New member here looking to buy - advice please

New member here looking to buy a C3.

I have just been to Evans Halshaw to see an 09 plate 1.4 C3 with 17,500 miles on the clock. FSH and one owner. Had a drive and liked it. Upon exterior inspection noticed front lower bumper/spoiler had been smashed, and underneath the drivers side plastic wheel arch was loose. The dealer said that one of the mechanics had shunted it into another car on the lot, and that they would do a free repair on it for me. The car is keenly priced at £4835, but I'm a bit worried about the damage, it did look superficial but you never know. I want to know if I should go for it - they will not budge on price and I walked away tonight, but I don't want to let a bargain get away.

Any advice gratefully received.

Hello mitchino,

Welcome to the C3 forum!

The rubber strip on the bottom of the front bumper often gets damaged/detached, it just clips back into place.

If they broke the bumper, then they should fix it, as an 09 plate shouldn't be showing that sort of damage on a dealers forecourt.

There are no vital parts behind the lower part of the front bumper that could be easily damaged without showing major damage to the bumper.

I can't imagine how they managed to damage the plastic wheel arch on the drivers side.

Maybe an independent inspection would ease your mind?

You didn't say if it was a petrol or a diesel, and which particular spec (VT,VTR,Exclusive,Exclusive Plus,etc) as the diesels and higher spec go for more than the low spec petrols.

Hi, thanks for the reply - it's a petrol VTR, this is the car:

https://www.evanshalshaw.com/vehiclesear ... 09gzd.html

I think it's been driven into something low lying, the main damage is about 10 inches to the left of the number plate below the front grille, in fact you can just make it out in the picture. It consists of a number of cracks and splinters in the grp, the longest being about 6 inches.

The bumper has been pushed back and has snapped off a plastic flap that's under the engine, and in turn dislodged the black plastic wheel arch or wheel arch protector. Lots of tabs that are joined by plastic connectors have snapped off. It's fairly superficial but bits are loose and flapping around.

They say they will fix it in their dedicated body shop, but will not replace any panels. I just wonder how good a job they will do.

Just as a matter of info - How much would it cost to replace all the plastic at the front end?

One more rather dumb question - is the steering wheel slightly oval? I noticed that when I turned it i didn't spin in a perfect circle!

As I say, it's quite cheap compared to all the other C3s I've found of that age and mileage. If you reckon it's not too bad I think I'll go for it.

Hi mitchino,

I can see the damage in the photos!

The bit that worries me is "bits are loose and flapping around.", these need fixing as they will only break off later.

The front bumper is £175 plus paint new, but you may pick up and reasonably undamaged one here - on ebay

The under engine cover is about £40 and I don't know the cost of the inner arch.

If the tabs are broken off, its going to need a new under engine cover at least. Just the man hours to fix something that cheap is uneconomical.

With regards to the steering, I hadn't noticed the rotation not being round, but shape of the air-bag holder did trick my eye into thinking its not rotating in a circular motion when I looked closely at it while turning the wheel.