@shadowfax Don’t look too fondly into being in my shoes. When I was growing up, we did a lot of things ourselves as money was tight. Being able to do wiring, radio and television repairs, auto maintenance, drywall work, etc. certainly saved me money over the years. However, it’s hard for me to call someone to do things that I used to do myself and at almost 79 years old would now take forever to do.
The younger generation doesn’t have this problem. Our son is very happy to have downsized from a three bedroom house to a condo where he doesn’t do yard work and has limited space to maintain.
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$5000 is way too much according to Edmunds. They say it’s worth about $3000 in clean condition. That’s with absolutely nothing wrong, including good tires. The premium for mileage is only $370. You could buy two of these for 5 grand. Don’t make an offer unless it has been for sale for more than two or three months. If you walk in at $3000, the owner will be insulted. He needs a good dose of reality, but he might get abusive, and you don’t need that. If you decide you want to do it anyway, come armed with price estimates from KBB, NADAGuides, and Edmunds to back up your offer.
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Edmunds is wrong then. Even if this was a basic work truck with a regular cab, long bed, 2WD, automatic transmission, it would be worth $5-6k. This is, of course, a luxury model with many upgrades above “work truck” configuration. Even with 200,000 miles, it would easily fetch over $3k in running condition.
I still say $7-8k is a fair market value for this truck, although someone may very well pay $10k if they really want it. I don’t see this selling for $12k though.
I really don’t know what a fair price should be. It’s a nice truck. Looking at the ad though, a couple things stood out. One they said they were selling their “beloved truck”, and the reason was they bought a new truck. So they are an emotionally attached “elderly” (whatever that means) couple. Why they wouldn’t have traded it in was probably because the dealer would give them prolly $5000 and they were insulted. These people are not likely to take much less and might have to wait for the estate sale.
When I was a kid I bought a bike once for $15. I think it was worth $5 but the old guy wouldn’t budge and I wanted a beater bike. He kept saying things like he knows what its worth, worth that if anything, and so on. Old people can be hard to deal with. I’m one but I’m easy to deal with because when I’m trying to sell something I just want to get rid of it fast and don’t care about the price.
We all know that’s probably not going to bring the guy down several thousand in price
And he might feel that the prospective buyer is being aggressive . . . whereas we would see it as being informed
But I guess it might be worth a try . . .
And I’m not so sure the truck is in perfect shape, even though it’s low mileage
At that age, it could have a leaking evaporator and/or heater core. The radiator and water pump might be ready to go at any moment. They’re old enough
Even the suspension might not be in stellar shape, in spite of the low mileage
I’m very familiar with that vintage Ford truck, and the ball joints, for example, don’t last very long at all.
I’ve replaced bad ball joints at ridiculously low mileage . . .
The control arm bushings and shock bushings might be shot, due to age
I think it’s better to let this one go and look for a well maintained truck with higher mileage, but one that is priced correctly
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Well after 45 replies ya might not read this but its all ok. My friend bought a 2004 dodge with 60k miles last year for his job (business). He paid over twice what they are worth thinking its a great truck etc. He called me last week and motor went. I bought a 2005 chevy with 220k on it 6 years ago and it still runs at 264k. BOTTOM LINE buy a vehicle that you can afford to fix. Get a good running vehicle, have it looked at if you cant for yourself and pay half of what you have. Keep the rest for repairs.
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Just out of curiosity, did you buy a Chevy truck or a car?
If truck, I assume Silverado 1500?
Which engine?
I have a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 with the 4.8L engine, owned since February of this year. I paid $1850 for this truck, with 209,000 miles, which I thought was a good deal. I put another $1000 or so into it to fix some cosmetic issues and minor mechanical problems. I am actually amazed how smoothly this engine runs even with so many miles. When I am stopped at a light, I find myself looking at the tachometer because I can’t feel that the engine is running.
I do not think you will be disappointed with your truck.
Yea a truck 2500…6.0 vortec. (Gas) they are beasts run and run even has a popular tick that comes and goes still runs and runs
The 6.0 is a good engine
A lot simpler . . . and also a lot more reliable, in my opinion . . . than its slightly smaller brother, the 5.3
Could be sheared off exhaust manifold bolts . . . extremely common on this engine
Once the engine warms up, the ticking goes away
Automatic, I presume?
If so, 4L80E . . . also a proven workhorse
Yea thought too about the sheared off manifold bolts, actually got the easy fix kit and tightened them. (Its a bracket that bolts to the block). But unf it still happens, its actually after warmed up and cruising sometimes even at 70 mph and the tick stays for like 5 mins and slowly disappears…someone thought its a bad hydraulic valve
Thanks for the ideas
My money is on piston slap; common on LS engines, but not something that you’d have to worry about.
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Could be…
THANKS