Hi everyone, I am looking at two different 2001 Lariat 4x4 Supercrews, both with 5.4L and in comparable shape. Truck A is a repo at a bank, has 133K miles, a spotty maintenance history, soft tonneau cover, brand new tires and no other options. Truck B is at a dealership, has 155K miles, hard fiberglass tonneau cover, sliding moonroof and sliding back window. I can get truck A (the repo) for $6,500. The price at the dealership of truck B is $9,995. I've driven both trucks, and they seem similar. What do you all think about these prices. BTW, Truck A has a clean Oasis, but it shows an accident about 18 months ago. The damage has been very professionally repaired, as I cannot see any sign of it. I do not have an Oasis or a carfax on Truck B. One more thing - Truck B is a Lariat - the F150 emblem on the passenger side says XLT. The emblem on the drivers side says nothing, as it should. Thanks again, Kevin

 

Sounds like they probably have both been wrecked since truck B has the wrong emblem on it.
I would go for truck A. Less miles.

 

Check for frame damage on both of them. Buy a carfax on truck B.

If it's apples to apples, I would go with truck A. Then maintenance the heck out of it - Give everything new fluids/filters, give 'er new plugs, sensors, hoses (if needed), etc.

Something I just thought of is that you can actually pay a mechanic or a "vehicle inspection" guy to look at it thoroughly. My ego wouldn't let me do it, but chances are they would catch something that you and I would otherwise miss. Just a thought.

Also, something I would look at is any sign of hard towing/hauling. Just try to see how hard of a life your future baby has had before you take the plunge and part with your cash.

 

I have to tell a little story here...

My friend bought a brand new 350Z last spring, and that summer, he lost his job. So the bank wanted to Repo it in November. As the repo time came, he let everyone drive the **** out of the car (someone, whom I wont mention, got it up to 168mph). Powerslides, burnouts, racing, ect....

So I would be very leery of buying the repo truck...

BTW: My friend still has the car, now that he got his job back, and it's back on the road.

 

Thanks for the replies. I just got a Carfax on truck B. Surprise, it has been in an accident with "severe damage reported" and airbags deployed. I am pretty sure that Truck A has done a fair amount of towing, as a trailer brake controller is mounted up. The dealer with truck B was pretty downtrodden about the carfax, and asked me to make him a reasonable offer. I decided to give it some more thought instead. Any thoughts, anyone? Thanks, Kevin

 

How's the rear end of A look? Was the towing proper, was there a hitch used or just a regular ball? Towing can be a lot of abuse, but if done properly no problem.

 

The rear end of A looks fine. It has a receiver hitch.

 

If you do go with truck A, be sure to change the filter and fluid in the tranny if it's an automatic. And the diff's...

 

Many years ago when I was younger I got into some trouble and was letting a truck go back to the dealer. I was actually taking it to them, they gave a turn-in date. I burned rubber, over revved the engine, mud bogged, you name it I gave it HELL before I took it back. So I am not saying the previous owner of A-truck did or did not. But I'm sure the bank clean the appearance up also. So what out for repo's also lot cars could have had the same life.

 

Way to go getting that Carfax!!! I wouldn't go with truck B for sure now. Generally speaking, autos just aren't the same after a bad accident. They REALLY aren't the same after frame damage, but I think the insurance company usually just 'totals' the car if that happens.

'Just waiting' may be the thing to do now. I'm sure you can find a good truck in that price range that hasn't had a hard life. If you were definitely getting A or B, I would go with A, even though a repo has usually had a hard life to begin with. But if you can wait for C... C hasn't been repo'd or in any accidents. C has a meticulous service history, but is priced low because she has high mileage. Know what I mean? A or B aren't ideal, even at a low price. But since you're not afraid of high mileage, see what you can't do with P2P listings or even eBay (Great place to buy a car for thousands below blue book in my experience, esp if you live in/near a big city).

Well... that's all i got. Once again, good job on getting that Carfax. Better to know that now than after you are making payments on it...

 

Usually you get a month subscription with Carfax. So run Truck A. If the accident is body only, no frame damage, I'd definetly go with it. But I would check to see if it had the factory tow package. If it did, it has a cooler and that would make it less likely for tranny problems.

If you go with it, get a full tranny flush, filter, and torque converter drain. Do the diffs too. Have them check the front end out too. Ball joints and tie rods are an issue on our trucks. But if all checks out after fluid change, it'll be the better deal.

 

Thanks a lot for the replies everyone. I have definitely taken Truck B, (and to a certain extent that dealership) off of my list. I am going to see the repo Truck A again tomorrow. One more question about that one. How can I tell if it has the factory tow package? Thanks again, Kevin

 

Some obvious things to look at are brand names on the receiver hitch, etc. Also look for the tranny cooler like 92Merc said.