Guys,

My work truck has finally worn out to the point where the company will buy me a new one. They have tasked me with locating a replacement and disposing of the existing vehicle.

I have located an ideal vehicle at a dealer about 2 hours away however, my existing truck has transmission problems and it's debatable whether it will make the trip. Secondly, if it makes the trip, the dealer probably won't give any trade in value on it since it needs the transmission rebuilt and a few other things. I would think the truck is worth $1000 as is but I'd hate to drive all that way and have them tell me they'll give $500 for it.

The truck has new brakes, new tires and a utility cap. The cap alone is probably worth $500.

Another thing: the company doesn't want to sell the car to an individual locally, they just want to trade it in.

Options as I see them:

1. Drive the old truck down to the other dealer, trade it in and drive the new truck back. Down side: Potentially very low trade in value also the company will be out the money paying my salary which would pretty much negate any money received from a low ball trade in.

2. Sell the old truck to a place like Carmax. They claim you can sell them anything. Take the Amtrak down to the other place, buy the new truck and drive it home. Down side: Again, potentially very low sell price. Up side: I can work on the train making my time more productive as opposed to sitting on my butt driving.

3. See if the remote dealer will transfer the truck to a local dealer. Trade the old truck in locally. Up side: No long drive, more efficient. Down side: Fees for transferring vehicles?

So far, number 3 looks best to me. Even if we only got $500 for the truck, at least that money isn't eaten up paying me to take the trip down south.

Ideas? Discussion?

Thanks!

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250