Should I avoid this van???

Berto84

Senior Member
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T6 Guru
Hi people.
Having seen the wealth of people's knowledge on here I'm really hoping for some advice/suggestions on the following problem!
We are booked in for a full camper conversion in April and so have been obsessively scouring the dealers for a base van. Wanting a LWB Highline in our budget the van below came up ideal in terms of spec, price, mileage etc. However on closer inspection of the photos I noticed the front bumper!!
Screenshot_20171029-074018.jpg
After emailing the dealer about it they said they agreed it wasn't right and would put it in the bodyshop for a look.
A few days later they got back to me saying it appeared the bumper had been pushed out of line by probably someone reversing into it. No damage to paintwork and the body shop simply heated up the bumper and pushed it back into place!?
Here is a shot of the front after they'd faffed with it.
20171107_193548.jpg
Now I'm still not convinced the bottom of the bumper looks completely straight lookong at the photo and if I were to buy would niggle the hell out of me! I've not seen the van in the flesh by the way yet.
My initial thoughts are if it is just cosmetic maybe a basic front spoiler could conceal anything not quite right? But surely this would deserve a decent reduction in price off the asking price from the dealer?
I'm a DIY/mechanic/van buying amateur so I guess I'm just after some suggestions on whether to just totally avoid or its something thats possibly easily correctable for a sensible price! I wasn't planning on adding a front splitter or spoiler to the conversion originally but would if this was a solution and the asking price reflected the damage.

Hope all that makes sense and any advice is massively appreciated!

Rob
 
I wouldn’t worry about that, why don’t you ask them to fit a genuine sportline splitter into the deal, it’ll hide that, otherwise it’s a bargaining tool
 
It's definitely a bargaining tool i reckon but to be honest I'm a little confused by all the different splitters/spoilers out there. I was hoping if it came to a splitter it would be something quite subtle? Isn't the new VW sportline one quite chunky and in your face!?
I suppose I really need to see it in the flesh and see what the dealers can offer!
 
Sorry Berto. I would avoid it. If the advert had originally said Only crashed / bumped once.. would you still have considered it.

With the amount of cash these things cost I would want it spotless.
 
Agreed. Wish I’d been more aware of these headlights before choosing mine. If I were you I’d pick a straight one with LEDs
 
Ha fair points! I have considered other factors such as possible damage to wiring/parking sensors etc!
I just don't want to cut my nose off despite my face if it was an easily sorted 'niggle'! After months of looking in our budget range there's not actually a huge amount of available choice when it comes to lwb highlines!
 
"Agreed. Wish I’d been more aware of these headlights before choosing mine. If I were you I’d pick a straight one with LEDs"

whats wrong with these lights? just curious?
 
Crap you can see anything. I saw one coming the other way one night and thought they were on sidelights, you can get H7s which are better
 
I’d be sceptical if you haven’t seen it, who knows what’s lurking beneath. I needed to get a minor repair done on my car before changing to a van. The body shop were saying the amount of new vehicles that go out with repairs & people never know. I think I’d have to walk away. Plenty more vans out there.
 
Thanks for the replys. Think the avoiding seems to be probably the best idea. I was thinking maybe fitting a Maxton splitter would conceal any uneven bottom line of the bumper but even still i think it would still play on my mind driving it around that i still had a wonky front end!
 
Thanks for the replys. Think the avoiding seems to be probably the best idea. I was thinking maybe fitting a Maxton splitter would conceal any uneven bottom line of the bumper but even still i think it would still play on my mind driving it around that i still had a wonky front end!

Walk away - you'll always be looking at it! And wondering!
:cautious:
 
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