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So my dad's brother, the company he works for has a few F150s and F250 diesels up for bid, as they'll be replaced by newer trucks for their road construction fleet. One of the F150s is a 2012 with 212k miles on it, however one turbo has gone bad and an O2 sensor is out. Starting bid for it is $6,000. Would this be worth pursuing or passing up? It's an XLT I believe and crew cab short bed.
That's a lot of miles, but you could start by seeing what KKB tells you the value is. It also depends on the business, were they beat to death or lightly used (as trucks). Construction can be tough on trucks, usually. Were they maintained properly? Also, are you mechanically inclined and willing to do the repairs. When you have to start paying a shop, that can take a toll on you budget.
KBB is about as useless as it can be. It didn't give me the option for the EcoBoost engine, just the 5.0 and 6.2. As far as I know they were all maintained, but that could have been oil changes and fuel filters.
Here's one way to look at it. Yeah that's a ton of miles on these trucks. But when considering that these are/were company fleet work trucks that's to be expected. And like unibody pointed out, if you can do the mechanical repairs yourself and don't mind getting your hands dirty it could be a worthwhile investment. Plus if the bodies on these trucks alone are in good shape that right there can be worth the $6k investment price. Assuming that you'd part them out if worst came to worst. Also I can tell you that hear in Pa that if you have a vehicle that passes the yearly safety and smog tests that in itself can make a vehicle worth and easy $3-$4k.
Kbb listed the ecoboost engine for me so I ran it with the standard xlt options.
trade in
private party
I assumed "fair" condition due to the engine problems
Looks to be a fair bit of headroom to get it fixed if you wish to do so.
Too many miles for me, but others wouldn't mind
My thoughts too. Will pass on the truck just because of the miles alone. Too many miles for my preference. If it was under 120,000 then I'd consider it more.
I'd probably buy a truck with amount of use if it were strictly for weekend tasks. I don't want to turn wrenches anymore so I'd likely pass unless I knew for sure what the maintenance history was like. Construction trucks tend to idle endlessly and the pre 2015 trucks don't give an idle time or hours of running time.
My buddy just bought a 2011 with 212,000 and paid $12,000 for it. He loves it to death, and he paid half of what I paid for mine with 100,000 on the clock. Says his runs like new, doesn't even have squeaks and rattles. Granted, he got the 5.0 and they are less problematic. But he feels he got an excellent deal.
So, if the truck you're looking at is in excellent condition and just needs a turbo and O2 sensor, I'd jump on it. You could fix that stuff and still come out ahead of the game.
I suggest you look for a one owner personal truck. My work truck idles all day long with the a/c on in the summer when I'm doing an emissions test to keep my test equipment cool. It lives outside and gets started in the morning very very cold in the winter while my personal truck is sitting in a heated garage. They have very different lives.
I'd have to say smart idea on passing it up. At that kind of mileage, and already needing significant work, what else is waiting to fail?
Exactly my thoughts. I guess the truck is a super crew cab 6.5 box and a Lariat. All miles are highway miles but God knows how much of it was idle time too.
We are not going to pursue the truck. Not only does it have a bad turbo, there's also electrical issues and possibly bad injectors. Not worth the risk.
FWIW, you can get values from New Car Prices and Used Car Book Values - NADAguides as well. I usually look at kbb, nadaguides, and check Craigslist just to see what asking prices are. Good luck with your search
