nellyfit_/TikTokA woman posted on TikTok showing her beat-up Toyota following some accident damage, and showed that part of her bumper has been kept together with duct tape. Nelly (@nellyfit_) posted an amusing video on her account, recounting how she came to use it on her car, and remaining quite upbeat despite the situation.Nelly was making light of her situation in the video, but also stressed that for those also having a bad day, it could get worse. “If you’re ever having a bad day, at least your car doesn’t look like this,” she said in her video, before showing us the damage.The TikTok user recounted when the damage happened, after she was involved in an accident around a year ago. Nelly also explained to viewers why she had it repaired with duct tape rather than sending it to a workshop or garage to have the Toyota fixed more permanently.AdvertisementAdvertisementAs you would imagine, viewers were quite amused and taken aback by what had happened to the car, and the video quickly gained nearly 32,000 views at the time of writing. When you think about how expensive it is to repair a car these days, Nelly's methods suddenly make more sense.Why Nelly's Toyota Has Been Fixed With Duct TapeIn the video, Nelly shows off the front of her Toyota, where a large portion of the bumper is damaged. We can then see that it has been placed back onto the car, and was being held together by duct tape, and yes, you did read that right. “Yes, that is duct tape, and yes, I had to duct tape my car,” Nelly said.Nelly said in the video that this damage dated back to an accident she had around a year ago. Despite it being over 12 months since the accident, this was the repair she opted for, hence the strange appearance of the front of the car. But Nelly doesn't go into many details as to why this was the repair she opted for, or if her insurance company was involved.The caption to her video, though, does suggest that this decision was made for financial reasons. At the time of writing, around 32,000 people had viewed the video on her account. Nelly's duct tape repair, however, is a worrying sign, because as costs rise overall in the world, repairing a car that has just cosmetic damage suddenly becomes something a lot harder to justify, especially if it can still be driven.Repairing Any Car Is Not a Cheap UndertakingMehmet Talha Onuk/UnsplashAccording to Newell's Auto Body Inc., repairing a car's bodywork damage isn't cheap. In fact, it could even be cheaper than simple mechanical repairs, and there are a number of reasons for this. One of those is that repair shops have to scan the vehicle before any repairs are complete, to work out what work is needed, and how to safely proceed with it. This costs time and money, and involves expensive equipment.AdvertisementAdvertisementAs cars these days are full of electronics, it is often about more than just shoving a new part onto the body. Sensors are a big part of this, with assists such as blind spot monitors and parking assist having those sensors within a car's bodywork. These will all need recalibrating and connected back up to the rest of the car, and this can be incredibly labor-intensive. The more labor hours there are for a repair, the more money you are going to pay to have it fixed. Various other factors, such as material cost, the price of tools, and low insurance company estimates, can also play a role.Where Viewers Stood on the Duct Tape Repairnellyfit_/TikTokViewers of Nelly's video were divided on whether the duct tape fix was the right course of action for Nelly. Some applauded the creativity for keeping the car going, especially because it was fine mechanically. “In this economy, whatever it takes,” said one viewer. Others, though, said Nelly should contact an insurance company or source parts herself and get a local mechanic to fix the car. “You can buy that whole front clip from Pick-A-Part for like $100 and have a back yard mechanic put it on for like another $100,” said one.If you want more stories like this, follow Guessing Headlights on Yahoo so you don’t miss what’s coming next.
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