Would you spend more on repairs than your vehicle is worth?

Lazy8s

Lazy8s

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My 03 Ram isn't going to pass another state inspection due to body cancer.

165k miles, runs and drives literally like new, excellent interior, suspension, drivetrain, frame....

Will likely need about 5k worth of rocker panels/bed rot, one door (crew cab) and a full paint job. Maybe more.

New, and even used truck prices are just stupid right now. I'm seeing 2012 models with north of 120k miles going for $25k. what the heck...

This is a hard decision. I love my truck. What would you guys do?
 
I've been looking at small trucks lately and the prices are absolutely insane. Clapped out Rangers with over 250k miles on them going for $5k or more, nice 15 year old Rangers for $10k or more. The car market is screwed up just the same as the housing market. Hell, I've put nearly 20k miles on my S3 since I bought it in early 2020, it's still worth more than I paid for it.

I'd fix the truck just enough. I'm not sure why body rot on a full frame vehicle would cause enough issues to not be able to pass state inspection, that's pretty wild.
 
Elysian said:
I've been looking at small trucks lately and the prices are absolutely insane. Clapped out Rangers with over 250k miles on them going for $5k or more, nice 15 year old Rangers for $10k or more. The car market is screwed up just the same as the housing market. Hell, I've put nearly 20k miles on my S3 since I bought it in early 2020, it's still worth more than I paid for it.

I'd fix the truck just enough. I'm not sure why body rot on a full frame vehicle would cause enough issues to not be able to pass state inspection, that's pretty wild.
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It's such a pain in the ass dude...cameras ring the inspection bay, and if the station gets audited and found to have passed a vehicle that's clearly rotted out they can get heavily fined.

There's some pretty decent perks in MA tbh, but that's just a sore spot for everyone here.

edit: I have a decent body shop a mile away. I'm going to get a quote for the "Just enough" you mentioned :up: I can't even shop newer trucks without going into shock right now lol.
 
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Can't hit a scrap yard and maybe swap out some of the body panels/doors?
 
acroig said:
I would not dump money into a car like that, you never get it back.
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Honestly you never get money back on a car unless it's a classic. The thing to weigh is whether it's more cost effective to buy another vehicle or repair the one you've got. The used car/truck market is literally insane right now. I just checked my S3 again out of curiosity, cars with the same mileage and no warranty are still $32k, which is what I paid for my 2018 nearly 20k miles ago and with a CPO warranty and factory warranty in tact. Trucks are even worse.
 
Worst time to try finding a good used truck that's not insanely priced. You'll probably have the best luck finding one from a private seller.
 
Trunks0 said:
Can't hit a scrap yard and maybe swap out some of the body panels/doors?
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There's not much to pick from around here. Older Rams are super popular, so any parts that can be found usually run a lot. I've seen $1600>$3500 for a rusty bed lol.
 
acroig said:
I would not dump money into a car like that, you never get it back.
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What Elysian said essentially....This truck is worth more to me than 4 years of high payments and hoping I didn't get a lemon.

If I go 2016>2021 I'm shopping in the $28k>$65k range for a full size truck that has the same specs as mine.

2012>2015 I'm looking at north of $15k easy and that market is glutted by high mileage (140k on up) trucks. I've seen 2010s for $18k with 120k miles on them.

Maybe it's just me, but that's crazy...I paid 5k for mine, have put about 1k into over 4 years, and that was only regular wear and tear I wanted to replace.

It runs and drives perfect. If another 3k can keep it going for me for another 3-5 years...that's a win imo.
 
So left/right bed panels, tailgate and rear bumper, left/right rocker panels will run me about $1400 depending on which manufacturer I go with.

I'm guessing about $1500 to install them, then about another $1000 for a full paint job (including treating minor rust spots etc)...

So around $3900 to have the old beast looking (reasonably) decent again.

I'll find out how close I am Saturday morning. If it comes in at less than that I'm probably going to do it.
 
I wasn't far off. I'm looking at ~$3500-$4k for body work and about $2k for some wear and tear I want to replace.

I need to sleep on this and decide if it's worth it or not.
 
Elysian said:
Honestly you never get money back on a car unless it's a classic. The thing to weigh is whether it's more cost effective to buy another vehicle or repair the one you've got. The used car/truck market is literally insane right now. I just checked my S3 again out of curiosity, cars with the same mileage and no warranty are still $32k, which is what I paid for my 2018 nearly 20k miles ago and with a CPO warranty and factory warranty in tact. Trucks are even worse.
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I would have agreed with you until this year. Carvana offered to pay me more than I paid 3 years ago for a 2012 MB SLK. They offered $2,500 over what I paid. Wife would not part with it, sold them my 2015 Challenger for $3000 less than I paid for it new.
 
acroig said:
I would have agreed with you until this year. Carvana offered to pay me more than I paid 3 years ago for a 2012 MB SLK. They offered $2,500 over what I paid. Wife would not part with it, sold them my 2015 Challenger for $3000 less than I paid for it new.
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The chip shortage is doing a number on the car market, as well as higher demand due to the pandemic coming to a close. Problem is it makes used vehicles much much more expensive, which is why Lazy8s fixing his truck may make more sense. This year won't be the norm going forward.
 
Elysian said:
The chip shortage is doing a number on the car market, as well as higher demand due to the pandemic coming to a close. Problem is it makes used vehicles much much more expensive, which is why Lazy8s fixing his truck may make more sense. This year won't be the norm going forward.
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I was talking about this today. Dealers aren't going to drop prices as long as enough vehicles are selling.

Looking at the potential repair bill makes me a little squeamish to be honest, but when 15 grand for a 12 year old vehicle with 105+ thousand miles on it is the new norm....

I just hope to high heaven the engine and trans. hold together.
Silent-Runner said:
oooofff.....:eek: that's a lot of money just for repairs.
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It is, but I don't want to pay for new, and the used market here for anything with 40-60 k miles on it is just insane. 35k is a common asking price for 4-6 year old trucks here right now.
 
I just paid 1.7K on my old Ford Edge repairs. If I go and sell it I will probably get 3K for it. However, through this 1.7K I feel I bought it another 3 years of service. So net net I see it as a saving of cost rather than paying 800-900 per month on a new similar car (albeit with new tech goodies and warranties).
 
I'm starting to have serious misgivings about laying out the cash for this. The more I get online and price what I think needs to be done the higher the bill goes.

After more chat with the body shop, he's telling me that with the amount of rust I'm dealing with he can't guarantee that it won't be back with a vengeance in under a year. For $4000 I want a damn guarantee for at least a year.

He's also telling me most of the work would be fiberglass, even the rotted tailgate.

welp, I have until September when inspection is due....maybe a good deal will make itself available before then.

sigh :(
 
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