Beware if Selling or Buying a Used Truck

[jeffsw6]

Limiting future repair bills carries a lot of weight when I am buying used trucks.:thumbsup:

My trouble is I am concerned about putting harder towing miles on my 05 Suburban K1500. Almost all its miles are towing 4000# which it does comfortably, and I only drive like 4000-5000mi/year, but soon I will have more like 8000# to tow regularly. A major transmission repair would probably cost as much as a used truck. So I probably will get something really soon after receiving the new trailer, maybe if it isn't exactly what I want I will trade up after a year.

 

[timswi]

Right now, private selling is a little dangerous to your wallet...The last 2 I've traded in brought at least 15%-20% more than NADA. There's no inventory out there so used trucks are bringing a premium...Cars too...Cash For Clunkers started this, and it still remains....Economic smarts aren't in the current WH.

Auction prices dictate the value, NADA is too far behind. FYI...This may not last forever though.

 

[flyingcow]

I had good luck using carfax. costs a few bucks, but on a private sale it's priceless. It will list the dealers that the vehicle was serviced at. Call the service mangers up with VIN. Got some more tidbits of info. Not fool proof by any means but it helped. One vehicle i even called the DMV listed on carfax. Got all the info i needed, except for names of owners. One private seller was listing a pickup with 168,000 miles. Carfax and calls to DMV and ford dealership that serviced it verified that the pickup had 171,000 miles on it, 4 yrs prior! Seller said it was a mistake. Yeah, it was a mistake calling you. Did report it to CL, but......

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Right now, private selling is a little dangerous to your wallet...The last 2 I've traded in brought at least 15%-20% more than NADA. There's no inventory out there so used trucks are bringing a premium...Cars too...Cash For Clunkers started this, and it still remains....Economic smarts aren't in the current WH.

Auction prices dictate the value, NADA is too far behind. FYI...This may not last forever though.

Some claim all vacuums get filled over time so I expect the used market will cool as we baby boomer start passing in mass. There will be alot of cars, trucks, tractors and all kinds of equipment dumped on the market over the next 20 years. I just hope my are not put up for sell for a long long time. :thumbsup:

 

[Cat_Driver]

The last two tings I sold both sold near what I paid for them 5 years earlier.
I bought a New jeep and gave 27L for it, drove it for 5 years with low miles and sold it for 25K - I never understood that one.

The I sold a 8 year old Kubota I bought new for 18K and sold it for 16K after working it hard for 8 years.

Also goes for some camera gear I sold on Ebay. I had a 7 year old lens that sold for exactly what I paid for it after using it for nearly a decade.

Yes there is a sucker born every day. I learned that from my brother. He sets his prices sky high on everything he sells and sooner and mostly later he always gets his price.

 

[two_bit_score]

.... .... .... He sets his prices sky high on everything he sells and sooner and mostly later he always gets his price.

My experience is that asking a high price will get more offers and result in a quicker sale. Not because people are suckers but because if it's priced low they think you are trying to dump it.

 

[WM75Guy]

Yeah, you are right. When you sell a vehicle in Texas and leave the license plates on it you run a risk of getting tickets from every parking meter in town and every toll gate within 800 miles. You may be able to legally disavow responsibility if you can show that you sold the vehicle but if the plates list your address you will be getting the tickets and notices in the mail. Also, red light tickets.

In Texas you can take your plates off and scrape off the sticker. For $5 you can transfer the plates to your new vehicle (car to car, truck to truck) if you like. The new owner can use a transit form for 5 days to drive the vehicle to get new plates. If you leave the plates on you can file a vehicle transfer notification so if the new owner does not change the title your name is off so you don't receive the parking or toll tag tickets.

 

[grsthegreat]

In Texas you can take your plates off and scrape off the sticker. For $5 you can transfer the plates to your new vehicle (car to car, truck to truck) if you like. The new owner can use a transit form for 5 days to drive the vehicle to get new plates. If you leave the plates on you can file a vehicle transfer notification so if the new owner does not change the title your name is off so you don't receive the parking or toll tag tickets.

same thing in Idaho...the license plates stay with the original owner and can be transfered.

 

[two_bit_score]

In Texas you can take your plates off and scrape off the sticker. For $5 you can transfer the plates to your new vehicle (car to car, truck to truck) if you like. The new owner can use a transit form for 5 days to drive the vehicle to get new plates. If you leave the plates on you can file a vehicle transfer notification so if the new owner does not change the title your name is off so you don't receive the parking or toll tag tickets.

Yes you can. Not many are aware of that form. It appears you can now submit it online to the TxDMV through their website.

Before the DMV operation was severed from TxDot the form had to be signed by the buyer and seller. Now it appears the seller can submit it without the buyers involvement.

 

[JB4310]

My little bit of advice for anyone looking at a used vehicle.

Bring an On Board Diagnostics (OBD) scanner. Could shed light on unseen issues and help save you some headaches.

They are so cheap now, everyone has them and knows how to clear MIL light faults. At least with the scanner, even if there is no check engine light on you will see pending or stored codes.

I just got a scanner myself and now carry it around with me in the tool kit.
Especially useful for long road trips, so you wont be at the mercy of some repair facility if your vehicle throws a code, you will at least have a clue what's going on.

JB