Good Or Bad Idea To Buy A Truck With Over 100,000 Miles

jaslo · April 13, 2009

After going to look at a 1999 silverado z71 with 140,000 miles, I found out it had rust, bad wear on the tires, looked like the front end was jacked up, tear in the front seat, they wanted 6500. Am I wasting my time with trucks with higher mileage. I want something under 10 grand because money is tight and the truck would be a second vehicle. Let me hear what you think.

svensk · April 13, 2009

After going to look at a 1999 silverado z71 with 140,000 miles, I found out it had rust, bad wear on the tires, looked like the front end was jacked up, tear in the front seat, they wanted 6500. Am I wasting my time with trucks with higher mileage. I want something under 10 grand because money is tight and the truck would be a second vehicle. Let me hear what you think.

You can get a waaaaaay better vehicle for that money. Hell my vehicle is worth only 6K suggested trade in value.

I wouldn't hesitate to get one with high mileage if it's in the condition you are looking for.

MikeInCtown · April 13, 2009

After going to look at a 1999 silverado z71 with 140,000 miles, I found out it had rust, bad wear on the tires, looked like the front end was jacked up, tear in the front seat, they wanted 6500. Am I wasting my time with trucks with higher mileage. I want something under 10 grand because money is tight and the truck would be a second vehicle. Let me hear what you think.

Not sure how the market is in your area but I bought my 04 Sierra 2wd ext cab SLT with 100,000 miles on it for $9k just two months ago. Not a spot of rust. Other truck I had looked at before this one all had slight rust on the rear cab corner or something else wrong with it. So far my truck has needed all the 100k srvice stuff which I am doing myself. It also had an antifreeze leak somehere but i cannot locate it. I can only smell it and from what I have found so far appears the radiator is the culprit.

Just keep looking and use Autotrader and the Gm website to find all dealer within 100 miles. Then go to their websites and search for used trucks. you would be surprised how many of those dealers only advertise the trucks on their own websites. Right now the used car market is keeping most dealers in business. You may be able to work out a great deal for you, but unles a truck has been on their lot for a while they will want to make some money off of it.

jaslo · April 13, 2009

I keep looking around. I did find one on craigslist. Its a 2000 z71 x-cab with 117,000 miles and he wants 7800. The ad said excellent condition and he is a non smoker. I asked him to send pictures so I don't drive about 100 miles out of my to go see this truck

C & A s Dad · April 13, 2009

+1 on what has been said.

Don't worry about the miles just the condition and maint schedule. If an 800 series GM truck has been taken care of, 100K is nothing.

Grebbler · April 13, 2009

I did the Internet thing and narrowed it down to a few. When I got to this one lot I looked at the truck and found a deal breaker - it had leather seats and some other issues I didn't want to deal with.

Parked just behind it was a newer unlisted Tahoe 4X4 in great condition with a small amount of rust on a few of the window pillars AND it had the dark gray cloth interior, just what I wanted (the seats - not the rust). The truck had 141K on it and cost $1,000 more than I was going to spend on the other.

After the test drive drive I told them to wrap it up with a bow. All told with paperwork was about $7,000.

So far I have had to replace the Steering shaft ($50), turn the front rotors ($20) and do some soldering in the climate control and drivers door control to replace some lamps. The truck was showing a CEL and the code was for an EVAP solenoid. 20 minutes of research on the net and I pulled and cleaned the evap solenoid from behind the fuel tank and gave it a good cleaning. No more CEL. I had the "driver side lean" and a few cranks on the torsion bar took care of that.

So, as far as things I have HAD to do to it: About $200 in misc. stuff and wear items (wipers, cabin filters, touch-up paint etc.) and 2 hours of my time. Thanks to forums like this I have been able to do it all myself and I am forewarned of any other issues that may arise.

Now at 150K the truck is still solid and the nicest vehicle I own. I can take it off road a bit and with just a bath I can then hand the keys to a valet with no embarrassment when I take someone to a nice dinner.

Sorry for the babbling. I got a bit carried away

The deals are out there and you won't have to compromise if you put in a little legwork.

Ed

ps I am a noob here but I have already learned a ton of things and I hope to contribute to the forum.

svensk · April 13, 2009

I did the Internet thing and narrowed it down to a few. When I got to this one lot I looked at the truck and found a deal breaker - it had leather seats and some other issues I didn't want to deal with.

Parked just behind it was a newer unlisted Tahoe 4X4 in great condition with a small amount of rust on a few of the window pillars AND it had the dark gray cloth interior, just what I wanted (the seats - not the rust). The truck had 141K on it and cost $1,000 more than I was going to spend on the other.

After the test drive drive I told them to wrap it up with a bow. All told with paperwork was about $7,000.

So far I have had to replace the Steering shaft ($50), turn the front rotors ($20) and do some soldering in the climate control and drivers door control to replace some lamps. The truck was showing a CEL and the code was for an EVAP solenoid. 20 minutes of research on the net and I pulled and cleaned the evap solenoid from behind the fuel tank and gave it a good cleaning. No more CEL. I had the "driver side lean" and a few cranks on the torsion bar took care of that.

So, as far as things I have HAD to do to it: About $200 in misc. stuff and wear items (wipers, cabin filters, touch-up paint etc.) and 2 hours of my time. Thanks to forums like this I have been able to do it all myself and I am forewarned of any other issues that may arise.

Now at 150K the truck is still solid and the nicest vehicle I own. I can take it off road a bit and with just a bath I can then hand the keys to a valet with no embarrassment when I take someone to a nice dinner.

Sorry for the babbling. I got a bit carried away

The deals are out there and you won't have to compromise if you put in a little legwork.

Ed

ps I am a noob here but I have already learned a ton of things and I hope to contribute to the forum.

Good post. I'm at the point with mine where I'm going to need to drop probably a grand in stuff to make it nice again but that's a drop in the bucket compared to pulling out a loan on something newer.

cocco78 · April 13, 2009

The thing I noticed is vehicles with around 100k miles usually need more worth that one with more miles. Seems like between 100-120k alot of the typical wear items need to be replaced, ball joints, unit bearings, tie rods, ect., and people would rather get rid of them than fix them. I know the truck I have nbs 99 sierra 1500 the PO put lots of money into my truck after 100k miles. I bought it with 150k on it and it runs good and needs nothing, all the typical front end stuff has been fixed. I see this kind of thing alot. Just some food for thought.

jaslo · April 13, 2009

I have owned a truck before but have never went further than doing a oil change or change out the headlamp bulb. I have found a 2000 silverado at a dealership, they want 9 grand for a z-71 x-cab with 100,000 miles. It is a one owner, has the bench seat with power seats, tow package, 4-doors. How does that price sound? Sounds reasonable compared to what they are asking for other trucks like it around here.

99silveradoz71 · April 15, 2009

My 99 had 111k on it when I sold it to mom's neighbor. I wouldn't hesitate to take my old truck anywhere or buy it back if I had the need and cash. It's all a matter of how well an older vehicle was cared for.

pennzoil29 · April 15, 2009

My '99 has 176+k on her, and still run's strong as hell. I've had to replace the normal wear items such as, fuel pump, rotors/caliper's, intake manifold gasket, water pump and a few sensors, and soon to be shock's. I'm still on the same ball joints and tie rod ends. I just keep up the maintenance on it. Now for the body, this past winter put a bad hurtin' on it.

grampadirt · April 15, 2009

About a year ago I bought my '95 Burb,pretty much as you see it in my sig.I added the winch,off road lights,CB and new tires.It had 202,000 on the clock with the engine having 105,000,currently has 214,000+ and runs strong,drives great,tows excellently and looks good.I paid $4,900.00 from a guy in Ventura who took very good care of it.You give a vehicle good,regular care and maintenance and they'll go farther than you can imagine.When you buy a used car/truck you gotta get dirty...I mean check it out,climb under it with a flashlight and NEVER buy a car/truck at night

BlackSilver · April 15, 2009

To the original poster.....

100,000+ miles on a well maintained truck is not likely a problem, and good prices are out there.

But the truck you describe is NOT well maintained, and you should look elsewhere.

seadoons · April 15, 2009

Rolled 124K on mine on the way to work today and it runs as good as new - but I have maintained it since I bought it new. Folks above are right - b/t 100K and 120K normal wear and tear items start to go but that is to be expected. My alternator just took a dump, water pump was replaced around 80K due to a leak but under warranty; power steering pump made a funny noise sometimes so that was replaced with the water pump under warranty, and I recently replaced the shocks, pitman, and idler arms.

Most of that stuff has been expected. What do I expect in the future? Fuel pump. Starter. Things like that. The only problem I would classify as major was that some of the electronics that control my 4WD system took a dump about a month ago and cost me over a grand to get fixed. That was the first major "repair" that was needed.

I agree - find one that has been maintained. Maybe try to find an individual that is selling it that is the original owner that can show some sort of proof (receipts) on maintenance.

Where are you located? I might have one for sale if you are close.

2000DV4.8 · April 15, 2009

Nothing wrong with buying a high-mileage vehicle that has been well maintained, just don't expect it to be cheap to keep running flawlessly. No matter how well something was taken care of, eventually stuff goes wrong and needs to be replaced (trust me, at just about 180k, I know ).