[rtb001]

Hi all, hoping to get some opinions/advice on some damage to my 328i sedan.

While traveling this weekend, a guy in a Jeep behind me rolled up next to me at a red light and told me he thought part of my bumper was "falling off" and nearly scraping the ground. I pulled over and took a quick look but didn't see anything obvious at the back of the car.

But I did start driving without the stereo on to see if I can hear any abnormal sounds, and I did notice that while going down a steep ramp at the hotel parking garage or under moderate braking, both situations causing the nose to dip down a bit, there is a mild "dragging" sound. So then I looked carefully at the front of the car, and there is a bit of damage to the "skid plate," the big flat sheet of plastic which protects the underside of the engine/transmission etc.

There is maybe a 7" x 7" squarish piece of the skid plate near the middle of the car, which is partially broken off and is hanging down a bit, which is why I hear the dragging sound whenever the nose dips down. I drove the car around 800 miles on a long trip this weekend, and it otherwise operates just fine.

Thinking back, I remember a big "thump" on my way home from work about a month ago. I was going about 30 mph, and it was after one of the snow storms here in upstate NY. I am assuming there was a piece of ice or something jutting out of the street, which hit the undercarriage and ripped this hole in the plate.

I'm going to take the car into the local dealership to have it looked over, and hopefully the damage is limited to the plastic plate, and the engine bits over the hole is not damaged. The car certainly feels okay to drive.

Assuming that, they would probably still recommend me to replace the entire skid plate. Any thoughts on whether this is absolutely necessary? It's not a very large rip, and if the proposed fix is super expensive, I was considering just cutting the hanging bit off so it's not dragging on the ground, especially if there is nothing vital over where the hole is.

So I guess my questions would be:

1. If I just trim that bit off, thereby leaving a small hole in the plate, would it somehow affect the car warranty. I know repairing the plate is not a warranty issue, since it is the result of that bump, but would not completely repairing the plate be used as a reason to deny any warranty repairs which may occur in the future?

2. Do I need to go through my local dealer on this issue? The repair itself, assuming the damage is limited to the plate, would seem pretty simple. They order a new plate, jack the car up, remove the old plate, and slap the new part on.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for any input/advice!