Trying to get a new truck.

[Nick Beach]

Hey guys I don't think I mentioned it to anyone here but as some of you may know I'm in college right now for some summer classes and on the way up here I totaled my Jeep while driving through Raleigh. It was raining and and I was speeding a bit going down the 8 lane section of I-40 and my right front tire decided to blow which sent me into the gaurd rail on the left side of the road, and in trying to get my car off the guard rail, my not so good split second thinking, and wet roads I spun around a few times and crash into the guard rail on the other side of the road. Me and my friend in the car were completely fine, my two Gibson's I had with me are fine just a few chunks out of the cases and one latch on my SG case doesn't want to close right. The only thing that got damaged other than my Jeep was one of my fishing poles that snapped because my tackle box fell on it.

 

Anyway I've been looking for a new vehicle and decided I want a truck (Don't ask why, honestly I don't know. For some reason they just tickle my fancy) But the truck I found is on the other side of the state, and my mom is going to ride out and talk to the salesman monday about it. The only drag is that my mom knows nothing about cars. When she bought her last car I had to test drive them all for her because she didn't know what to listen/look for in the test drive. Now I want to give the dealer a call and talk to them about it before I send my mom to go try and close a deal on it. But I have a feeling if I ask the dealer questions on it they are just going to say everything is perfect. So do you guys have any advice in buying a car this way? Anyone ever had to do it? I really don't know what to do. I just don't want to have my mom go out and buy the thing then get home in a month and be stuck with a hunk of junk. So I could really use advice. BTW it's a 04 F-150 4x4 Super Crew with a short bed (5.5ft) and the Lariat package. Also carfax comes up clean and what not.

[retrosurfer1959]

does your mom or you have a mechanic in the area she lives that's trustworthy. A quick check and a readout of the car's computer usually is about 50 bucks and probably the best 5o dollars you'll ever spend if it shows anything major on the truck.

[retrosurfer1959]

Does your mom or you have a mechanic in the area she lives that's trustworthy. A quick check and a readout of the car's computer usually is about 50 bucks and probably the best 5o dollars you'll ever spend if it shows anything major on the truck.

 

Carfax only means anything if it was repaired at a place that reports. My neighbor bought a used truck a few months back but bought it from a dealer and my neighbor was so proud he stopped to talk to me while i was washing the sidewalk and driveway off after a neighborhood kid and gone insane with that colored chalk ( a terrible idea i think) After he tod me what a great deal he got and how much he liked it he drove off right through my wet street and I could see plain as day that the truck wasn't seven tracking straight. I walked down asked him when it had been wrecked and he said never that car fax said it was clean. Yeah right it was a front end clip re-weld (Something I had not seen in decades) that was done by a bad shade tree mechanic or the owner himself. No wonder the guy got such a smoking deal. Luckily in Arizona you have three days too return a car bought from a dealer no questions asked and thats what he did. but just imagine if I wouldn't have been standing in the front yard washing the preschoolers sidewalk graffiti off when he drove by me!