toben

Hello I negotiated a great deal only to find out the truck has a salvage title.

2001 f150 super crew cab with 166k miles.

Truck looks great. Has a few small dings.

Mechanic looked at it and said the ball joints are wearing out but not bad yet. Under the hood you can see there was a wreck on the left front fender but it has been repaired. The lines don't match up exactly but pretty close.

Ac is cold. Starts and runs well.

Interior is great for a truck of this age but not perfect.

I need a weekend truck to haul refrigerators and repair materials to my rental properties and to tow a boat 3-4 times a year.

We agreed on a price of $3800 before he told me the title was salvage. He bought the truck 4 years ago and has had no problems.

Mechanic OK'ed the truck before I found out it was salvage. He said the only thing it needs is new tires now and be aware the ball joints will eventually wear out.

What is this vehicle worth? Is it still a good value at $3800?

steves2000

Id go down to $3000 since its got a salvage and have to invest in new tires and front end parts

jstockert

Price it out on kbb. We dont know what options the truck comes with. Keep in mind a salvage vehicle will be hard to sell. Salvage just means that it was wrecked and insurance company deemed the repairs greater that the trucks value.

w0lvez

The best way to check the vehicle real condition is by removing the tranny oil pan. If there are magnetic particles sticking on the magnet, you need to repair it ASAP. Make sure the Radiator Oil Cooler is not leaking coolant to your tranny.

Best way to check Engine condition is by removing both Valve Cover and install a cardboard to catch excess oil. Try Cranking the engine with the fuel & Ignition System Disabled. . If Oil is squirting something is restricting the oil flow like old gasket material that falls inside the oil passage way.

It's better to buy a Dirty & Dusty Engine because it's not hiding someting.

jstockert

The question by the op was the value of a truck with a salvage title.

TLB4

If you're removing oil pans, and valve covers, you basically are committing to buying that truck. Because who is going to pay for everything to be put back together and who is paying for new tranny oil and gaskets and such.

In my opinion, a salvage truck is a vehicle that has passed all the checks and had a whole safety and is considered street legal again. Your salvage truck is probably in better shape than mine to be honest. So as long as the truck is in good shape, was fixed properly, and they didn't cheat on the safety or anything, you'll be fine. Be more worried about issues like rust, and if the maintenance has been kept up on.

jollyroger331

If you check it out well and everything looks good I wouldn't be to worried. That's not a bad price for what your getting and as said above if it was put back together properly it should be good. I purchased a vehicle years ago on a rebuilt title and never had a single issue.

03f15012

Never mind. Saw the accident. Regardless,, $3000 sounds about right.

sportster07

The crappy part isn't finding a good salvage vehicle to buy, it's selling it when you're done with it. Nobody wants to buy them so unless you pay nothing or accept some loss, you're in for a long wait. $3000 seems decent though assuming it's 4x4. If not, I'd probably avoid it. At least in my parts where we get heavy winter, 2 wheel drives go for 3000-4000 no problem with clean titles.

toben

I will drive this into the ground and not likely sell it before it becomes scrap so resale value isn't really what I am concerned about.

I could pay 2-3 times as much for a better truck but really for a super crew they don't get much cheaper considering the condition is pretty good.

The state issued a rebuild title on it so it already went through a safety inspection to change the status from salvage to rebuild.

Truck is bought and now has new tires. I already used it to drag my boat to the lake and back.