Potential to buy Wrecked 2003 For F-350 for $900 - Page 2

Thanks to you, and all the rest of you guys for validating going through with it, I had many moments that I though "Gosh.. Should I just walk away.. What if I get burned on it, What if I *GASP* take a loss" I rolled the dice with a calculated risk and it worked out. So I am most appreciative to all of you who helped me make my decision, answered questions. I got a lot of different angles to work from folks.. There were multiple outcomes.. luckily.. this one worked out in a way that made me a happy camper!

Here was my only hitch of the day.. As I'm coming home on the Interstate I look into my sideview mirror and I see Smoke.. Looked like The truck on the trailer was On and burning oil. I pull over and think it is MY truck.. I think *##$ I blew something.. no engine warning lights, no loss of power on the Silverado.. I see nothing.. I continue on my way.. Get up to speed.. SMOKE again.. I pull over again. Apparently when you literally SQUEEEEEEEZE a Dually between the fender wells of your trailer- it pushes that steel fender like it is nothing.. Caused it to rub on the front driver side of the trailer.. This is the result:



Needless to say.. I spent part of Today taking all 4 trailer rims off, Pounding out the fenders and will have to replace this tire.. Bummer is.. I just got the darn thing put on 2 stinkin months ago.. Day in the life of a scrapper... I suppose :-)

*EDIT*
One thing I want to note and stress: A lot of people think I'm wasting my Money putting Actual "Load Range D" TRAILER Tires on my trailer. I have guys all the time snicker and laugh because of the amount of tires any of us who haul cars tend to get at our disposal.. that I am a FOOL for wasting my money on Trailer Tires. I will say this- These Tires most likely saved my Trailer, My Truck, and quite honestly my life and everyone else on the road with me yesterday. I was hauling a 6,000 lb truck on my trailer and a Passenger car tire being rubbed like this would have had catastrophic failure.. I take NO Chances when hauling.. One Shortcut on a Tie-Down or any other equipment can cost you your life or someone else theirs. It stinks that I will be out $131 bucks to buy a new one.. but quite honestly, I am glad to be alive to have the chance to "complain about it!" if I so choose to do so.
:-)

Another Update: Body Guy sent me some texts. HE gets to do the work on the truck.. So a total WIN-WIN.. I got paid, He will get paid.. Quite a few people will get their share of some $ on this one!

And you came out happy and made some money, can't really ask for more than that.

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

And you came out happy and made some money, can't really ask for more than that.

You got it!!!

Way to go on the truck, nice when you make decent money right away on it without having to wait. While the truck might have been a quick easy fix and a fast sale, it may also have grenaded the motor as someone was test driving it. Now you have your $$ in hand with no hassles or future headaches, and your body guy is making his money on the job too. Can't go wrong at all with that.

On your trailer, I certainly won't point and snicker at you for buying specific trailer. Heck, I'd even recommend you go to a 10-ply "E" rated tire. Tirerack.com has an "E" rated 225/15 tire for $109. No idea how much shipping would be though. DOT in my province doesn't care how much weight the sticker on your door says, or how much your axles are rated for. They pretty much only care about how much weight you are registered/paid your fee for, and that your tires aren't overloaded. If you're the lucky contestant who gets chosen for a full-on DOT inspection, if you're running automotive tires on a trailer, you -will- catch grief for it unless your tires are matching, and in really good condition.

Edit; I'd also kick your FIL's buddy a few $$, and/or take him and the in-laws out for supper. Even a gift card from a nice local restaurant they like. It would have been easier for him to just take a straight cash settlement from insurance. Instead, as a favour to your FIL, he gave you the chance to make some money.

Zito:
Well said man. On All Points! You are completely correct, he had plenty of hassles to deal with to begin with- adding me into the mix was just one more thing to have to deal with (even though I'm super easy going- ha ha) But seriously, yes indeed, a dinner or what have you, as a thanks is definitely called for!

congrats sledge sorry i neve3r saw this thread till today BTW i woulda paid 3500-$5000 for that all day long

Liberty-
No worries man.. Would you have wanted to come out to Indiana to Haul it though? I didn't re-sell it for anywhere near your low end price ;-)

lol no i had one about a year ago sold the bed for $2000 minus the tailgate which sold for $250 $300 a door the nose i got $1500 for minus the wrecked part a v10 around here is worth about 4k and the tranny another $2k anytime 1 hits a&a truck parts it"s sold off within hours that was a good combination for that vehicle he"ll i"ld have probably fixxec it myself and put a wrecker bed on it

Originally Posted by Need4racin

good deal, in the dallas market here, the buyer would only break even on the truck paying $2500 for it, and putting in $2500 worth of work. Only worth flipping if you're the one putting in the labor.

Need 4racin: It would have been a $2500 outlay total (That is the truck purchase price at $900 and about $1600 in parts and labor) to repair it. I'm still happy at the result, I could have held it and made more, but after almost a week of back and forth with the guy having insurance issues, I can get the truck, no wait I can't- oh wait buyout is now $980 vs $900, smoking trailer tires.. I just took the offer I got and washed my hands of it. :-) I did well on the profit.. for basically moving it about 25 miles.

Not to dredge up the dead here.. but wanted to give you all a further update on this truck:
Sold it in May
Buyer has put $1600 to buy
Another $300 in parts
Front Wheels turn inward still
No body work is done
Had to pay to register and plate it
Is going to plop $300 in Ball Joints in it
Has it listed at $4000 with no nibbles. Truck in fixed working order only books for $4600 around here.

Seems I did A-Ok to dump it off and wash my hands of it

Take risks.....but make them calculated risks! The only loss worth taking is for education, or straight fun! Sounds like you made a great business decision!

Originally Posted by thortek

Take risks.....but make them calculated risks! The only loss worth taking is for education, or straight fun! Sounds like you made a great business decision!

Thank you sir. I got an update a few days ago from the body shop guy. He is now up to $1000 in parts, and the body work is still not done. So he's around at least $2600 into it, and he still can't get rid of it. I feel bad for him actually, I thought- "Heck he puts a few bones into it and makes all his $ back and then some" I'm ok with that. I didn't want to drop the extra $1500 into it and try and sell it- so I took the easy "low hanging fruit" and bolted. I knew right off the bat that the truck only booked out at about $4500 bucks, so putting a total of about the same $2600 into it and then splitting the profit (Say $2 Grand, so $1K for me and $1k for the body guy- if all went perfect" I'd just take the $700 profit that day. I've used that money to buy other vehicles- it's tripled itself easily since May!

probably needs alignment. It will never sell unless the fender is replaced (junkyard fender) and the door and cab corner fixed. title transfer and registering it probably ate up a good bit of money too. I remember state here wanted $150 to transfer title on a 25 yr old truck. I would image it's might be double to more for a newer vehicle.