I have a pair of 2003 F250 Diesel 4x4 trucks, one has 18k on it, the other 3k. They belonged to a relative that bought them and never drove them. He took ill and passed away a year after buying them. He bought two because he needed write offs for his farm. They sat in his garage from Nov. 2004 till Jan. 2020 when his wife passed away. Both trucks and all 11 of his cars became mine by default since they had no kids and no other relatives.
The one with 18k on it had only 1k on it when he passed, most of the miles on it were put on it by me helping out around the farm over the years and using it to get supplies and to haul animal to auction on occasion. Mostly is pulled a stock trailer. The other truck got used only enough to keep it functional. Both lived in a fancy heated attached garage and got bi annual detailing and fluid changes. Now they sit here, I've put about 600 miles on each one in the past 5 years, mostly just towing my boat to and from the water and a few trips to the store here and there.
The local dealer has stopped by trying to buy them more than once, they offered me $8,500 each. They're both in near new condition with the higher mileage truck having a few dings here and there from parking lots and some paint peeling off the top of the front bumper. Both are loaded XLT Supercabs with leather interiors and all options.
That same dealer has two rather well used, 250K and 288K same year trucks on their used car lot both for $29k
They had others and they all sold. I suppose next to a new one for $90 to $132k, $29k must look like a bargain.
The clearly intend to make $40k off me if I was dumb enough to sell to them.
I did have a conversation with the owner of that place a while back, and told him that I'd be willing to trade one of the for a van of equal mileage, and the deal they proposed was for me to pay $29k and my truck with 3k for a used 2002 Ford 1/2 ton van which had 140k on it. Then they got mad when I laughed at them.
I wouldn't give $2k for the piece of junk they were trying to sell me. The mileage alone was a deal breaker and its condition and history was horrible, being a former rental with two major accident records over $10k and a ton of bad body work to cover it up. I finally told them if I so much as see or hear from them again I'd run them off my property with a shot gun.
Both trucks can sit in my garage for eternity as far as I'm concerned, and I'll eventually find a van that's not been through the mill and abused.
The way I see it, if their 288,000 mile truck is worth $29,999, then mine is worth far more with 280k less miles. Even blue book value is at $11k but you won't find one out there with under 20k on it for anywhere near that low.
I've also got a '96 F350 7.3l 4x4 reg. cab long bed with 34k on it, its been used a bit but has no rust, no issues and gets used monthly for the 2 mile run to the dump here. Its also an XLT model, I get dozens of people leaving notes on it all the time wanting to buy it but most offer less than scrap weight around here. I bought that one new my self.
I did think about selling it when I first got the other two but couldn't get a decent price around here for it so I decided to keep it and just add onto the garage. I blew out the back wall and added 42 more feet of depth to my garage with game room and storage overhead. I put in a freight lift that I built about two years ago so I can get my motorcycles and outboards upstairs for storage and safer keeping. So far I've got about 45 motors up there, my HD, my Gold Wing, and about 20 vintage bicycles as well. Plus my 5 boats, two enclosed trailers, a machine shop at another location, and a life time of accumulated parts for everything.
The worst part about it all is that I've been contemplating a move south, and I've been debating whether its worth all the effort in my 60's to got through such a move. I'm basically tired of living in a high tax state that eats up half my income just to be here, but a move would likely mean a massive expense to move everything and the likely hood of having to build again from scratch elsewhere.
I've come to the conclusion that nothing sells here, at least not unless you literally give it away. If its more than $20, they can't afford it.
Its likely why I've been able to accumulate so much over the years. Its really hard to say no to a good running outboard for $50 or less, or a complete boat, motor and trailer for not much more.
I just bought my fifth boat, another 16ft Mirrocraft Lake Fisherman side console with a running 40hp motor on it. I went to look at it when it was listed for $900, but passed because I just didn't need it. The guy called me three months later saying he really needs to sell it and if I was really interested he'd take $350. I made the 20 minute drive to go look at the boat, its on a typical light duty bunk trailer, and the motor and boat are both 1980 models. The trailer is from 1994. When i got there, the motor was cold, and all he had was ears and a hose to run it on, and it started right up. I asked him why he's selling it and he said his dad died and left him a 31ft boat and he don't use the old one anymore. He offered to take me for a test ride, and we did, (actually spent the whole day fishing and crabbing), when we got back, he asks me if I was interested and I hesitated a bit, and he said "Look, the wife said its got to go, keep the fish and the crabs and give me $300 cash". I did and left with a boat, a bushel of crabs, two huge catfish, and a bucket of perch.
It was listed on CL for over a year, he said he got no other replies, just a few idiots that were likely scammers.
Its nearly identical to my 1978 Mirrocraft but with a newer, larger motor and better paint.
The boat runs, doesn't leak, has all its paperwork in order and it got no takers. I kept watching for it to sell but the ads just ran and ran out, only to pop back up a few days later. He also had it on FB for a while last summer but didn't keep that ad up for long from was I saw, or the FB algarythum just wasn't showing it to me for some reason. The boat came wtih a Hummingbird fish finder, a gps plotter for marking fishing holes, an older mid 90's Riptide trolling motor, two anchors, a bucket of ropes, a VHF radio and whip antenna, and a newer battery and a Harbor Freight Li-Ion jumper pack that powers the fish finder. and radio. Plus two 6 gallon fuel tanks, two pedestal seats, and two fold down padded chairs.
When I ook at other areas similar boats go up and get sold all the time but here things just sit. Either they don't have computers, don't know what FB or CL are, or they're flat broke and can't buy anything period.
Deals like the one I just got are certainly proof that this is not the area to sell anything in, unless you just want to give it away or pay someone to take it.
The one with 18k on it had only 1k on it when he passed, most of the miles on it were put on it by me helping out around the farm over the years and using it to get supplies and to haul animal to auction on occasion. Mostly is pulled a stock trailer. The other truck got used only enough to keep it functional. Both lived in a fancy heated attached garage and got bi annual detailing and fluid changes. Now they sit here, I've put about 600 miles on each one in the past 5 years, mostly just towing my boat to and from the water and a few trips to the store here and there.
The local dealer has stopped by trying to buy them more than once, they offered me $8,500 each. They're both in near new condition with the higher mileage truck having a few dings here and there from parking lots and some paint peeling off the top of the front bumper. Both are loaded XLT Supercabs with leather interiors and all options.
That same dealer has two rather well used, 250K and 288K same year trucks on their used car lot both for $29k
They had others and they all sold. I suppose next to a new one for $90 to $132k, $29k must look like a bargain.
The clearly intend to make $40k off me if I was dumb enough to sell to them.
I did have a conversation with the owner of that place a while back, and told him that I'd be willing to trade one of the for a van of equal mileage, and the deal they proposed was for me to pay $29k and my truck with 3k for a used 2002 Ford 1/2 ton van which had 140k on it. Then they got mad when I laughed at them.
I wouldn't give $2k for the piece of junk they were trying to sell me. The mileage alone was a deal breaker and its condition and history was horrible, being a former rental with two major accident records over $10k and a ton of bad body work to cover it up. I finally told them if I so much as see or hear from them again I'd run them off my property with a shot gun.
Both trucks can sit in my garage for eternity as far as I'm concerned, and I'll eventually find a van that's not been through the mill and abused.
The way I see it, if their 288,000 mile truck is worth $29,999, then mine is worth far more with 280k less miles. Even blue book value is at $11k but you won't find one out there with under 20k on it for anywhere near that low.
I've also got a '96 F350 7.3l 4x4 reg. cab long bed with 34k on it, its been used a bit but has no rust, no issues and gets used monthly for the 2 mile run to the dump here. Its also an XLT model, I get dozens of people leaving notes on it all the time wanting to buy it but most offer less than scrap weight around here. I bought that one new my self.
I did think about selling it when I first got the other two but couldn't get a decent price around here for it so I decided to keep it and just add onto the garage. I blew out the back wall and added 42 more feet of depth to my garage with game room and storage overhead. I put in a freight lift that I built about two years ago so I can get my motorcycles and outboards upstairs for storage and safer keeping. So far I've got about 45 motors up there, my HD, my Gold Wing, and about 20 vintage bicycles as well. Plus my 5 boats, two enclosed trailers, a machine shop at another location, and a life time of accumulated parts for everything.
The worst part about it all is that I've been contemplating a move south, and I've been debating whether its worth all the effort in my 60's to got through such a move. I'm basically tired of living in a high tax state that eats up half my income just to be here, but a move would likely mean a massive expense to move everything and the likely hood of having to build again from scratch elsewhere.
I've come to the conclusion that nothing sells here, at least not unless you literally give it away. If its more than $20, they can't afford it.
Its likely why I've been able to accumulate so much over the years. Its really hard to say no to a good running outboard for $50 or less, or a complete boat, motor and trailer for not much more.
I just bought my fifth boat, another 16ft Mirrocraft Lake Fisherman side console with a running 40hp motor on it. I went to look at it when it was listed for $900, but passed because I just didn't need it. The guy called me three months later saying he really needs to sell it and if I was really interested he'd take $350. I made the 20 minute drive to go look at the boat, its on a typical light duty bunk trailer, and the motor and boat are both 1980 models. The trailer is from 1994. When i got there, the motor was cold, and all he had was ears and a hose to run it on, and it started right up. I asked him why he's selling it and he said his dad died and left him a 31ft boat and he don't use the old one anymore. He offered to take me for a test ride, and we did, (actually spent the whole day fishing and crabbing), when we got back, he asks me if I was interested and I hesitated a bit, and he said "Look, the wife said its got to go, keep the fish and the crabs and give me $300 cash". I did and left with a boat, a bushel of crabs, two huge catfish, and a bucket of perch.
It was listed on CL for over a year, he said he got no other replies, just a few idiots that were likely scammers.
Its nearly identical to my 1978 Mirrocraft but with a newer, larger motor and better paint.
The boat runs, doesn't leak, has all its paperwork in order and it got no takers. I kept watching for it to sell but the ads just ran and ran out, only to pop back up a few days later. He also had it on FB for a while last summer but didn't keep that ad up for long from was I saw, or the FB algarythum just wasn't showing it to me for some reason. The boat came wtih a Hummingbird fish finder, a gps plotter for marking fishing holes, an older mid 90's Riptide trolling motor, two anchors, a bucket of ropes, a VHF radio and whip antenna, and a newer battery and a Harbor Freight Li-Ion jumper pack that powers the fish finder. and radio. Plus two 6 gallon fuel tanks, two pedestal seats, and two fold down padded chairs.
When I ook at other areas similar boats go up and get sold all the time but here things just sit. Either they don't have computers, don't know what FB or CL are, or they're flat broke and can't buy anything period.
Deals like the one I just got are certainly proof that this is not the area to sell anything in, unless you just want to give it away or pay someone to take it.
