Hi all. Hope I'm posting in the right place. Due to an unplanned meeting between my '22 Trailblazer and a big deer early Friday morning, I am in the process of vehicle shopping. I'd planned on buying an older truck as a back-up to the T-Blazer anyway, but the big buck accelerated my plans.

Anyway, I found this on C-list in Tallahassee: https://tallahassee.craigslist.org/c...574030101.html

I spoke with the seller and we set-up a meet for tomorrow afternoon. I'd like to know what you all think overall. Does his asking price seem too high? What would y'all be wiling to pay? Also, what things do I need to look for specifically when checking out the truck? Anything special I should know about this particular year or truck configuration? Thanks in advance! - Andrew

 

Nice truck but I wouldn't pay that much for a 2wd.

 

Thanks! What do you think would be a realistic offer assuming the truck is everything he says it is? My feeling is his asking price is too high for us to even find a middle ground

 

Have you compared the asking price against KBB or any other used vehicle value website?
You need some sort of comparison tool aside from us who aren't in the current market for that truck.

 

Yes I have. KBB gives me a max value of $3700 in Very Good condition (for a '92, KBB doesn't go earlier than that) and NADA says $4500. But it seems nothing I find for sale in similar condition is anywhere close to that low. So I thought these might command a higher actual price due to desirability and diminishing supply, but I wanted to find out what is realistic and what is ridiculous. Thanks for the reply sir!

 

Sounds like the asking price is a bit high. I think the seller is trying to recover his money on paint and tires that may have been done only to make the sale more appealing.

You mention in your post that you fear you two are going to be too far apart. You may just be.

I guess you should offer what your highest comfortable price is. Is $6000 comfortable for you but knowing it may be overpriced..... then offer that, for example.
That could end the haggling if you have a max that you won't exceed. The ad has been up for about a week, he may be willing to wait longer before he wishes to lower it.

I think the price is high the more I think about it.
If you pay out $10,000 now, how does that impact a future buy, if you are still looking at getting a different vehicle.

 

Agreed on all. He's not in a hurry to sell. I think the seller may be trying to capitalize on buyer's FOMO and the fact that used vehicles from dealers are insanely overpriced right now. FWIW, the previous owner is the one who had it painted, so I know there's nothing for him to recover there.

Anyway, I think I'll text him in the morning to let him know it wouldn't be worth our time to meet. Thanks for lending some clarity.

 

Besides being the ugliest F-series (IMO), '87-91s have MANY known problems. Of course, people who own them say they're desirable trucks, but they are NOT nearly as sought as '80-86, which are not as sought as '92-96 (& '97 >8500GVWR). Of that last group, '92 is the least desirable - not just because it's the oldest, but because it shares some problems with '87-91s. '93 is a VERY-slight improvement. '94-96/7 have MANY substantial upgrades that make them the most-sought of the '80-96/7 F-series (which I consider to be 1 generation because they share so many parts, so I never use the "Gen" label; the "OBS" label is even more-vague because everything other than the current body-style is "old body style").

 

Yes. The '87s-'91s were ugly for sure. I had read up on some of the known issues with them as well. So it's probably just as well that I took a pass on that one. Funny you should mention the '94+ being much better years. I found a '94 (4.9 I6, auto) that I like much better and the asking price is $5200. Still a bit too high, but much more sane that the other guy.

So at the risk of being told to use the search function or Google, what were the known improvements made in '94? Thank you all a ton!

 

I think I only paid $14k OTD for my brand new 1993 XLT. I sold it in 1999 for about 1/2 that.
That truck in the CL ad is garbage.