I'm currently interested in trading in my 1997 f150, and i'm not gettin anything back, as to any interest in dealers wanting it on trade. One dealer told me today they'd give me 3 grand for it. Now this is sight unseen, and my pickup is in excellent condition. it's waxed at least 3 times a year, and sits inside all the time, never outside. the tires have at least 50% tread on them, shocks are less than 20k old, it would be what i'd call excellent condition. no door dings, nothing wrong w/ the pickup, brand new motorcraft o2 sensors w/in the last 500 miles. what do you all think would be a good price to sell it for? I'm interested in selling it w/ all the aftermarket stuff on it, or i'd take it off, and take money off it if the person didn't want it. let me know what you all think would be a fair trade in price, and also what i should ask for a private party sale. thanks

 

How many miles on it?

I'd say it is definitely worth more than 3k...

 

How many miles on it?


I agree unless any major problems that you didnt list

 

I would ask for at least $4500.
Don't let a dealership steal this truck from you.

 

I just bought a similar truck to yours at dealer auction.

Mine is the 97 lariat (which means cracked leather seats)
black, 4x4, offroad package, 5.4 liter, 148k miles, tint, 6 disc changer, tow package, bedliner, etc. It had a slight exhaust leak which required new exhaust manifold gaskets and removal of 2 broken studs on both sides from the head (took me about 5 hours to do).

Anyway, the point is, I paid $5300.00 for this truck. I would think yours with similar or lower miles would be worth at least 6k at dealer auction (mine has lots of orange peel and small dings), and up to 8k if sold privately.

 

slag, I just did a fast check on nadaguides.com, which is pretty close to what most dealers use. I plugged in 150K for milage and the average trade in value was 7375. The average retail was 9375. Sell it for 8000 and buy yourself a new one!

 

but i _just_ got it and really like it so far. I mentioned that fact to my wife as well (about the actual retail or private party value) and she told me to keep it anway... As it is, that would make my 5th vehicle I sold this year and I don't have a dealer license.

Blue_Farmer---my description doesn't show it, but I live in Lawrence, KS, and the dealer auction is at I-70 and valencia exit right west of Topeka, so we are in roughly the same geographic location.

 

Yeah, its worth more. In 1999 i traded my 1985 F-150 Lariat 2WD in and they gave me 3200 bucks for it. Now, i probly got screwed somewhere else in 'the box' but thats something else.

 

If you dont mind me askin, why do you go through so many vehicles?

 

it has 98,150 miles on it. it has no dents, no scratches, some paint is chipped on the front of the rear fender flares, but that's it. windshield is exc shape, some dealers make a big deal about this. mel hambelton ford in wichita said it would be worth between 6-9000, possibly a little higher if it was real nice, which it is. however, they have an 03, w/ 10000 miles on it, xlt fx4 ext cab, and they want 28900 for it. i think that is about 5 grand too high, since you can buy 04's for 27500 in places. so.. i'm back to about 4500 bucks i'd say.

 

Needed a 4wd vehicle at the end of last year, so I bought my buddies 91 Explorer that needed tranny work. The price was right, so I bought it and ended up rebuilding the transmission in my garage. When I was done, he really liked it and bought it back from me. I made a few bucks on it. I then started looking for another and found a 92 X in a town near me that the owner said the tranny was slipping on. I had a good idea about what was wrong with it, so I bought it cheaply and put new tires/shocks on it, fixed a couple sensor problems, and then fixed the tranny slipping problem--a bad vacuum modulator valve. At that time, my little sister's vehicle went out, so I ended up selling it to her because she needed something quick. I then found another 92 X in central KS that needed engine work so i drove out there, bought it, and trailered it home. I put a couple heads on it, fixed the 4wd system, and then Sprint announced layoffs and so my wife and I decided to start selling off our assets to put us in a better financial situation. I sold that X on ebay for $2450.

Then, I heard about a rare 5 speed 4 door eddie bauer explorer in Nebraska that needed engine work. The price was right and I thought I could mod this thing up a bit and have a nice lifted 92 5 speed explorer, so I contacted the person and they were practically giving it away. I trailered it home and ended up putting a rebuilt engine in it.

I'm now getting tired of fixing up vehicles. I need a truck, but my 89 toyota x cab just isnt big enough for my 2 children and my wife and I to ride together, so I sold that to my neighbor and bought my F150. My wife got a job working out of the house, and her company bought her a new 2005 escape, so thats yet another vehicle. So, I need to sell my 92 5 speed explorer and a 2003 maxima I bought last year as a daily driver and just keep my truck, my wife's escape, and my current daily driver, a 1996 maxima.

 

I've heard dealers doing Push-Pull-Or-Drag in deals for $3k. Yours should definately be worth more than that . Aren't dealers practically giving away cars in this economy anyway?

 

I had a similar situation on a '97 F150 when I went to buy my '01 3 years ago. What it comes down to is the dealers don't want "older" used cars on their lots. Any trade in older than about 2 years they wholesale to other used car dealers. So to make any money on the deal they have to really screw the customer who's trading the vehicle. You probably won't find a dealer who will give you book trade in value, because that's probably what they will sell it to the next dealer for. Sell it yourself and pocket the extra few thou.