Thinking about doing something stupid and I was just wondering what the dealers were giving for these trucks as trade ins. Mine is an SO. I saw a couple in the paper this weekend and the dealer was still selling them for $31,000+..
Kelley Blue Book says trade in is $23,000 and retail is $27,000. Seems kind of low to me and at those numbers I'll keep driving mine.......

 

NADA is what the banks and insurance companies use. KBB tends to be high. Dealers in this area still have new '04.5 SLT 4x4s and are selling them for $30-31K. I just traded in my 04HO SLT 4x4 with 25K for $26,500. Dave Smith in Kellogg told me they would give me $25K, which is what they were going for at auction up there. Guess an '03 might fetch 2 or 3K less.

 

traded in my 03 ctd,ho,6sp,4x4,3500,srw,truck was in perfect condition,but with 153,000 hwy miles.,towing. they gave me 18K . The dirty little secret is after 100k miles most financial lenders will not loan money on a light duty truck,so the dealers have to sell them at auction and they end up on a used truck yard somewhere,I was 113,000 over normal usage,so they deducted 7 cents per mile times 113.000,from the book trade in value. This was in nov. of 04.

 

I suspect that the major issue impacting the value of your truck could be that it has an SO engine. I believe that knowledgeable CTD buyers would significantly depreciate the value of SO engines below the value of HO engines. In this case KBB values can be very misleading because they do not distinguish between SO and HO engines.

IMHO your best option for getting the highest value for an SO truck would be to sell it directly instead of trading it in with the hope that the buyer is not aware of the SO versus HO distinction. If you must trade it in, your best bet is to work with a dealer who is not aware of the SO versus HO distinction, or who may be aware but doesn't really care because they believe they can unload it on a buyer who doesn't know any better.

Just MHO.

 

Don't worry, there are plenty of buyers who don't know better and buy SO's. Look at Dodgezilla J/K

 

Don't pay any attention to Lightman Dodgezilla. He will tell you to add two thousand to trade in value if you are running synthetic oil.

We all know at the time you got yours if you wanted an automatic the SO was the only choice. The 48RE was not yet available.

 

OUCH!
He may have bought it just before the HO came out. My 04 is the first dodge I'v owned and had I known that the 600 was coming out 1 month after I bought mine I would have waited - man am I glad I didn't know about the 600. I now think the 04 is the best possible combination available. If I were to buy a new truck now, I'd search the entire country for a new 04 before I buy anything newer.

 

Agreed, and that includes the 03 HO since they also have the 305/555 CTD identical to the 04.

 

ditto

 

I got 24,800 out of mine when I traded it a few weeks ago. Truck had almost 27,000 on it and was not in mint condidtion. Not the best price I saw but I got the new truck at invoice.

 

Com'on Jonesey - - you know the Zilla man didn't know the difference either - - quit trying to cover his behind.

 

Is there a difference between the "S"uper "O"utput and the "H"umdrum "Output"?

You guys are really hurting my feelings!! Actually I drove an 03 HO the same time I drove the one I bought but it just wasn't that much stronger and it was a STrippo model. These were the last of the 03s and were trying to move them so I got the SO with a lot more options for a very low price. The truck's been good to me so it won't hurt my feelings to keep it.
Just for the record KBB and Edmunds both differentiate between the SO and HO. Now, NADA values are way higher. Almost too high..... It sounds like the numbers you guys are getting are about what I was thinking.
Now if you guys are done making fun of me I'll be going.......

 

Dodgezilla,
Most of us were not making fun of you, we were taking your side. Personally, looking at your sig, I would not even consider trading your rig for a 04.5 or newer rig. You have taken care of the weaknesses of the 03 SO. Mainly the 47RE - you've got DTT goodies! Apparently, I'm not the only who thinks Dodge should have stayed w/ the great set-up that the 03/04 HO has.

 

According to Nada, my 04.5 is worth 30,650 trade in, and 34,000 retail.
Scott

 

I was just kidding GreenZ. It takes a lot to hurt my feelings.

NADA gives me about the same numbers DJ. If I could get $27 or $28,000 I'd jump on it. Everything I've put on this truck can be stripped off easily except for the exhaust and converter. My truck's been great but ever since the truck was about 6 months old I have had a quick shifting issue with the trans that nobody seems to be able to fix. The DTT valve body helped but did not fix it completely. Unfortunately I'm just one of those people that wants my stuff right and if it isn't right, and can't be fixed, it's time to get rid of it. I think I want a 6 speed next time and that's the only thing keeping me from getting this sweet Solar Yellow 2500 CTD right now.
Thanks for the replies and just keep an eye out for my sig to change........