My EXT has several character markings and beauty marks, perhaps more than some people would put up with.
Not much I am able or willing to deal with at this point.
One of the the things I did notice early on was the gap spacing of the front bumper.
Mine appears to be fairly consistent with the way your pictures look.
I first thought the gap was overly large (and still think that way), but having taken notice of many other Escalades of that generation, I have come to believe it is more of a design flaw than a problem unique to my truck.
There are half a dozen first gen EXT's in my normal travel path, many of them are the White Diamond color and I have noticed that bumper gap on practically all of them.
The same seems to hold true for regular Escalades and Escalade ESV's.
The gap certainly looks more pronounced on white and silver trucks as opposed to the black, red or blues.
At least to me, anyway.
Perhaps someone with the appropriate skill set could do some body work magic and close the gap, but I doubt I will ever pursue that on my truck.
Overall, I believe I would be very happy with an EXT in the condition of yours.
I hope you guys enjoy yours at least half as much as I do mine.
As for the insurance rate, mine did go up slightly over the rate I was paying on my previous 1999 Suburban and it is also slightly higher than the rate for our 2006 CTS.
My wife and I are both older adults with clean driving records and no accidents, so I am not sure how that may compare to a younger driver's rate, but I feel our rates are not out of line for what we drive.
I wonder what it would cost to have those wheels refinished.
I have thought about Plasti-Dipping mine flat black for a goof, but just haven't gotten around to it.
Wonder how that might look.
I look forward to reading more about your new truck.