I am looking at a truck on ebay that didn't sell, but their location is only a couple of hours from me and I am going to take a look.
It is a '99 Ram diesel, 4x4, NV4500 5 spd manual transmission, short bed with tow package and B&W hitch in the back, rhino lined bed and rocker panels with 198,000 miles. It has been driven down a dirt road a lot, so some of the front end needs replacing (tie rods and track bar). It needs new hood hinges and the cab mounts need to be adjusted. Otherwise, the truck is in pretty good shape; a few minor dents in the body and a small crack at the rear light.
Should I even think about buying this truck and what it is worth? This is my first dodge ram, and although I am familiar with driving them, I am not sure what is a good deal.
Thanks

 

well how much they want for it???

 

It's $5500.

Different Truck: Is a 2001 truck (same specs as the truck above) that is in immaculate condition but with 190k miles on it, worth $13k?

 

uh............... NO!

I just posted up for someone about a week ago that my local dealer had an '05 Hemi, QCSB with under 50k miles on it for $11,995. Perfect shape. Granted not a CTD, but in the used truck world, diesel adds $3000 topps.


$13k for a close to 10 year old truck with almost 200k miles on it?!?! and you are even considering it?

I was shopping last year, toying around with getting a new '09 CTD 4x4 and couldn't get any one of three dealers to give me more than $14k for my '04 with only 40k miles on it at the time & WITH CLOSE TO $12,000 IN MODS IN IT!!! ... and that price for mine was only good IF I didn't pull my winch off it!!!

 

Those are both outrageous prices for those trucks! Like Hammer said thats crazy, I guess it also depends on where you live I guess. I just bought my truck a little over 2 months ago. I got a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport 5.2L 4x2. Has 166,000 miles on it, guy replaced the whole front hub assembly, they rebuilt the tranny at 120,000K so it is solid. Also the heater core was replaced. All in all it is a solid truck. It also has a aftermarket cd player in it. I picked up this truck for...$2,400.

While I know the deisels are nicer and all in all a better truck and that it's a 4x4 but common 13K is outrageous. 5.5K is still high in my mind for the year and mileage and especially with what needs to be done. I have seen mid-2000's F250 Super Duties and Chevy Silverados 2500HD's with arond 70,000-90,000 miles going for around 12K or 13K around here.

 

Reason its overpriced - It's a Cummins. You are paying for the name in many people's minds. Most people who own one don't know a thing about wrenching and bring it somewhere for an oil change. But when it comes time to sell boy howdy they will throw an outrageous price on it, because its a Cummins Diesel.

$5.5k is to much IMO. Don't get me wrong I love diesels, but people have to realize when they are selling these things that sure the motor has 200k miles on it, that may not be a big deal to the diesel world... but the drivetrain and the rest of the truck have 200k on them as well.

It's the only reason I don't have a diesel. People ask way more then they are actually worth.

 

$9500 is the highest I Could go for that 2001, and I ain't even seen a pic of it. Thats if it is in perfect cosmetic condition in and out. Make sure whatever Cummins you get, that it doesn't have blow-by! Very important! Make that mistake last week....Picked up a 05 Dodge Ram 2500 4X2 CTD auto (work truck) for $5550 out the door. Bought in Texas, truck turned out to have 'blow-by'...its a long story anyways, just make sure you do a pre-purchase inspection somewhere before you hand over the cash

 

They are talking about Dodge 2500 Cummins turbo diesels, you do know this right?

 

Here is a good thing to go by:

NADA or KELLY Blue Book TRADE IN PRICE
If you can get the truck to close to the trade in price, then you did good.

 

if you want a diesel, its gonna cost you. you can shop around on craigslist for an idea on pricing, but $6000-10000 is normal. like hammer said, you can get a later model hemi for the same or less, but its just a matter of what you want - gas or diesel.

if you just want an around town daily driver mall cruiser, get a gasser. if you're going to do some serious towing, then get the diesel. give some consideration to who's going to do the maintenance. major repairs on the diesel can run into some major bucks, especially at the stealer.