Good on you for knowing your stuff man. You'll find the right truck.

 

https://www.copart.com/lot/33943080
https://www.copart.com/lot/34400191/...portland-north
https://www.copart.com/lot/33880861/...-duty-mi-ionia

This one's interesting. https://www.copart.com/lot/37955801/...ar-little-rock

Never seen one stripped like that - looks like they just wanted the heater core?? What did they take off - the entire fender well? Unusual: it's still got a clean title - prolly means it wasnt insured.

 

Here's a real nice one - the guy has a $27k minimum bid on a 2007.

https://www.copart.com/lot/35152101/...salt-lake-city

 

I'd like to know what kind of coke they're smoking that the estimated retail value is $32K USD on a 14 model year old vehicle with 128K miles.

 

No doubt it is empowering to know my way around a 6.0L when shopping for one.

Mechanically speaking, that truck is significantly worse than what I started with five years ago, even though is has 40k fewer miles than mine had.

 

It does help to have diagnostic tools. Tools I knew nothing about when I bought my first 6.0L.

I brought a tee-in pressure sensor for coolant pressure, Edge Evolution, and laptop with AutoEnginuity. Didn't even get to the laptop. I found enough problems using just the first two tools. LOL

 

No doubt. That kind of money puts it in used 6.7L range.

These auction vehicles would be tempting if I had a well running truck, and if I had a shop bigger than a small two car garage full of machine tools.

Btw- Copart in El Paso is where my truck was towed. I don't know what the lot number is so I can't search vin/lot. So I did a search for 2003 F250 in Texas and it didn't come up.

 

Pulled the core to find an engine problem - made the determination it was too bad to fix and walked away.

 

I expect you're right, Jack. The CarFax doesn't report a theft. The guy bought the truck less than a year ago. Wouldn't be one I'd ever mess with, but it is a nice-looking truck with a good interior and reasonable miles. There's another truck on there with only 107k miles but real beat up, unrepairable. Between the two, there's a real nice truck to be had.

That was just one auction site, one day. In general, these trucks sell for low enough to pay for the repairs. Most are bought by either dismantlers or tote-the-note shops - either sell for parts or repair an sell. There's always a risk, but you can mitigate those a lot by not taking them - don't go for the most beat up, or the mysteries (why is this truck in an auction?)

And, I only filtered on the No License Required trucks, which eliminates most of the inventory. You can find plenty of nicer trucks, but you have to be a licensed dealer to bid. But, you can pay a broker to bid for you, usually a few hundred dollars.

I'm different from y'all in that I'm looking for cheap work trucks because I put lots of miles on them real fast. I like to find low mile wrecks and use them up, then sell them for what's left. I've always gotten more than I paid for them.

Most of y'all want nice, pretty trucks, and that's OK. You just gotta pay lots of money for that. Most of mine, I would never try to make look perfect again. They're not worth the effort. But, they look OK, and they're basically free for me. Just got back from a trip in my latest shuttle bus, the one I paid $2600, then had to replace the injector and the transmission. Truck ran great, another 6000 miles I got out of it. Made about $5000, which makes about $15000 I've made with it so far, and that's not counting all the hotel rooms it saved me. I know I could sell it for at least $10000, still only has 92k miles.

I bet I could go find a low-mile 2005-2007 F250, less than 150k miles, XLT or nicer, repair it to Good (not Excellent, but nice enough to help you get laid) Condition, for easily less than $10k, drive that truck for 50k miles within two years, and still sell it for $8000. That's having a nice truck for a couple of years for less than $100/month. Of course, I'll have made $30,000 with it in those 50k miles.

Yeah, it'll have a salvage title, but no one cares when it's a 15+-year old vehicle. Once you get much over 200k miles, certainly 250k, all these trucks are valued as if there will be no residual value left. The value is how many times they'll get you to work and back, or with trucks, how many jobs they'll let you complete. The only people who care about salvage titles on 15-year old trucks are the owners of 15-year old trucks with clean titles and payments left.

Chris, some other auctions in your area that allow unlicense bidders are IAAI (member fee though), ReneBates - lots of local tow yards, municipalities, universities, etc, Lone Star Auctions - ditto; and Richie Brothers - more big trucks, mostly clean titles, but lots of fleet trucks. I've seen a lot of drilling company F150/250s in their Hou/Dal yards recently.

Go buy one a beater cars first, $500-$1000, so you have something to drive around until you find a good deal. It's OK - you're already married. Those are easy to find and get most/all of your money back on quickly. Hell, now that I think about it, a wife would prolly "love" you more for driving that beater while you look for the deal. They'll deny, claim it's what's best for the family, but we know it's really their version of Husband B&D.

 

It'll take a couple of months for them to get the title work done. You should see it come up soon though, with a "Future" auction date. And, I hear you about the small garage and need for another vehicle. I evangelize for auction vehicles in general, because the audience here is so capable that I don't know why more don't do it, but I realize it's not for everyone, that most of y'all actually have lives. Everything I do revolves around avoiding employment - I've been off the financial grid for 15 years and don't want back on. Buying cheap trucks for cash (no loans) is all part of the reindeer games for red-nosed me. Y'all got other games to play.

 

Ok...I’ll bite. What do you do exactly?

 

My buddy here in Ft Worth buys auction vehicles. He just sent me this:
[img]blob:https://www.ford-trucks.com/84e57aae-c61f-4ace-90c3-46a439e149a5[/img]

 

Average selling price is just under $10K with average miles 222K.

 

dang, wasnt trying to sound mysterious. re these trucks, I use them to "slow shot" deliveries around the country. It's nothing to boast about; I dont make much money at it. Primary benefits: 1. I dont have to suck azz, 2. Work when I want for whom I want without sucking azz, 3. No 1099s so I dont suck IRS azz, and 4. I dont have a wife or GF whose azz I have to suck. Mostly, it's about not sucking azz. Did way more than my share for 40 years.

 

Dang...that sounds glorious! Looking for a partner? We can sell franchises nationwide. The corporate motto can be “We Don’t Suck Azz!”