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Janet, that one is easy! When cars had real bumpers, you could tap another car and just hear a "clang" and neither car would be damaged. No one lost any money, but no one MADE any money either! So NOW you tap another car, and the lump of plastic where the bumper would have been mounted, gets a small dimple, which crushes the styrofoam inside, and pushes in the shock absorber which hides behind it, which must be replaced after one collision, or makes the whole "bumper" crooked other wise. The paint on the "bumper" (maybe it should be renamed "crumpler"?) matches the other paint on the car, but if it must be repainted, it will never match exactly, so the entire end of the vehicle will need to be repainted, if the job is done properly. IF a tail or head light, trunk lid or hood has been damaged, it may need to be repaired, or replaced also. SInce these procedures require an estimate, time to locate and order parts, and time to do the repairs and paperwork involved, the owner may need to rent a replacement vehicle. If the car that was "tapped" was an inexpensive "economy" car, it will probably be "totalled", as the place where an iron frame used to be is now a roll of the same kind of thin metal that the easily dented doors are covered with, and cannot be straigtened or repaired, or economically replaced. The owner will then get a check from the insurance company to replace the totalled car which will be sold for a small sum to a salvage yard. Then the parts might be sold for large sums of money, or the car might be sold to a used car dealer, patched with "Bondo" and given a cheap paint job, and put back on the market as "like new"! So now, thousands of dollars are made by everyone concerned, EXCEPT for the car owner, who will pay more for insurance, and may have to pay a large differential between what the insurance company thought his car was worth and the actual cost to replace it. He/she might be tempted to buy a good used car to save the difference. HOPEFULLY not a "totalled" one fixed with Bondo! My daughter's car had a small rip in the plastic bumper. The dealer wanted about $700 to replace the parts, paint, etc, and 3 to 5 days. I fixed it with Bondo and a spray can, toal cost about $10! Bet you are sorry you asked! LOL Ken