly what we did...

...several screws and bolts and clips later...

...we had the bumper off...but it proved a little more difficult than we thought to actually 'pop' the concave dent back out...the bumper being tougher than we thought...

...just brute force wouldn't do the trick...neither would a rubber mallet...

...but we decided that if we could get something to push against...we might be able to do it...

...that perfect something turned out to be the corner of the brick planter beside the driveway...

...at first we just put the bumper against the brick...but quickly realized that was going to leave a point on the bumper...

...so we put Scout's shoe on the point...and pressed hard on both sides of the dent...and you know what...it really did 'POP' right back out...

...we re-installed the bumper...and there are still a few scratches...so not quite as good as new...but good enough for an 11 year old car with other dings and scratches already...

...and now if you're ever in a similar situation you'll know what you need...a corner of a planter and a shoe...

~Have a lovely (safe) day!