Any recommendations for a Car-Max type diesel eveluation ?

[newbury]

I'm still in my quest for a diesel dually, even as the economy sinks. Since I'm retired my search area has widened to the I95 NH to GA and I81 corridor NY to end, plus MS, AL.

I search CL, AOL auto, Cars.com etc.

But is there anyplace that can reliably give an evaluation for about $200 or less?

Someplace where I could RELIABLY expect to take a vehicle, get it inspected, and find out that there were NO problems the seller did not tell me about. Or conversely find out that the say the front end needed replacing, or the transmission was about to go.

I'm leery of places like local dealerships, because of local relationships may cause them to pass something because they figger I'll never be back and their FIL would like to make the sale.

 

[aczlan]

How about a semi truck shop?

Aaron Z

 

[Bigfoot62]

It probably depends on where you locate a truck. If you find one in NY, they probably don't want you to drive it to GA to have it checked out.

Here are some links to websites that you may not be aware of:
Used Trucks For Sale at TruckPaper.com: Freightliner, International Trucks, Kenworth, Peterbilt, Mack trucks, dump trucks, dump trailers, used trailers for sale
New Cars, Used Cars - Find Cars at AutoTrader.com
AmericanClassifieds.com : The Nation's Online Classifieds

 

[Fixemall]

Get the vin# and take it to the proper new car dealer service desk(ie-Ford go to Ford) ask the advisor to give you a warranty history printout. This is a good place to start, too many big claims=lemon/abuse, they will also be able to tell you if there are any open recalls etc, if there are...the owner may have not been the best at taking care of it.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I know you say dealerships you may not trust but they are a good resource. We did this on a out of state purchase of a Lincoln and its been trouble free. The things they found were what we already knew but it was worth the $60 for a second look, plus they changed the oil and rotated the tires.

Chris

 

[RollingsFarms]

I found some good looking low mileage diesels on Carmax when I was shopping. if you find one you like and want to take a test drive in you just pay the transfer fee, go to your closest Carmax store, inspect it, drive it, and if you don't like it you get your transfer fee back. I had a 2007 CC Duramax 4x4 with 75k miles on it shipped from NC to Columbia, SC and it only cost me $50. I went and drove it, liked the truck bot was waiting on another potential deal I had in the works to see if it was going to go through or not. Had that deal not gone through, then Carmax truck was going to be my truck.

If you do buy it you have 5 days to take it to a place to get looked over and can return it no questions asked(they acctually stand behind this too as I've witnessed it done by a friend who bought his g/f a car from them).

I'm not saying every truck/car they have is a jewel but they do have more clean cars/trucks then they do junk. You rarely will find one with alot of miles on it. The one thing you have to look out for is where the truck/car came from. They give you a free history report and alot of times those cars/trucks will have originated up north only to be sold down south. That scares me due to potential rust issues down the road so I won't touch one that comes from anywhere past the Mason Dixon line. You can also see how many owners had the truck, if the truck was a business/commercial vehicle, and if it has ever been to auction(that screams rental car right there if you see this 9 times out of 10).

 

[jonyyuma]

CarMax,,they asked more than $50.00 to transfer one here? It still sounded like a good idea to my son.. It was a good Ford for him, still driving it..

 

[RollingsFarms]

CarMax,,they asked more than $50.00 to transfer one here? It still sounded like a good idea to my son.. It was a good Ford for him, still driving it..

the price of the transfer will vary due to certain distances. I think it is FREE if you happen to find the car or truck you want to test drive and it happens to be in your state, but at another Carmax dealership. It then goes up to $50 for bordering states if i'm not mistaken and then prices of $125 all the way up to $750(if youre shipping accross the country...think Maine to California). you get that transfer fee back if you dont like the vehicle but if you buy it then i dont know if they deduct it off the price or what.

 

[56FordGuy]

Try high performance diesel shops. Most of the time, they're not affiliated with any dealers. They modify trucks, and a good one knows the engines inside and out.

 

[aczlan]

Try high performance diesel shops. Most of the time, they're not affiliated with any dealers. They modify trucks, and a good one knows the engines inside and out.

And they might recognize a truck that someone has been abusing that cleaned up to sell.

Aaron Z