How to inspect a used bumper before you pay

You pay on handover for a reason: the three minutes before cash changes hands are yours. Here is how the pros spend them.

A used bumper is one of the most-ordered parts on Ghiyar — and the easiest to check. Every fault that matters is visible in daylight if you know where to look. Run these five checks at handover, in order, before you pay.

1. Cracks hide at the corners

Flex each corner gently with your palm. Repaired cracks flex differently — stiffer, with a faint click. Check behind the fog-light recesses; that is where most repairs hide.

2. Count the tabs

Every mounting tab should be present and unglued. Photograph the tab row and compare it against the listing photos — Ghiyar keeps the supplier’s photos on your order for exactly this.

Ghiyar tip: anything that fails a check costs you nothing. Tell the driver, have the handover recorded as “Buyer refused the part”, and no return window ever starts because you never paid.

3. The flashlight trick

Hold your phone light flat against the paint and look along the surface. Filler shows as orange-peel ripples; original paint is glass-smooth.

4 and 5. Mounts and colour code

Check the metal mounting points for rust or re-welds, then match the paint code sticker — usually inside the left wheel arch — against your car’s. “White” is never just white: a Patrol has four of them.