Hey all, been a member for a while, but I spend most of my time in the super duty section.

I lost my grandfather a few months back, and I've been given the task of prepping and selling his truck. It's an 08 XLT f150, 2wd, super cab short bed, cloth, 5.4, 18k miles. Truck is near perfect, I'll be going over it really well when I detail it and find any imperfections if there are any. I'll also be changing the oil and checking all fluids, and just a good look over.

A few questions

The truck is metallic brown, what's the name of this color? I'm not a huge fan of the color, but my wife absolutely loves it.

The tires look great, at first. But they are 8 years old, out of date, and showing a little dry rot. Should I put tires on it, or do you think I would ever recoup the money in the sell?

I buy and sell a lot, but it's always been with $4-$7k vehicles. I keep a newer vehicle, but I trade them in every few years. Trying to sell a truck like this, should I go by kbb/nada private party, or is it just going to sit at that price? I had thought about stopping by my credit union to get loan value and pricing it at that. I know that most banks will not loan 100% if a vehicle is more than a few years old. I'm guessing they will loan 90%.

We are in no need to sell, but my grandmother wants to use it as a down payment and trade her 20 year old Cadillac in on a small SUV. I'm pushing her towards a Lincoln, since she has had lincolns or Cadillacs the last 40 years.

I know everyone likes pics, so when I get the truck to the house I'll take some.

 

First of all, I'm sorry about your loss.

The eight-year-old tires will need to go, they're at the point where they're getting to be unsafe. If you don't spend the money yourself, the decent thing to do would be to inform prospective buyers that it needs tires ASAP.

Selling a vehicle that's worth more than a few thousand is a tough thing to do with a private-party sale. The majority of people looking to buy from someone else are interested in paying cash, and no more than a few thousand dollars. Something you should also consider is the sales tax benefit. If your grandmother trades the truck in on the purchase of another vehicle, she wouldn't pay sales tax on the amount you're trading in. So, assuming you can get $10,000 on a trade, she would save as much as $900 in sales tax when she buys her next car.

If it were me I'd be taking it to dealers with your grandmother and seeing what they'd give you on trade. If you think you can do ~9% better than that private party, keep it and prep for sale.

 

Sorry for your loss. Sounds like you have a very nice truck at your disposal. The truck has more value than the "books" will value it. The problem is finding someone who sees this value and has cash to make the purchase. Finding a dealer that will offer more than "book" value can be a problem but trade in may be in order if you can find the deal. There is always someone who realizes the value of something like this and willing to pay a premium price. You could sell the Cadillac out right as you'll possibly find more people with enough cash to buy it. The fact that you can document the true low mileage, consider placing an ad in one or more of the major selling arenas. A detailed write-up and detailed pictures will sell it.
I recently traded my premium quality one owner low mileage F150 in on a new truck. When I learned what trade allowance was vs hassle of selling outright, I traded it in. Consider too, your TN tax rate on the money saved as trade in.
Place a well worded ad in the for sale section on FTE. Good luck.
Edit: Looks like Tom and I were typing about the same time. Value of these late F150s is crazy right now.

 

First off, I'm sorry for your loss. I still have all of my grandparents and it's going to be a really hard time when it comes.

Regarding the truck, It must be a little different here then down south, well combined with the fact we don't have sales tax. I've sold a lot of cars/trucks over the last 10 years on Craigs List and none of them have lasted more then a week. They ranged from $2,500 to $14,500 and all deals were cash on the spot.

I sold one for a friend of my grandparents a '99 Explorer with 45k miles. I asked $2500 over high book value and the next day it was gone at asking price. You just have to wait for someone to come along looking for that truck in basically like new condition, trust me buyers are out there.

The tires I think it's worth checking the local adds for new take off tires. I've picked up plenty of new sets for $250 because the owners upgraded. This is a easy and cheap way to put new tires on it and add a selling point.

I'd say look up retail KBB and add $500 or a grand on it and put it out there with a OBO behind the price. I bet it goes pretty quickly...

 

Very sorry to hear of your loss. I was super super close to my grandfather and would not be able to do the mechanical stuff without his knowledge early on.

As for the truck, dealers will salivate over something with 18k on it, and you will probably not have to loose over the tires. They will just turn around and sell it.

If the tread is 70% or more, I would not replace. Warn new owners of the slight dry rot, and let them buy the tires they want. I have used tires that are over 20 yrs old with no ill effects. Recaps or retreads often are 10 yrs old that are just cosmetically sealed over the dry rot. If you replace the tires, the next owners may not approve the tread design and may want something totally different.

As for the price, you would have to see what your local area brings. In erie PA with our terrible winters, you cant sell a 2WD truck. In southern states it seems like there are no issues with sales.

 

Sorry for your loss.

I agree, let the buyer decide on what tires they want. I wouldn't spend any money on it, you won't get it back really, you can detail it and clean it up of course.

Take lots of detailed pics, and insist on cash only or bank draft. Meet prospective buyers only in a safe neutral location, like the parking lot at the cop shop. Bring a friend or two, one that ends in a 4 or a 5.

 

Sorry for your loss.

Take it to Carmax. They buy vehicles, and they give you a number up front on what they will pay once they look it over. If you don't like their number, it will give you something to work with if you try to sell to a private party. And you can always fall back to them if a private sale doesn't happen along.

Good luck.

 

Thanks everyone for the condolences. His death was bitter sweet. It's hard to watch the results of dementia to someone that's always been exceptionally physical strong for their age and a very smart and successful business man. He was also a proud WWII vet and very stubborn.

Thanks for the selling advise. like I said, I do a lot of buying and selling, with cheaper vehicles, and I'm always carrying during these exchanges.

Trading it in may be a viable option. I think I will hold off on tires. Anyone have anything on the color? I know I don't have any pics(sorry I doubled over at work today), but I figured there was only 1 metallic brown offered.

 

I have a feeling the color is HS, M7190A Earth Metallic.

Is it like this?

 

That's it, thanks.

 

See the attached page from the brochure...

 

Never mind alaskanex, I'm pretty sure it's the stone green metallic. I seem to remember him telling me it was green when he first got it. I never thought it looked green! Maybe I'm color blind?

 

Sorry for your loss sir.

I have to echo Tom's comments. At least give a dealer the opportunity to blow you off the lot and let them deal with the tire replacement. Any dealer should salivate over a piece of ripe fruit like this one. This truck should sell in hours with the right exposure.

 

2WD SÇABs are hard to sell even in the South. They sit a dealer lots for a long time. I bought one for just that reason and got a super price. Check some of CarGurus and see how long they have been listed.

 

Mines an 09 and it's called stone green. Looks like the pic there