Hello, first post. I bought a 2012 Honda Fit Sport last week. I checked the tag before I purchased. Barely pulled the top and it separated a little from them bumper and I checked to see how it was mounted and noticed it was mounted from the bottom. It wasn't till a few days later I removed the tag and realized it was drilled through the bumper. Not only did they drill through the bumper the screws that held the dealer plate on had also went through and on into the bumper enough to take off the paint. So that's one large hole and 2 places missing paint on a brand new car. Where I live and where the dealer is located isn't even a state that requires a front tag. My wife swung by the dealer and showed them. They told her where she could get it fixed for "$50." Any thoughts on this? What should I do? What have you guys done to fix? Maybe at least someone will see this and be aware before they buy. My S2000 has the mounts which have bumper plugs so I didn't see this coming, I should have checked better.

How will this affect the warranty if these paint places continue to grow in size or cracks?

I LOVE the car, but this is disappointing.

 

I had the same middle hole in my bumper. I discovered it when I was moving the plate to a lower position. I don't know what is wrong with these dealers who have no concern over causing permanent damage like that! I was able to find a small plastic upholstery plug at the auto parts store. I cleaned up the burr in the plastic hole by hand, using a large drill bit to add somewhat of a chamfer. I then snapped in the upholstery plug and since my car is black, and the plug was also gloss black, the result was satisfactory. I suppose if you wanted to try the same method, you could first paint the plug to match your bumper. The plug looks like part of the bumper and you don't even notice it. As far as the two smaller holes, you may just have to live with those. They won't be noticeable from a distance.

 

PRODUCTS

$24.95 for two and they will custom match your paint color.

 

When I bought my Fit, I took it home that night to pull the dealer stickers and plates off and saw where the bracket had rubbed the paint off. I took it back the next day and they said they would have the body guy look at it. The next weel I took to back and they had the bumper repainted. I would try to remain calm and reasonable when they try the $50 will fix it the next time you go by.

 

This is in no way acceptable, the areas that I circled are mounts for a front plate so that no holes need to be drilled to put a front plate on. The dealer chose to ignore these for some reason and drilled your bumper.


One more thing, the bracket used is a Honda branded part.

 

try this instead.

DIY Bumper Plugs for .38 cents @Home Depot - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum

 

They drilled mine too in addition to the bottom plate mounts. I don't plan on moving the plate, so I'll live with it, but why do dealers think it's ok to do that?

 

Mine was the same way, it must be a common practice... but disappointing.

 

Mine was also the same. I got tired of getting pulled over for no front plate in my stock civic so I just left it on my fit. No point in drawing more attention than I need.

 

Perhaps because a lot of states do require license plates to be mounted, so they put them on assuming that you want to comply with your state's laws and regulations. I know, it sounds crazy.

But the Fit is a car marketed toward a much broader demographic, while certain cars that are more geared toward a niche market composed of the tuner/enthusiast crowd typically will be sold through dealers who know that a lot of their clients won't want front plates, so they don't put them on as a result. But given the Fit's sales and variety of buyers, I doubt that there is enough disapproval of front plates to the point where they are going to consciously not put them on Fits in particular.

That's how I felt. I've owned two Evos, neither of which had a front plate when purchased (since a huge chunk of the Evo community is composed of the tuner/enthusiast crowd who doesn't want the plates), but I ended up installing the plates on both within a year of purchase. The main reason was because I was tired of being paranoid whenever I'd see a law enforcement officer (especially since at the time, I was applying for law enforcement and didn't want to get any stupid tickets). Additionally, the car doesn't look bad with a license plate on, but it doesn't look much better without one either.

 

@DeeezNuuuts83 I think the question was less why do the dealers put the front plate onto the Fit, and more why do they put it on the incorrect way, completely ignoring the Honda specifications on how it was designed to be mounted.

I wouldn't be surprised if the answer to that question is they're too gorram lazy to do it the right way, which requires looking at the underside of the bumper and lining up existing holes... when they can just attack it with a power tool quick and dirty from the front. >_<

I'm torn between looking and seeing how my River car's front plate is mounted, out of morbid curiosity... or just ignoring it because I've had her for a year now, and she was used when I purchased her, so there really wasn't anything I could have done to prevent it if the idiots at the original dealer had put the plate holder on the lazy way.

 

Gotcha. I didn't really look at it that way.

But again, while it's annoying, I really don't think that the dealerships care all that much, since again, they don't anticipate most of their customers removing the plates since most states require the plates to stay on. In their opinion, they're probably thinking that if the plate never comes off (which it likely won't unless you want to be Mr. JDM), the owner would never know the difference, and it wouldn't affect anything.

One of our assistants in my office has a Fit Sport, I'll glance at hers when we go out to lunch in a few minutes. Maybe hers was done correctly.

 

The dealership properly mounted my plate frame from the underside, I think they just screwed in the middle for good measure.

 

Actually, "drilling holes" is part of the install.

But the correct location is in the bottom part of the bracket, pointing upwards into the bumper. You notice that the bracket has three holes, with the outer two matching the clips on the bumper. That hole in the center is for the tapping screw... as per the PDI (pre-delivery inspection).

 

lol sucks for some of you guys that got the center of the bumper hole from the plate bracket.

I took my bracket off and there was no hole. I do see many fits using color matched hole plugs to cover their holes.

dont get mad or upset its actually part of the PDI as goobers explained. If you have the hole just plug it or leave the front plate on.

 

When my car was on the lot it didnt have the front plate bracket on. When I bought the car I gave them specific instructions to leave it in the car, and to not put it on. And they did

 

At least your state doesn't require a front plate.