hi all! since im in the market for a different truck i have some questions about an 03 ranger edge plus i looked at the other day. the truck has 129 k miles on it and i was wondering about how many more miles id be able to get out of the motor (4.0) and tranny (automatic) on it? id prefer a standard but in my area trying to find any truck in a standard is next to impossible. inside and outside of the truck condition is like brand new. has brand new tires on it. the price the dealer is selling it for is 7953 but when i was getting ready to walk out of the dealership friday night the guy said how about 6953 for it. i dont know if its the way i think or not but to me it seems like they are pushing hard to try and get rid of it for some odd reason. thanks

 

There is NO way you can tell how long something will last. It depends on how the previous owners treated and maintained it. It depends on how YOU treat and maintain it. Then it depends on the luck of the draw.

If they're willing to drop the price a GRAND, they're trying too hard.

But then again, used cars are what make the most money, profit margin wise. They probably traded that truck in at 2-3 thousand max.

 

from the looks of the truck inside and out im going to assume the previous owner took very good care of the truck. theirs no bedliner in the truck and theirs not even a dent or a noticeable scratch

 

^^^ that’s it in a nut shell !

See if you can get the original service records, if available; see what was done and when.
If you are satisfied with the service it got then keep up the good service and the truck should last a long time.

My EDGE was purchased really short on the mileage, 25K on a 5 year old truck; it looked and drove brand new. I started using Mobile 1 right away and change the oil every 6K with a filter at 3K & 6K. I expect it to run for another 10 years or so.

 

Don't forget that ALL dealers will detail the crap out of a used car.... so they'll ALWAYS look better than what the previous owner did. A shiny outside and a clean interior does NOT mean it was treated well.


To add to this, do NOT use CarFax. CF will only tell you about items that were REPORTED TO CF. Not every accident or service is reported to them.

 

well the ford dealership called me today and offered me 6500 for the truck. think im going to wait another day or 2 and see if they will do 6000

 

Make a counter offer and see where they go.
They may think you have lost interest.
Maybe go to the dealer and take another look before offering.
That is, if you really want this truck ?

 

they seem very eager to sell this truck asap. thats why im sitting back and listening to their options and what they are throwing at me. i have yet to make an offer on this truck. every offer that has been put on the table has been by the dealer. right now in my mind i have set 6000 and a longer warranty. other then that im more then willing to walk away

 

Just out of curiosity, what would be best to use instead of carfax?

 

There are other, more reliable alternatives... unfortunately, I don't remember what services the "investigations" used to compare to CarFax.

 

Salesmen are on commission.... if they don't sell, they don't get paid. Its in their best interest to get as many sales as possible at the highest price possible.

I used to work at a ford dealer and once at the end of the month they needed one more sale on the last day of the month to get their bonus... so the manager discounted the brand new lincoln to below their cost just to get the sale, and their bonus.

Have a look at the truck as best as you can. Chances are the sales people have no clue to its past history other than what it needed for a safety. They probably have no clue as to if it was a mess or not when it came in.

Most salespeople will tell you whatever they think you want to hear just to get their commission.

 

Here's the 20/20 investigation vid.

 

Interesting, thanks for the video. I see they list autocheck as an equivalent service, I'll have to check it out.

 

Best thing to do is... look at the vehicle. Good and close. Look for signs of overspray. Most do not take any care about not overspraying the paint on the underside of the vehicles. Look for weird wrinkles under the hood, mis-aligned panels, paint ridge lines around the door/window trim from where they tape it off. Most shops are clumsy and don't bother to cover up their tracks of paint work.

Definitely do not rely totally on a CarProof or such. Even if they did catch every insurance claim ever put on the vehicle, what if the owner paid out of pocket and never reported the accident? I've seen that quite a few times.