Buying a used truck can be a very daunting experience, especially if you’ve never purchased a used vehicle before. But along with the wider variety at far lower prices, buying a used truck can come with many benefits if you keep a shrewd eye out when looking at your options. Here are some tips to help you with your used truck hunting adventure:
Rebates and Incentives
Check for rebates and incentives on recent models. Reputable used truck dealerships in Phoenix are usually pretty eager to offload them. Market research is going to be of utmost importance at this stage.
Bodywork
When inspecting the vehicle for body damage, run your fingers along every door jam, hood jam, and basically anywhere the door, hood, or trunk come into contact with the rest of the body. Look for little rough spots, which indicate where a tape line would normally be. This is an indicator of prior bodywork. This will give you the ability to tell if there are any tape lines or any rough spots where overspray might have happened.
Maintenance
One of the first things you would want to look at when appraising a used truck is to look at the miles on the vehicle and the percentage of oil life left. Compare the numbers with the sticker on the top left-hand side of the windshield to decipher when the previous owner was due for an old change and checkup. For example, if the odometer shows 50,000 miles and the next oil change is in 40,000 miles, that means that they are 10,000 miles overdue for an oil change. That’s a red flag that most people would overlook.
Treatment
You’d want to look at how the vehicle was treated. A good test for this is to gauge how often the used truck was used off-road. Anybody can detail a used truck. Anybody can clean the outside, buff the paint, and make it look brand-new to the naked eye.
What you need to do, especially when purchasing used pickup trucks, is to get underneath the chassis. Once there, you want to simply look for mud in places that mud shouldn’t be in. A rule of thumb is to always check the cross-members for mud. It is very easy for mud to get into this part of used trucks. Most detailers hesitate to check or clean those parts of used trucks.
Extended Warranty
If you don’t feel comfortable with the maintenance or warranty repair history of the vehicle, purchase what most dealerships call an extended warranty. If you’ve set your mind on a certain vehicle but its records aren’t satisfactory, it is advisable that you buy an extended warranty from a reputable manufacturer or dealership. It’s best to get on an extended service plan from the same manufacturers of the vehicle.
Those are our tips to help you with your used truck hunting. Always do your research before making a big purchase, such as a truck. You can also take advice from friends and family who have gone this way before. With that, we wish you luck on your future adventures to come.
