...you will regret selling your diesel wagon. In my lifetime I've bought and sold many cars. I've always regretted selling the Benzes. It was like selling a family pet.

On the other hand, the last non-Benz car I sold was a 1999 Seville with very little mileage. I couldn't walk away from it fast enough.

Brian's suggestion, to look for a used truck makes perfectly good sense. One thing the big 3 are good at is making trucks. We've owned three Suburbans - Yukons over the past ten 15 years or so. The engines on those trucks are indestructible.

You are sure to find a good bargain on a used truck. Heck, you may even be able to pay for it cash and thus completely avoid a car note. With gas price going up, a lot of urban jockeys who bought trucks for looks, and not for utility, are looking to unload their ride. The new, and used, truck market is REALLY soft. You can hook up a great bargain, especially on a working truck w/o a lot of unnecessary doodads.

Whatever you do, try to hold on to your diesel wagon. They are very hard to find. I told Brian that my son loves diesel engines, he wants to design diesel powered planes. I am now in the process of looking for a good, used diesel wagon for when he starts driving (in a couple of years). Everything that I see is either an overpriced garage queen or an overpriced rust bucket. Either way, diesels are getting more expensive as gas prices rise.

Hold on to yours if you can at all.

__________________
Current Benzes

1989 300TE "Alice"
1990 300CE "Sam Spade"
1991 300CE "Beowulf" RIP (06.1991 - 10.10.2007)
1998 E320 "Orson"
2002 C320 Wagon "Molly Fox"

Res non semper sunt quae esse videntur

My Gallery

Not in this weather!

I make my living buying low so I am a pro at that. Around these parts used pick ups are $16k with new ones around $20k or less. This is pick up country. Every farmer has one and needs one so they are very desireable. Both pose their own individual problems.

Used....the majority of the used one I've looked at are 4WD. I need a plain old light 1/2 ton with no 4WD. Plus it seems I'm looking for a rather rare model. I need an extended cab with an 8' bed. Most or all I've seen with extended cabs are both 4Wd and 6' bed, both of which are worthless for my use. Another problem I've had with used is finding one with low miles. I've already got a pickup with 151k and am not going to trade for one that has 100k. 50K or less would work but with the options I have mentioned I just can't find one. Plus, like I said, good,low mileage trucks in this area are high priced because of the desireability factor.

New....will most likely require me to place an order. I'd like to find one on the lot with the above mentioned options but, like I said, hard to find it seems. Then we have the problem with making the payments. With a good used one I'd have payments too but not as much as a new one.

TRADING my car is not an option at all. The dealer will pay you virtually nothing for it. I make my living selling and I can sure sell my TD myself for 5 times what the dealer would pay.

Last night the wife and I had a long talk about this. She understands [boy, thats a rarity!] my standpoint on getting rid of the wagon. Honest to the good Lord it would just break my heart to let that car go. Thats the best car I've ever owned hands down. I';ve owned it for only 2 years but I have followed the MBZ market for a number of years and do realize how hard to find such a good example is and I also know how the value increases and has gone up since I bought mine. 2 years ago a good wagon was bringing $7500 with an occasional one bringing the $10K. Now it seems even ones with over 200k on the clock will get you $8500-$9500 whereas 2 years ago one with that kind of mileage would realize $5000 and most times as low as $3500.

I am still leaning towards a new truck. I don't care about depreciation because, being for work, I can write it off. Either way I am going to have to make payments and the larger the downpayment the less I have to come up with at the end of the month. I'm still trying to figure out how I can keep the TD and come up with a sizeable downpayment.

By the way....I'm getting rid of my current truck because of rust. Not the body so much as undercarriage. I had a brake line rust through and my spare tire drop off all in the same week because of rust. I pull a trailer a lot and am getting a little leary of the truck. Whats next? Gas tank fall off because the straps rusted? Uh oh....I just jinxed myself......

Thanks for all the input guys. Much appreciated.

Cheers,

Bill

Pete...I don't really do a lot of driving. Maybe 10K/year or a little more.

I haul antique furniture which, although bulky, isn't really all that heavy. My 6 banger F-150 has been pulling loads around for 13 years with no problems.

New looking isn't necessarily what I'm after. Looks are unimportant to me when it comes to a work vehicle. My main concern here in the rust belt is of course rust. Thats whats getting my F150. And another important feature is the extended cab with the 8' bed.

My wife says make payments or make repairs. I need dependability thats why I'm leaning towards new. Plus with a new truck I'll have a lot of trouble free miles. My current truck I bought new in '93 and never put much in it until a couple years ago. Trouble free miles are very important to me. I don't have the time to be messing with repairs myself so anything that does break will have to go to the shop plus when I turn the key its time to go to work and not time to go get something fixed.

FYI.....I am self employed so I don't have to worry about losing my job!

Cheers,

Bill

Have you considered going south to look for the truck you want? In CT, 2WD work trucks aren't that common but down south they are. Maybe some folks on this forum can help you out who live down there. If they check something out for you as your eyes, it might pay to get a 1-way plane ticket to go get it. I totally understand the 1/2 ton, full size (fleetside) bed issue. When I moved our family of 6 three years ago, it paid for itself several times over.

__________________
'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

That sounds like a good idea but I am still a little wary of buying used unless I can find a low mileage used truck for cheap. Sometimes even low mileage trucks aren't so great. I know a guy who trades his truck in every year for a new one and never even changes the oil in it!

Once again my main need is 8' bed with extended cab. I would like to find a stick too. AT never impressed me much when it comes to a work truck.

I have looked on ebay but that kinda scares me. I got stuck more than once buying a used vehicle off ebay. If I should find one on ebay maybe someone here could go look at for me.

Cheers,

Bill

If you are looking for a 2wd check out the mountain states( Montana, Wyoming, Colorado) I used to watch 2wd trucks with 10-40,000miles run through the auctions in Billings for $3-6000 back of wholesale. Third party inspection and freight to PA will run you around $1,000. The nice thing is they don't sell for S&!T out in this area. At last memory we bought a 2002 F-150 for around $8,000 with 45k on it in 2004. My dealership could always use those as we were a secondary finance (poor credit) store and the only thing the bank cares about is sell price in relevance to book. And the customer was happy to have a reliable vehicle.

__________________
Owen

87 300TD 603 I-6
94 Jeep XJ I-6 4.0 (see the pattern)
89 750il
seventy-two hundred feet above sea level (kinda cold up here)

Wife is harping on new. She says every time I try to get a deal on a used anything I get burned. Not really totally true but the majority of the time I do get burned.

But hey, I'm a risk taker. I'd be game for that. But if I do get burned I'll never hear the end of it.

Your philosphy sounds very reasonable to me. Nobody out in the mountains would want a 2WD. I'd be real happy to pay $8K for one with low miles! Once again though I think the problem will be finding one with the extended cab and the 8' bed.

Thanks for the input. Maybe all hope is not lost regarding the TD.

Cheers,

Bill

Good luck! Im in the furniture business too (mid century modern).. thats what the Volvo is for, partner has the truck for bigger things.

__________________
Nate

1995 E420
1992 BMW 525i
1984 300D Turbo sold
1993 Volvo 244 sold
1995 Volvo 944T R.I.P!


"The details are not details. They make the product."
-Charles Eames

www.cbs.nu

If you buy the truck from 1000 miles away, sight unseen, with only the photos and the proclamations of the seller, you have a better than even chance of getting burned.

Invest $150.00 on a pre-purchase inspection via a local dealer or one of the services that come to the vehicle.

Then, it's impossible to get burned. You get a full report on the condition, without regard to what the seller claims.

And, naturally, make sure you get a Carfax to help to verify the mileage. Not perfect, but much better than nothing.

Thats exactly what I said to the wife after my last post. Just how to go about doing it is another story. I'm sure an internet search will turn up someone who will inspect for me. And for $150 it's well worth it.

Carfax is good for mileage verification but when it comes to damage I find that its not reliable because when someone pays for damages out of pocket carfax doesn't get the data. My Surburban [yes, it was a diesel] had unforseen damage that someone had paid for out of pocket that of course didn't show up on the carfax report. I found it when the paint began to peel in one area.

Wife is still harping on new though.

Cheers,

Bill

I agree on the Carfax.........just useful for mileage verification.

If you could swing the payment without disposing of the TD, then, maybe you could justify it. But, to be forced to sell the TD to purchase a new vehicle is ridiculous.........IMHO.

I purchased my Dodge van at six years of age with a bit over 50K on the clock........and I'm not even sure that it's accurate.

The van is now 17 years old and still runs as good as a new vehicle........burns a quart every 2K or so.

I've never owned a new vehicle..........and somewhat proud of that fact.

Payments without a sizeable downpayment are going to be sky high. As you know Brian I am self employed meaning I cannot gurantee myself X amount of dollars a month but with a fairly large downpayment I can keep the payments reasonable which I can handle. And when I need a new truck to earn a living its not so ridiculous. Gotta have it, regardless if new or almost new. And either new or late model used I'm going to be making payments. My disaster last year cleaned me out! FYI....barn is back and looks like its been here 100 years.

I've only owned one new vehicle in my life and thats the truck I have now. Paid cash back in '93 so I've never had a car payment in my life and I'm just a shade past 25. Ok...a shade past 45.

Cheers,

Bill

I think that a three or four year old vehicle would serve your purposes admirably with a cost that is about 1/2 the cost of an equivalent new vehicle.

I used the example of my Dodge to reinforce that point.

The wife used to like you Brian.

She wants to know if you'll come and fix a used truck when it breaks....

Hard to argue with women....

Cheers,

Bill

Oh, so true..........guess that's why I don't own one.........