Auctions or Best Place to Find Truck/Trailer

Just my opinion. You are going to save so much money buying a truck that old with that many miles you are going to go broke. On maintenance and repairs.

 

You do not want it.

Ive been a crew boss with a group of CDL temp drivers in our ADESA auctions at Little Rock running trucks into the sale once a month maybe twice. Half the trucks have issues that will be a problem just getting to the barn unless I put a old driver who knows how to work around problems like air loss to make it look good in the sale. The rest will be short on fuel and run dry prior to sale causing need to replace reprime fillters etc etc etc. Some will exhibit other issues that the Buyer will discover a problem.

I think of about 2 trucks in particular. One was a pretty Pete and it was perfect in every way, that sold for 35K I wish I had 35K myself. I personally took that truck through the barn because I did not want just anyone to screw it up. What a beaut. Another was a beat up volvo with electronic code faults, I babysat that thing for 2 hours cranking to keep it running on the starter every 2 minutes when it failed. Over and over and over and over and making allowances for the heat build up that hurt the starter motor. Im convinced that Volve will crank at judgement day if left rotting in a field 20 years. lol. But im sorry for whoever was stupid enough to buy it.

Again you don't want it. It's hit and miss. Beauts and Money pits.

Man I miss that old Pete. It had a 550 CAT that sounded like a classic bucket of bolts and nuts at idle. Shakashakashaka but when you added power it had music to it at torque. Smooth and beautiful.

 

There's nothing wrong with buying an older 10 car rig but it takes some serious searching. I wanted a pre egr Detroit or CAT engine truck so when I set out to find one my priorities went like this:
Truck and headrack needed to be super clean no exceptions, you can buy a new trailer to put behind it just as long as the truck is solid. On the trailer, if you're scared of checking it out really good and replacing a few sketchy looking lines or cylinder seals then you just need to buy new because that's how owning an older trailer is going to go. Also if has rust, go ahead and factor in a new trailer into your price because it's not worth running.

I'd stay away from anything 05 unless it's a Pete with a C15. Just my .02

 

Auctions aren't a bad place to but trucks. The one guy I work with bought a 2015 Freightliner with 300k for $18k, after repairs, and registration it cost him about $25k to get it on the road home. He bought it from copart auction. Thing is, you gotta look at them before purchasing.

 

Pm me I have a truck I might part with.

 

Car haulers rust from the inside out. What looks good may not be. Hit the tubes with a hammer to see if they are solid. Older cotrell units have the hydraulic lines inside the bottom rails.