Hi Folks

I am newish to FTE (Unless you count lurking in the shadows, then not so new) A friend of mine moved overseas and I bough his fifth wheel from him for a heck of a deal.

So now I am on the hunt for a F250 or F350 to pull the trailer and as a new toy for me (don`t tell the little woman though, I like sleeping indoors) So I have been looking at new trucks and some used ones as well.

Amazing how quiet the 6,7 diesels are, you can actually be standing by the hood of it and talk to someone and not have to shout, really nice. I have drove both the F250 and f350 in diesel and gas form.

I bought my current truck (an F150 5.4 ext cab 7700 series) used and it has been an excellent truck other than regular maintenance (alternator is only real thing major I have had to replace) great gas mileage and comfortable as can be on the road and hwy.

So I havent yet decided to go new or used and whèther to go diesel or gas`.
A friend of mine mentioned to maybe go and check out the auction. Now he has had a lot of success with his auction buys, with that being said I have heard of a few horror stories too. I did go and do some bidding at a major auction on a barely used 2012 F350 ext cab xlt with everything including nav that had just over a 1000Kms and I believe it was just over 40 hours on the engine.

But I think I got outbid by a dealer, there were some other unused 2012 F350S CREW CAB XLT 6.7`s ( three of em) but they all went for the same price and I am sure it was a dealer who bought the one I was after and one of the three.b They were all nice trucks with the balance of the warranty still active.

The one I was after went for 57k and the other three went for 61k. So no joy there..lol

So I thought I would see what some of you who may have purchased thru the auctions have to say, so please feel free to chime in

 

Hmmm....I would have thought someone would have done this here in AB, lord knows there are a ton of people at the auctions... I have seen people buying Fords.. as well as others... but I don't wan't to say anything blasphemous here ( that right no words beginning with C,G OR D..)

Juts figured someone could put a little persepctive with their buying experience and what they ended up with after they got their vehicle and had it a while ( awesome, good, needed a few things, needed too much, makes a great lawn ornament next to the driveway... you know.. like that

 

i didn't buy a truck but i bought my Probe from an auction. it has been a great little car so far with just normal maintenece and wear items needing replacement. had it for about 10yrs now. as far as getting a good deal on it, not really great but a bit better then what was on Kijiji at the time. you have to remember that the price you bid does not include the auction commission price that is tacked on afterwards. can be up to 10%.

a lot of the trucks at auction are fleet vehicles from larger companies that put the vehicles thru auctions instead of trying to sell individually. that being said try to stay away from any vehicle that was used by by the oilpatch. if you have ever drove on the backroads and seen how bad most of those roads are and how they drive them, you would be wise to stay away from them. usually the more loaded vehicles are the ones the managers and execs used, so they were babied a lot more then the bare bone service vehicles were.

a lot of the vehicles end up on dealer lots. they know what they can get for them on the lot and for them a 2 - 3K profit is pretty decent, so they bid accordingly. they are looking at volume.

that being said, they tend to only be interested in the fairly new units and usually don't bother with the older (like 5yrs) as they are tougher sells. those are the ones that usually go far cheaper at auction then the newer units do.

biggest problem with an auction is it is tough to really check out a vehicle properly in the short amount of time you get. buying off say something like Kijiji, you can at least have a good look at the vehicle and take it in for a safety inspection prior to buying it to make sure you aren't buying a big money pit.

so buying from an auction is not always a great deal but if you do your homework and know what you want, it can work out.

rgds
Mike

 

Hi macdonaldm I am still on the hunt. I have checked out some of the auction one when they allow you to view em before the day of the auction ( it would be nice if you could take it for a spin, but I think they would have an issue with that...lol)

I have gotten them to open em up and start em and crawled over and under them (with the exception for those that the poor guy didnt have keys for). Lot's of gas 5.4's AND 6.4 Diesels and of course some 6.0 and 6.2's.

There seems to be an extraordinary amount of 6.4's at the auctions with between 170 and 250K on them on the lots, they looked and sounded good but I have heard some horror stories about the 6.4's and some that haven't had any issues with them at all.

My neighbor bought a 2009 6.4 xlt shortbox with 185k on it for 15k at the auction and he got some work done on it cause it was choochin white smoke and put another 4 k in and did some delete work and it seems to be running like a top now.

He was telling me not to worry to much about the 6.4 engine due to the problems being more than fixable if your willing to stick a few bucks in and get it done right. He was saying a lot of people are dumping them due to the horror stories and not wanting to stick the cash into fixing it or worrying that it will be a money pit.

I would think he could be right in his assessment of why there are a lot of 6.4's for sale out there, and some folks just not willing to put the cash into them. There are a lot of 6.0's out there as well, but I would like to go no lower than a 2010.

I am watching the dealers as well I see there are some that are starting to drop the prices of there 2013 stock trying to clear out for the 2014's I would gather, but I plan to keep my eye on that as well. I have a few that I am watching to see what happens with them, cause of I can grab a 2013 for a good price I would be all over that, but you never know what kind of deal even a used one could bring.

I have seen some on the auction lots that have been a little suspect. There was one that looked like someone had threw a quick home paint job on ( 2008 F350 ) whoever painted had did a really bad job and painted over the F350 Emblem off the side engine compartment and the door handles... and left over spray on the chrome running boards,painted over the chrome look grill even. I am not sure what possessed the person to do that but it was interesting to say the least.

It has been interesting to see what the various diesel's and gas engines and various years go for price wise that's for sure, he amount of trucks from all makes going thru the auction has been kind of mind blowing. There is lots there though, so I will keep an eye and see what shakes between, the new and used ones.

thanks for the input though, lord knows it can never hurt to have some different opinions on the subject

 

I have bought vehciles from auction in the past, but not recently. It's my opinion that you don't get too many great deals at the auctions anymore. All of the big auctions have thier inventory online, so dealers from all over western canada have a look at that inventory, and if the truck is any good, they'll be bidding.

A lot of fleets like to turn in thier trucks between 100 and 200k, so that's why you are seeing so man wih those mileages. Some fleet trucks are realyl well taken care of, some are the exact opposite.

Myself, I would set aside a few thousand dollars for unexpected maintenence on any vehicle from an auction. Could be brakes, suspension, anything.

The huge factory incventives have really thrown the whole used maret into a weird place. Some days it's cheaper to buy new than to pick up a lightly ued two year old truck. You don't start getting "deals" until you are into trucks at least five years old, but then you have a lot more potential issues.

Anyway, that's not a big help, I realize, so I'll just say good luck man.

 

I bought both daughters their first cars at auction. The big one in Edmonton. This was years ago though. I find if you can pick out the used dealers and outbid them by a bit you will still be getting a better deal than buying it off the lot.

Auctions are a blast.