You hit it right on the money; it's very empowering not having to deal with trade in now.

 

I agree. I'd pass on it. The truck will more than likely never be the same. Plus if you ever go to resell it you are going to take a huge loss as it's going to be a lot harder to sell if it doesn't have a clean carfax. Unless it was super cheap and by that I mean a $20k truck for $9-10k I wouldn't even consider it.

 

If you are considering used have you considered private party sales? You can often get a much much better deal. Of course dealers usually offer a better warranty?

Whatever you get I wouldn't get one that has a bad carfax report.

Also like said if you want to have 2 dealers compete you need to find one that isn't connected to this company. As in another dealership owned by another person and have it compete with this one.

 

Also, ask what the title is branded. Not sure how it works in your state, but here, they have different levels of claims on a title. In WI, you can have salvage(which you obviously would avoid), but also will have a title stating "claim Paid", which basically says an insurance company paid over x amount for repairs. Not sure of the number here, but the buyer knows it was more then just a minor fender bender in that case.

Like Home theater said, at least try private party. Warranty won't be the same, but if you are getting the remainder of the factory warranty, it's not significantly different then a dealership. Any dealership add on warranty they give you is actually in the price, and 90% of the time they won't cover any significant down the road.

Private party might give you some negotiating power, might not, but at least give it a shot.

 

This is all very true guys. I haven't personally seen this truck, but it's being sent down from the other ford dealership. I'm going there tomorrow afternoon to take it for the day to test drive it and have my mechanic look it over to see if there is any frame damage, or anything that could cause it to have excessive wear. I won't make the deal unless they are willing to make a large compromise on the truck. I offered $16,900 with the assumption it had a clean carfax. Either they can offer me a premium 100,000 mile warranty no charge, or take the truck down to trade in value. Otherwise, I'm not interested.

 

I wouldn't pay the $16k you said or anywhere near it. The max I'd pay is 13k and that's if I really really had to have that truck. I'd forget about it honestly if it was me.

 

Agreed.

 

I took your advice, and opted not to buy the truck. I took it for a test drive, and I noticed it was pulling to the right on the highway. Also, the truck was loaded with little dents all around it (not the mint condition the salesman advertised). By the time I was finished looking the body over, I was completely turned off. I brought the truck back, and said thanks, but no thanks.

So, I'm still looking for a truck. It's going to be tough. I have enough to buy a newer vehicle, but not enough to buy a completely new truck. I just have to find the right deal. I've seen two nice deals, but was a day too late on both deals. It's not that they don't exist though. I've printed out both deals from craigslist and put them in a binder. I carry them around me and show salesman that it can be done, and it's what I'm looking for. Until I find the right deal and the right mileage, I'm not settling for anything. Thanks for the advice today, it was in the back of my mind the entire day.

 

Well good luck. I was bored last night and started looking at Maine Craigslist, seems like trucks are going for a bit more out there then here. Only 'deal' I saw was a white crew cab with 40k for 18 grand, which really isn't all that much of a steal.

FYI, this is one I gave some thought to buying before I drove the Titan. Priced because of the add ons, but man it would have been a fun toy. Mileage was more then my Ram which lead me to shop more.

http://madison.craigslist.org/cto/1078874570.html

 

Yop! I got it now!