92 Chevy C1500... Should I buy?

[duritz]

I need a work truck since mine just died. I work for Charter Communications installing cable and modems. My 88 Jimmy just bit the dust and I need a replacement NOW. I went to the only dealer in town that does bad credit loans and they had a 92 Chevrolet C1500 2wd 1/2 ton extended cab truck for sale for $6,500. It has the 5.0L V8 engine in it, auto tranny, power locks/windows, etc etc. It's got 143,000 miles on it though.

 

I was wondering if anyone knew how long this truck would last with such high miles. It started right up and sounded good. The engine is clean and looks like there are a few new parts on it. The salesman did rev it hard and a lot of blue smoke came out of the exhaust. He said he just gave it too much gas and it ran rich and since it hadn't been started in a day or 2 it smoked. I dunno though.

 

If anyone can give me some advice / opinions I'd be grateful. He also had a 96 Dodge Dakota Sport single cab with 127,000 miles for $4500. Also had a 93 Mitsubishi Mighty Max Ext Cab with 139,000 miles for $4500 as well. Would I be better off going with one of those?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Joshua

 

PS I know the prices are way above blue book value :-/ but that's what I get for not having good credit. Noone will cosign for me on anything newer/nicer so this is pretty much all I got

[Wingnut]

Yeah....That Chevy should be selling for around 2 grand.

 

My take is this:

 

Not one of the three is likely to be in that great of shape, so you will be buying quite a few parts in the future.

 

The Chevy is full size, with room inside to lock things up.

Dakota is mid-size, and no room inside.

Mitsu is small all around.

 

Back to the parts issue. By far the cheapest parts for your money are going to be on the Chevy.

 

MAN!! Those are high prices.

 

 

Thats my .02

 

Welcome to the forum, by the way!

[duritz]

Well I was in the forums before under Load*,8,1 but can't remember my password :-/

 

Yeah the prices are way too high but I have horrible credit and well my family is full of jerks who won't help me out by cosigning.

 

I do like the chevy the best, but the smoke concerns me. Is it normal for such an old truck?

[Chris97K1500]

Sorry to hear about your situation, I had a similar thing happen to me this past winter. I got lucky and found my "new" truck. I'd have to agree with Wingnut, the cheapest parts for replacement will be the Chevy. The most expensive being the import. With a higher mileage vehicle, common problems can arise, more of just maintanence. If something were to go wrong with the 5.0V8, it will cost much less at an autoshop to fix than the others you mentioned. The 5.0 was around for many years, so parts won't be a problem finding. My father had an old 5.0 with over 260K miles on it before it finally dropped a cylinder, which he replaced with a 350GM Crate motor. Welcome to the board! Chris

[MCourson]

What the 5L lacks in power it more than make up for in durability. Mine runs like the day it was new and it has almost 174,000 miles on it.

[chevy38fan]

He's lying, I've seen it. Looks like junk. runs like junk. sure is junk. ;)

 

Actually I'm surprised it's still going strong. and sounds d**n good too.

[duritz]

any other opinions before i go and buy this thing tomorrow?

[tgdiver]

Joshua,

 

I know about bad credit, my ex-wire did a wonderful number on me.

 

I would be hesitant on the Chevy purchase. You are looking at truck that is 12 yrs old, and the technology in that truck requires a bit more knowledge than a truck from the 80s. I know lots of places will not finance very old cars or trucks, which is probaby important to you. I do not know what type of income you have, or anything else, but I would look for something much cheaper if I were in your shoes. I am sure they have a bad int rate as well. How much in the long run would you be paying for this truck? I would like to think the truck has many more years left in it, but you never know.

 

One thing to consider with financing an old vehicle. IF if dies during the first year or two, and you have a three or possibly four year note, you might be stuck with a payment, and nothing to show for it. You would probably not be able to sell it to pay off the remaining note. How much disposable income will you have to put into the truck if something goes wrong, how many repairs could you afford before it kills your bank account?

 

I would not spend any more than you can afford to completly loose. If you can afford to loose $6,500, go for it. I know when I hit bottom, I went cheap cheap cheap, till I got organized (new wife helped out a lot with that). Now I still drive an old vehicle.

 

I don't know if you have heard of Dave Ramsey, but you should try and look at some of his message boards refering to situations similar to yours. http://www.daveramsey.com/

 

I am sorry to sound so negative, but I would hate to hear you ended up in a bad situation.

[duritz]

i asked for all opinions, negative and positive. i thank you for your take on it

 

i work for charter and install cable so i need a large truck for all my supplies and equipment and tools. i would rather go cheaper but i cannot get a loan anywhere else (the only reason these people will finance me is the owner is friends with my mother)

 

i would love to find something cheaper but noone will loan me the cash i could go for that single cab dodge, or the mighty max but they are both way too small for my work. i wouldn't be able to fit all my tools in them and my electronics would get wet since i couldn't hide them inside the cab

 

i make a pretty good bit of money. the loan for the truck would be 18 months and i make enough to pay double payments each month so it would be paid for within a year max. *shrugs*

 

i just don't know what else to do. i pulled apart my jimmy today and tried working on the brakes and it was complete disaster. on top of that it won't start anymore so it's not even gonna pay off to fix the brakes since i can't go anywhere.

 

i went and talked with the guy at the dealership and took the silverado for a test spin and it runs beautiful. i inspected it up and down and only found a few problems. (cruise control doesn't work, a/c doesn't work, cargo light doesn't work) the biggest thing is there was a little bit of pink fluid (looked like tranny fluid) around the area where the driveshaft goes into the transmission. i'm not sure if that's just cuz it's old and the seal is going bad or if it's something more serious.

 

i dunno though, i'll check out that link but i'm not sure what other options i have

[tgdiver]

No A/C in Southern LA? (looking at your old load* profile )

Nice humidity in the summer - heck winter too.

Leaking transmission fluid.

I still think you can do better.

My truck was $4,200, and it had 77,000 original miles. A/C works great, and so far I can not find a single problem with it.

 

I know options are low, so go with what your gut tells you.

I found my truck just driving around one Sunday afternoon, checking out all the used lots I could find.

 

I know financing can be a bear, I don't know how many lending inst. you have checked out. American General usually has more relaxed loaning programs, but int rates suck. I don't know if you are a member of a credit union. I don't know if you are a member of a church, but there are many credit unions that are affiliated with churches, which are excellent for small loans.

 

When I was looking for a truck, said my limit was $4,000, and found dozens of trucks under that here in Jackson, MS. I am 6'5", and I know how a small truck can be out of the question.

 

Just checking cars.com. A 91 F150 ( I know ... Ford) super cab for 2,999. Surely they would go down on the price, in Alexandria, LA.

87 C10 in Biloxi for $2,500

[ness5575]

guess i dont know a whole lot about bad credit, but i dont understand the correlation between bad credit and paying $4500 over bue book for a truck (i dont know specifics, someone posted the truck was worth 2k - and asking was 6.5k). shouldnt bad credit mean a higher rate - not a bad deal on the truck?

did you try going to a bank or a credit union so that the dealer is getting cash?

[duritz]

the cash price on the truck is 5500... the truck's blue book is between 3,500 and 4,500. So the cash markup is expected by the dealer.

 

the dealer charges high interest since i'm a high risk. so after interest and all i'm going to be spending about $6,500 or so on it

 

i dunno what my other options are. i am pretty much in a corner

[tgdiver]

I have to agree with ness5575, you should check for other options. I think you are selling yourself short. There are always options, sometimes you just have to look a little harder for them.

 

KKB shows that for a 1992 Chevy, in "Good" condition - with NO A/C, ~$3,900

The dealer is trying to charge you $1,600 more just for the vehilcle, then charge you a bad int rate - and this is a friend? Did this person tell you they are the only dealer in town that works with people with bad credit?

 

You are willing paying twice for what a vehicle is worth, and I would be willing to bet, you will have no warranty. If something dies on it, and it ends up next to your Jimmy, then what?

 

Have you really checked www.cars.com for your area?

The newspaper, autotrader magazines?

The smaller used or wolesale lots?

Credit unions & other lenders?

 

From the financial image I am getting from your messages, if you are spending over 15% (10% is ideal) of your monthly TAKE home money on your vehicle payment, you are not working toward improving your situation.