Just Trying to buy a Used Truck!

Joined
Apr 9, 2008
Messages
16,444
Location
Central NY
And I'm thinking I'm going to have to keep sinking money into ol' rusty untrusty!

So I spoke to a few people who use a Frontier to tow their Jeep, one of which is a good friend of mine who is a mechanic. They all say the Frontier can do it. A little slow taking off , but they never had any issues with it towing a Jeep on a dual axle trailer. I want low mileage and around $20K. That would keep it comfortable and if fertilizer hit the ventilator, I could pay off ... but I'm trying to keep hold on any cash at the moment.

Figured I'd try to start looking for one. The first week, I called on four different trucks. All were sold between the time I called and set up the appointment or were sold right before I called. Okay, that happens I guess.

Found one at a local dealer that had an okay price, former rental, and looked to be in good shape. Made an appointment to take a look. Get there and it looks good. When I rolled underneath it to take a look underneath ... wow! It would give my rusty untrusty 01 Ford a run for it's money. The frame rails had started to have some rot on them. Suspension components were rusty. Transmission and transfer case were powder white from corrosion. And a few exposed connectors had the green crusties growing. Checked under the front and the oil pan was gashed, dented and rusted out from the impact and leaking. Tow hook was bent. Oh, and the frame was full of sand. Pretty clear this one ended up in the ocean at one point.

Left that one, no thanks! I will say this dealer was pretty straightforward with my trade in and must have missed this one during their inspection. Because it was gone off their website right after I pointed out that it was a flood truck.

Found another one at a local Nissan Dealer. A used 2016 in good shape. No body damage. Called for two weeks before I could finally get ahold of someone there. Verified the 2016 was still there. So we get to talking about my trade in. They offered me pennies. "Well people just don't buy Subarus here in Upstate NY, I can't sell it for any money". Uh , okay. Literally every other vehicle on the road is a Subaru. And the usual "Well it needs tires, brakes , etc" -- I can provide receipts that I just did brakes using quality parts and the tires don't have many miles on it.

After hanging up on that person twice, I came to a reasonable offer on the Subaru. Of course, then suddenly the 2016 needed to have body work done and was not available but they had a brand new one. I don't want brand new. So walked away from that one.

Now have a call in to another large used car dealer on some Frontiers but for some reason they can't find the trucks.

Bah, so frustrating!!

Anyway, with all the things going on in the world, looks like I'm going to hold on to the Subaru and rusty untrusty for a few months. The used car market is going to get flooded soon with lots of rentals, I'm sure my trade in will suffer a bit but not as much as the stuff I'm looking at.
 
Not a ton of Frontiers anywhere I would guess. Trying to find a really good condition one in NY will make your search harder. Trying to find a good condition one at a dealer that will give you a good deal will compound your difficulties.
 
Yep, it's a fun game alright. I'm sure it'd be easier if you would just buy new and finance for 182 months.
 
I like carfax used vehicle web site when looking for a used low millage vehicle. In particular what I like is that you can look at the car-fax reports and find one that had the oil changed when it should have been, instead of buying something that someone did not change the oil and possibly damaged the engine before you buy it.
 
Does it have to be a Frontier? I'd check out some full size trucks to expand your search. From the Frontiers I've rented, the fuel economy isn't going to be any better than a full size and due to the large turning radius they aren't any easier to maneuver. Ride will be a lot better on any of the full size trucks out there too.
 
The finance for the rest of my life at 0% interest was the solution the Nissan dealer had.

Carmax is definitely an option, and there's a dealer about 150 miles away that has tons of them. The closest carmax is 100 miles away. It may be an option if I get closer to the end of the summer without finding one.


Originally Posted by Chris Meutsch
Originally Posted by Miller88
fertilizer hit the ventilator



May I use this phrase and attribute it to you for the rest of my life?



Yeah!
 
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Agreed with the carfax used car site, while carfax is not perfect it is nice to know if someone has actually done the recommended maintenance.
 
Some of the vehicles on autotrader have free carfax reports, but not all of them. When I was looking for my Honda CR-V I only looked at vehicles that had a carfax report showing regular oil changes.
 
Last week, a co-worker went shopping for a vehicle for his daughter. This was at a dealership. Not only was the vehicle way overpriced, but they had an added price of $1600 for "administration fees". He walked.
 
I saw an acquisition fee recently advertised on TV in addition to processing fees and DMV fees. Nothing like adding fees to increase sales!
 
There's a few of them down here in Texas for sale in your price range...

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/AWD+~+4WD/Nissan/Frontier/Spring+TX-77373?makeCodeList=NISSAN&searchRadius=75&modelCodeList=FRONTI&zip=77373&marketExtension=include&driveGroup=AWD4WD&isNewSearch=true&sortBy=relevance&numRecords=25&firstRecord=0
 
Originally Posted by eljefino
Trucks are nuts right now!

Yeah, lots of supply and no demand.
Sellers seem to think they are sitting on gold mines
crazy2.gif
 
Originally Posted by eljefino
Trucks are nuts right now!


as long as its not Truck nuts.. Hopefully that fad is over.
 
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