my wife's beetle, before we sold it, had the same issue. I was lucky enough to find one in the same paint color. was a simple process. not sure how difficult it is on others, but the Bug was super quick.

Yeah, you could try this. Try calling a few auto salvage yards and see if they have the part already painted. If your car is a super common model and color (example, 2006 silver honda accord), you might be in business.

I'll tell ya what's NOT quick on the Bug....changing a MF headlight bulb.
JFC.

My wife's car is horrible about that too. You have to go in through the wheel well and remove the fender liner to get at the light assembly.

yep. basically had to remove the entire fender etc. WTF are they thinking.

Bring your shit to one of our dealers so we can milk you for $400

I feel your pain. My wife's CR-V is a pain in the ass, too. The little clip that holds the bulb in is hard to maneuver, especially on the one behind the battery. To make matters worse, the thing eats bulbs like candy. I end up having to replace one of them every few months. :#

Had to completely remove the entire dash board of my '87 Taurus to replace the heater core. After doing crap like that you get to hate working on cars.

If it eats lights like that. That seems like a manufacturing issue and they need to fix it for free.

Also just bought one of those cars for my parents.

It's a common issue with CR-V's and Honda hasn't done anything about it.

Your best bet is to try to locate a salvage yard bumper cover of your paint code. Even if you get a used one not of your paint color and have it painted you're going to be spending easily $250+ to have it painted. It has to be sanded, primed, adhesion promoter sprayed on the surface, paint, and then cleared.