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Good for you Eric. Seems that dealers are way too often trying to just rid the cars off their lots these days. My brother with his 2003 Impala, that was a case of a bad salesman as well. Extremely pushy, we said “we’d think about it” and he’d keep going “wait a minute wait a minute”, run off, then come back, “ok, here’s what I can do”. This happened a few times before I begged for my license back and said I was late for work. He ended up buying it, they didn’t detail it, leaves in the engine, LIMs leaking, leaking radiator hose, bad battery, laundry list as well. Brought it up to them, they fixed most of it [go figure] and sent him on his way. Well, fast forward a few years, it ended up blowing the transmission twice, and I think a cab company finally bought it.
Couple years later, my mom brings in my dad’s 05 Cobalt in for an oil change and tire rotation, and while it was there, the recall. She picks it up after back and forth [first they forgot the oil change, then the rotation]… gets about a block down the road, lights pop up and engine siezes. They must have forgotten to refill it… After waiting a week, they put a “rebuilt” engine in it, couple months later, it’s overheating and though I haven’t investigated yet, minor signs of a leaking head gasket.
Car my mom just bought, 11? Impala, same dealer [after I told her don’t go there, but she did this behind my back], $13k with trade in for 50k miles, poorly installed aftermarket alarm with bare wires everywhere [one of the selling perks], random wires hanging under the dash… not fantastic, didn’t even look at the engine. I found, granted 2008, a few years older, same car with 15k on it for $12k…Just seeing the poorly installed aftermarket equipment drove me nuts since that’s what I do for a living, almost tempting to just gut it and redo it all.
I guess my gist of it, that dealer sucks now, and my mom doesn’t listen either..heh. It seems anything they can do to get you to buy their car, they’ll do it if you don’t know what you’re talking about. On the cheap too. No one seems to care about the quality in it anymore. That quality experience of buying that car, knowing that you’re buying something that’s going to last a while before problems arise, and creating that experience of “hey, this truck was and still is kick ass, and I need a car now, I’ll go back to XYZ Motors!” Instead, it’s time and time again, I bought from ZYX, 2 months later I had to spend $750 on brakes. I understand, they aren’t CPO, but still, it should be safe to drive if they are selling it.
In regards to the truck search, if you go the fixer upper route, my only concern would be, depending on miles, etc, how worn out is it? Some used trucks, they are just a machine that does point A to point B their whole life. Some, they are pulling those 10k lb campers every weekend and forgetting to swap out a pan of trans fluid once in a while. And we know how honest people can be about things, who knows how much wear and tear and maintenance were done on it. Personally, if it was just for the sake of the videos, go for it, a little local hauling here and there, sure. I think that if you’re going to do family vacations and whatnot with it, pulling campers or whatever, I’d consider something newer, just for that peace of mind. And if you trade that Element, you should be 100% happy with what you receive, which that truck clearly wasn’t.
Good luck on the hunt, SD
My story…
So, at the time, I was going to graduate from college, and have been looking for a “new” car for a year.
I had been driving a 92 jeep cherokee sport, that my family bought new.Side story on the jeep; parents bought it new, my sister drove it for a bit, then I started driving it in 99.
Some minor dents (mostly from when my mom was driving it, but those stories are for another time)
Some bare metal scratches from when I bald eagle was rummaging through some trash and then deciding to perch on my hood (I live in AK)
Had a slue of problems a few years prior, that my dad tried to fix (was a journeyman mechanic at the time, now retired), replaced a bunch of things and dumped about $2k just into parts, which I had previously looked on other forums and concluded that it was the CAS, and told him, and was the last thing that was replaced.
Ran great after that. Even threw it on my friend’s dyno just to see how much power it lost over the years.
A Whopping 85 hp haha.Anyways, my initial choice was a 08 subaru legacy 3.0R. They wanted $20k for it and I was eager to get it, but I had to walk away because they wouldn’t give me the warranty on the car, even though I would have been the first owner. (My assumption was that the dealer signed over the car to the lot, because the car was already there for 2 years. It was 2009 at the time).
A week later, my aunts were in town from the East coast, and we decided to go the hyundai dealership. They had a 2010 genesis coupe in lime green (which I didn’t like at first) with the premium package, with a MSRP of something like $27k.
Trade-in value for my jeep was like $500 lol. But with cash-for-clunkers, that would be another $3,500, and with my dad’s military discount, another $500
Great, we were ready to sign. We were waiting….. and waiting….. and waiting…. 3 freakin hours goes by.
By then we were all fuming by then. We should have left earlier, but my asian stubbornness kept me there, just so I can go off at someone and see how things play out.
Finally someone comes with our paperwork, as we are about to walk out the door.
So, I and my dad calmly back down.
He sits down and asks us to sign.
My dad is about to sign and I stop him.
I tells the dealer “We were ready to sign 3 freakin hours ago, now I’m not so sure. What paperwork takes 3 hours to get? You realize I’ve been looking for a new car for a year now, and I know what my options are. What’s stopping from just going down to the subaru dealership 2 blocks over, and just getting a legacy R for $20k and driving off the lot in 20 minutes, especially after making us was wait 3 hours. My Aunts flew in from the East coast 3 days ago and YOU already wasted their time sitting here doing nothing. I want to speak to your manager”
Now the lot manager’s office is near by and heard everything (lot manager is higher than sales manager), and he comes out and asks my dad and I into his office.
I ask him, “You heard everything, the car is lime green and is going to take a while for you to sell. What are you going to do for me?”
He said, let me work the numbers.
15~20 mins later, he comes out and shows us the new paperwork, and came out to be $19,500, with clear bra and lifetime oil change (which I’ve only done twice at the dealer, and never again. An hour oil change, and not offering a shuttle service. which I know they have).
Signed and picked it 2 days later (they needed to hold onto the car to install the clear bra).
The color grew on me and is now the rarest color that they made for the model. They only offered the green for 1 year :pEric get a 95-2001 Explorer with the 5.0 Engine. You can stuff about anything in the back plus it can tow up to 6000 lbs they have very few issues that aren’t age related.
[quote=”brad1981″ post=133311]Eric get a 95-2001 Explorer with the 5.0 Engine. You can stuff about anything in the back plus it can tow up to 6000 lbs they have very few issues that aren’t age related.[/quote]
I need at least 10,000lbs towing for what I’m looking for. Thanks for the suggestion.
I have a new Dell tower computer with a monster monitor and I am still admiring your video quality. So, sorry, but while you were talking I was looking around your shop. You have my orange and white car stands. I have a vehicle up on them as I write this.
At the end of my current project maybe I’ll get the camera out again and make another how-to. We’ll see.
I have a 1 ton dually, shop truck, 454. Hate the truck with a passion. I Would buy a 1/2 for towning a car trailer if done again. Bigger things like 5 wheel campers, car wedges, gooseneck bed hitched things need 1 ton duallys, but for my 26′ car trailer, a dually is overkill and wouldn’t buy one again. In fact, that truck was a horse, I would take it out in the field and shoot it put it out its misery. Sorry, to much carb cleaner. Brake cleaner hangover maybe…
Note to Eric (put a 460 60 over with crowler lifters in Oliver with an 8.8 and a hitch and that will tow dam near anything)
[quote=”andrewbutton442″ post=134084]I have a 1 ton dually, shop truck, 454. Hate the truck with a passion. I Would buy a 1/2 for towning a car trailer if done again. Bigger things like 5 wheel campers, car wedges, gooseneck bed hitched things need 1 ton duallys, but for my 26′ car trailer, a dually is overkill and wouldn’t buy one again. In fact, that truck was a horse, I would take it out in the field and shoot it put it out its misery. Sorry, to much carb cleaner. Brake cleaner hangover maybe…
Note to Eric (put a 460 60 over with crowler lifters in Oliver with an 8.8 and a hitch and that will tow dam near anything)[/quote]
I agree, that would be overkill for my needs.
The last part of your post was pretty funny.
Thanks for the input.
[quote=”barneyb” post=134051]I have a new Dell tower computer with a monster monitor and I am still admiring your video quality. So, sorry, but while you were talking I was looking around your shop. You have my orange and white car stands. I have a vehicle up on them as I write this.
At the end of my current project maybe I’ll get the camera out again and make another how-to. We’ll see.[/quote]
I go through great pains to make my production values as high as possible. It’s nice when it’s noticed.
The jack stands have served me well but they won’t get much use now that I have a lift.
Thanks of your input.
After much thought, and deliberation, and research, and thinking about where you interests are, and all the other stuff, I came to the conclusion that there is ONE truck you need find.. picture included.
Quite typical. They just want your money. They don’t really want to earn your money.
And, there will be a young man with truck fever, and less mechanical knowledge, who will buy it next week.
So it’s actually the perfect deal. You don’t need then, and they don’t need you. As such, I’ve walked from “deals” very frequently.
I’m thinking about buying a 2010 F-150, but I was going to put it off until about 2030 or so. I always end up buying older stuff and fixing it if I get it cheap. The woman gets the newer nice stuff.
I was looking for a good hauler/ shop truck myself as my Bronco just isn’t really made to do what I need. At work they had a yard truck they were about to scrap. Its a 93 F-250 extended cab, longbox with a 460 and a 5-speed. I prefer sticks myself, plus with trucks of this vintage you can usually expect to be eating a trans if you go automatic. The maintenance guys put a new clutch and flywheel into it. They neglected to tighten the starter bolts and promptly chewed the flywheel ring gear up. This truck actually runs pretty nice. With a new clutch on top of it its worth fixing. A new ring gear is a whopping $18 at O’Reilly and this trans is pretty easy to yank out. I gave them $200 for the truck and the beauty of it is they forgot to clean all their gear out of it so I have a beacon strobe, 100′ heavy extension cord, 2 sledgehammers, a big wrecking bar, 2 shop brooms and a nice snow shovel along with a 6′ piece of 3/16×5″ flat steel. Score!
Body has a fair bit of rust, but patch panels are cheap and I got a new furnace last winter so the sheetmetal on the old one is going to become part of a truck body. After shooting some fresh paint you’ll never know what I started with. Bottom line, to purchase, repair and make this truck completely rust free I am going to have maybe $1000 into it doing it up the way I want. I will have a good running work truck that has enough engine to pull damn near anything I want to and when I find something I like more I can get my money back out of it.
Now the downside is I’m going to have a lot of time tied up in this. Might not work so well if I was trying to stick to a production schedule like Eric is. For me, works out well. I can make my trucks the way I want them to be. I’d leave a 2010 alone aside from the mechanical as I just hate cutting up and modifying new things. But I’ll probably keep my 1990 Bronco until the end of time, and with the 300-6 motor that it has it will probably still be running then.
Until recently, I never paid more than $500 bucks for a car.
Dealers are all scammers.
Me personally, I would say craigslist all the way. Tips for success would be 1) make sure they give you like a folder full of reciepts. This shows that the car has been well taken care of and also you can see what was done when. 2) ask about the history, one or two owner cars are always choice 3) why are they selling? A non bullshit good reason like downsizing or purchased another vehicle are good reasons. 4) Size up the seller. Are they working professionals? or scumbag looking people. If you wouldn’t buy a hamburger from them, then you shouldn’t buy a car!
People never know what their used vehicle is worth, so you can always negotiate and get better deals than the pro dealers. So you can find many cars 10+ years old under 2k with a few minor problems. Trucks, I have heard that 90s ford rangers are indestructible, same with toyota tacomas from later 90s. However those are small trucks, and i dont know much about trucks anyways.
Bottom line I think is always, the less you pay for a car, the more you can afford to pay in repairs! especially if you are just buying the parts. Do an inspection, add it all up, and if they don’t want to write off the amount you say, then yeah walk away! there is always another car, but that money is precious!!!!
And F’ financing! That’s where the dealer makes all their money! I heard that some auto makers make more profit from financing then they do from making and selling cars!
Hey Eric, I just recently ran across this video. I’m not sure if you’re in the market again or maybe someone in your family is in the market for a car, I have years of experience buying and selling cars and I would like to offer you my help.
Because of your videos, I have been able to save myself, my family and friends so much money. I want to try to give back, so if you or anyone in your family is in the market. Let me know!
Thank you for the offer, but given that I now have a truck and 9 other cars, I think I’m good.
Thanks again.
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