My buddy has a 05 dodge 4 door swb 4wd auto he is trying to sell me. He bought it from copart (online auto auction). The truck had been wrecked the frame needed straightend. He has put a srt10 hood, bushwacker fender flares, 20 inch rims, K&N intake an bullydog exhaust on it. He come to our shop wanting it painted an asked if I wanted to buy it. He says he wants about 20,000 for it, it only has 1,400 miles on it. He said it bought a transfer case engine mount an transmission mount driveshaft computer for it to get it fixed. So you guys think its worth 20,000?

 

Too much money for a wrecked vehicle

 

I wouldn't pay more than 10% of what it was worth new , but that is just me , i got stung twice with rebuilt vehicles , and I am not going to let it happen a third time.

Keep in mind that a vehicle with a rebuilt title will have no warranty , and will be almost impossible to get rid of , and worth almost nothing if you ever try to sell it. I would be especially cautious considering that the frame was bent , the truck will probably never be right again.

 

Ditto, plus if it was bought thru an insurance salvage auction, it will always carry a dinged title. Only you have seen the truck tho, so only you can decide.

 

What do you think would be a good offer?

 

That truck is worth 20k. AS LONG AS it has been rebuilt right. 1400 miles?! 20k is a deal. something that new and that low of miles is worth about 22k.

This, of course, is coming from a guy (me) that bought his (my) truck wrecked. I wouldnt be scared to do it again either. We also did Dad's truck this way.

I'd like to know where it was hit first. Make sure the axle tubes arnt bent etc etc.

A clean truck in this condition books for over 30 thousand. 20k is taking +30% off of blue book value. Thats a deal IMO

 

We own a garage an put the truck on the lifts an everything looked good under the truck. We also put it on the alignment machine an it was aligned to specs. I believe I'm going to let him drive it for awhile to see how it does before I take the plunge.

 

As long as the straightening was done by a reputable shop you should have nothing to worry about, frame straightening is done every day now with computer controlled straightening machines, it's not the '80s anymore people don't have to run from wrecked vehicles.

 

I'd agree with the frame straightening being much improved these days.

I'd still hold out for the 10% mark mentioned earlier.

Also, make sure that if you ever buy a wrecked vehicle, it's something you can "marry" and will fit with your lifestyle and circumstances as far as you can foresee-- you'll rather bury the truck than try to sell it.

jh

 

10%? That's 4k. Let me know where that you'all are getting that deal at. Your not going to buy this truck and drive it a couple years and get your money back out of it, But you won't do that with any truck. The old farmers around here buy them and drive them till the wheels fall off anyway, so a dirty title means little, but the 33% off does. Cars with dirty titles are discounted 50% and trucks are around 30%, you are your on warrentty staition (just like if you mod your truck) and you can't trade it at a dealer where you go to sell it, but if you want a truck to drive a long time. a rebiuld is worth look at. But it's not for all. You have to know what your looking at. There are alot of cars and trucks out there that have been hit and it don't show up any where. Dad's truck and mom's car for two.

 

I believe I'm going to buy. The guy I'm buying the truck from gets the best people around here to fix his vehicles. He had a 02 corvette that had been wrecked an the dealer he took it never knew it was wrecked untill he told him. Every car mom an dad has had been totaled an fixed an they never have had a problem out of them. I really aint worried about a warranty cause I'm going to do a few things to it anyway.

 

I paid 27K for my 05 4x2,brand new,no damage.

 

I think its a reasonable price based on the conidition you said it was repaired to, as long as you plan on keeping it for a while.

 

Ya I agree with what was mentioned above. I think it all boils down to what you plan on doing with the truck. If you plan on keeping the truck for a long time then I would jump on that like white on rice. As long as its been checked by several different people and they all give it the ok, then who cares if the title is perfect or not.
I have owned a salvage vehicle and I didn't have any trouble selling it for more than what I paid for it. As long as you keep it nice and in good shape, there's always gonna be some kid with money burning a hole in his pocket that will buy it. I would love to be able to enjoy a brand new truck for half price.