Question about replacing the front bumper on a 16 silverado!

[Meintool]

So my lease is almost at it's end and I have a damaged front bumper, it is the primered black(unpainted) without fog lights without parking sensors bumper, both shops quoted me around $747.60 for the bumper and 3 hours labor to replace, no paint required. I then start looking online at OR replacement front bumpers, I found one for a great price and placed the order, upon checking reviews for the website that I ordered from, I noticed all of the bad reviews were from people who ordered stuff that wasn't in stock, I figured I would call them and make sure they had the bumper in stock like the website said when I placed the order, well sure enough they did not have the bumper in stock, So i canceled the order and started looking elsewhere, I get in contact with a place in texas that said I needed to call them for the price, The guys ends up telling me Chevy has a patent on these front bumpers and YOU CAN NOT find, get, purchase aftermarket OE replacement front bumpers?  Is this true that aftermarket replacement bumpers do not exist due to a patent that chevy has on them? if so I am stuck spending the $700+ on the part from the dealer?

 

If I was keeping the truck I would gladly just install a nice off road bumper but since its a lease and I am not purchasing the truck, I need to replace it with OE/OEM only.

 

Any ideas or suggestions? and is this patent story True? Discount body parts argued with me that they actually DO sell the bumper and they just sold the last one and it did indeed ship to the last person that ordered it before I placed my order and the website "just didn't update yet".

[L86 All Terrain]

A guy ran into my 2015 black painted bumper last year at the fuel pumps and it costed his insurance $2,650 CAD to replace. 

 

TBH I would start calling scrap/wrecking yards, you will probably find one easy if you live near a larger city, doesn't have to be plastic black, a chrome one wouldn't hurt your value. GM Parts Direct should have one too for less than $400USD. 

[Snowcamo]

I was also told chevy has a patent on the bumpers 14-18. Hints why you can only find them in pieces not complete assemblies. Having said that i ended up buying my 14 front from a local guy here who has/ had a container full from a dealership. Iirc he wanted 600 for the 16+

[Meintool]

 

 

So the problem I have is it's a lease, the truck is black with the blackout package, so it came with the black primered(not color matched) front bumper, wont that be an issue with the lease end inspection if i replace it with a chrome bumper? becuase I can find chrome all day, but the truck would really look odd with the front bumper being literally the only thing in chrome o.O

 

I have been to a lot of the GM parts websites and oh boy there are a ton of them, the cheapest primered black exact replacement I can find with shipping is $659 I doubt there are many if any in salvage yards around me, the shops are quoting me 747.60 for just the bumper, i've also called all of my local dealers and they are the exact same 747.60, so I guess even if I get it for 659, I'll be saving some cash, but damn that price hurts a lot more than a cheapo aftermarket one that looks identical... damn patents haha

[Snowcamo]

 
 
So the problem I have is it's a lease, the truck is black with the blackout package, so it came with the black primered(not color matched) front bumper, wont that be an issue with the lease end inspection if i replace it with a chrome bumper? becuase I can find chrome all day, but the truck would really look odd with the front bumper being literally the only thing in chrome o.O
 
I have been to a lot of the GM parts websites and oh boy there are a ton of them, the cheapest primered black exact replacement I can find with shipping is $659 I doubt there are many if any in salvage yards around me, the shops are quoting me 747.60 for just the bumper, i've also called all of my local dealers and they are the exact same 747.60, so I guess even if I get it for 659, I'll be saving some cash, but damn that price hurts a lot more than a cheapo aftermarket one that looks identical... damn patents haha

Yup gm locked it down. You can always check the local craigslist. Thats where i found my guy. Here in tx its not uncommon to see the black ones going for 300 all day.

Sent from my LG-G710 using Tapatalk

[Meintool]

Well, it doesn't matter at this point because I took a trip the dealer yesterday and ended up leaving with a 2019 satin steel custom trail boss o.O

 

 

oops

[Donstar]

5 hours ago, Meintool said:

Well, it doesn't matter at this point because I took a trip the dealer yesterday and ended up leaving with a 2019 satin steel custom trail boss

 

Congratulations!  Best bumper fix ever!

[Snowcamo]

9 hours ago, Meintool said:

Well, it doesn't matter at this point because I took a trip the dealer yesterday and ended up leaving with a 2019 satin steel custom trail boss o.O

 

 

oops

Nice! Pics?

[Meintool]

As a matter of fact i do!

 

I happened to find some trails/sandy powerlines behind my work today had a blast but damn the leases! have to worry about damaging it haha. But! I got stuck in some deep mud i was resting on the front skid plate. Ended up getting out without any help or recovery gear truck got filthy with heavy wet sticky mud like molasses. Took 4 hours to get it looking new again haha