Need help deciding what to do about a new vehicle purchase/trade in.
 

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!

Sell the cap separately.

Are you part owner in this company? It seems to me , if they have "tasked" you with taking care of it, they should be happy paying you to sit on your but and take care of it.

If it were me, I would drive it up to the other truck, take whatever they give me, and call it a day.

HUH!?
 

In 2015, why is it necessary to drive 140 miles to buy a new truck?

Here's my instructions; drive to your nearest new truck dealer and order the new truck exactly like you want, then trade your old truck in to that dealer when the new truck arrives.

Is there any reason why this doesn't seem like the common sense approach in solving buying a new truck?

This vehicle on the lot is about $2500 less than ordering one. It's a small town dealer with a plain vanilla SUV when everyone seems to want the fancy one.

2 hours is nothing if hes searching for an ideal work vehicle on the lot without the associated time and cost of ordering something.

With a few mercedes owned, NEVER leased, i think you may be a bit out of touch with the realities of sourcing a work vehicle.


X2 to kmaysbob of just making the run down there if the truck can make it. You also have to factor in the time you spend trying to work around making the drive and calling it a day. For example if you spend a few hours trying to figure out how to avoid the few hours you would have spent on the drive, you havent really saved much cost

Around here you can save a couple thousand on a vehicle if you are willing to drive a couple hours to the city.

Option 4.

Step 1: Get a good pair of ear plugs and a large pillow
Step 2: Put the old truck on a trailer and tow it with the Unimog to just a few miles from the dealer
Step 3: Drive the old truck the last few miles to the dealer.
Step 4: Load the Unimog on the trailer and tow it home with the new truck

:cool:

Carmax will give you auction value at best. Especially if there are issues with the truck, they'll be no better than a dealer trade. I took my rx8 to Carmax over the weekend and they offered me less than 2 grand (though I'm convinced the guy just didn't want to deal with it since it is a hard car to sell). If the company is asking you to take care of the truck and taking the value out of your salary you should be free to sell it whichever way possible.


Sent from an abacus

I can understand travelling to get the right truck but I don't understand why you are so worried about the $500 difference for the trade in

If it's only worth $1000, sell the cap and scrap the truck.

If he is worried about the $500 then he most likely is not going to spend the extra money to order a truck exactly as he wishes. That is going to be far more than $500.X2X2

It seems like you are either an exceptional employee with your concern for the company money, or somehow it's your money as well. If it's company money seek the advise of your supervisor while giving your suggestion, and then go with whatever they say. If it's your money as well then do what's best in your mind while not pissing off the supervisor.

1. Take the cap off to put on the new truck.
2. Drive old truck to the dealer, if it doesn't make it-have it towed.
3. Trade in old truck, drive new truck back
4. Put cap on new truck.

The company pays you for your time. If they're paying you to drive, then that's what you're doing today. I'm a white collar, but in a pinch they've had me deliver stuff in my truck (Always volunteer for this if they pay by the mile :D)

I wanted my current car in a particular color, with particular options, etc., so I went to my friendly local Ford dealer who found what I wanted at a dealer in a neighboring state. My dealer arranged a trade of a vehicle in his stock for my car. A dealership employee drove the trade car and associated paperwork to the other dealer and my car back to my dealer. IIRC, the other dealer was a couple of hours away. Part of my deal involved a trade-in of my old car, which was handled at the local dealer.

Essentially, the only atypical factor in the transaction was that my new car had about 130 miles on the odometer when I took delivery.

It's all coming off the taxes, don't sweat it.

Write down the mileage on the old truck when you deliver it and have someone call your insurance company when you get the new truck.

I'd go Amtrak just 'cause it's been a while for me but to each his own.

Just for fun you could run the tank dry on the old truck and ask for a full tank on the new one.