Well I am slowly closing in on buying a used truck! So far it is between these two that I went and looed at today:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...ax_price=28000

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...ax_price=28000

Well anyway... My dad is telling me it is NOT good idea to buy a used truck because I am "buy somebody elses problems". So I am going to take him Saturday to get him to look at the trucks. He is saying if I buy a used truck I am going to need $5000 to repair it for when it breaks down.

So, how much of a risk am I taking on buying a used truck? What should I look for in buying a used truck to make sure it is in tip top shape?

Any comment is greatly wanted!!!
Thanks!!
Austin

 

well my first tip... when you post links go to www.tinyurl.com and get them shortened so you dont make the page soo freakin long!! next i bought my truck used and to this day its fine... just see if they have maintance records, carfax basically any info on its passed. give it a test drive be friendly at first than get on it.... make sure you check around all seals before and after the test drive.... just a few tips..

 

This is what happened to me but this does not happen to everyone.

I bought my 00 2500 4x4 (147,000 miles) less than a month ago from a friend. He no longer pulls and now has a kid so a regular cab wasn't cutting it. In less than a month I have had to replace the solenoid in the starter($25 repair not including the free fun of getting the starter off and on) Went ahead and replaced the batteries(they did not need to be replaced but I did it anyway) but the kicker is I am having to replace the injector pump and fuel pump. All the parts are original so I am not surprised but it is known to happen. Even though I have to dump $3000 + on the truck(tires needed replacing) I still do not regret the decision because I know it will be a good truck and last me a long time. Buying used expect the unexpected but it is much better to buy used than to have the deprecation hit of driving a new truck off of a lot.

 

you will have repairs on any car or truck... doesnt matter if it's new or not. they dont last forever.

buying used makes alot of sense to me. you dont take the $ hit after you drive it off the lot.

 

So everybody agrees it is not such a bad idea?

What are some ways of telling if the truck is a good idea to not buy? I also need some advise on convising my dad... please!

Also I started up both trucks and both sound very good. The only bad thing is I can tell the owner of the black truck was a smoker [:'(]. The red one has a 2-3in lift with taller tires(couldnt tell what, I didnt stay long enough to check). I am planning on lifting it 6in though. Should I just take off that lift and sell it then? I'd hate to waste that money...
(sorry for the huge topic also, ill try and fix it)
Any input it great!
Thanks guys!
Austin

 

well b4 you worry about selling one lift you gotta buy a truck! and if its a 3 inch just donate it to a good friend like me!!

 

BOTH of those truck have WAAAAY too many miles on them for the cash they are looking to get. Hell you could damn near buy a new leftover one for 27K

Keep looking

 

too many miles, really?
I'v been looking at kbb, and NADA and there price is pretty good. I am actually becoming a damn good negotiator(sp?.. probably lol). Anywho I got the price down to $24500 on the red truck. Pretty good, now?

I think I am gunna stay away from the black truck with the ranch hands because I could easly tell it has been smoked it a lot!

Thanks guys!

 

I dunno man. Something about a 2 year old truck with 89K on it scares me a bit, but i guess in the sticks it's acceptable since your nearest convience store is probably 50 miles away.

 

I see what you mean. Still if it has that many miles its gotta be mostly easy highway. I can tell the red one wasnt used to haul stuff much, more as just a daily driver. All the 05s pretty much have anywhere from 70k to 100k miles. So 88k is about average apparently.