DODGE

I'll sell you mine for only $40k US. It has one brand spanking new injector.

FMB

Never, never EVER buy a car or truck on Ebay unless you can personally inspect it and also have a dealership go thru it with a fine tooth comb. Get the results of the inspection in clear writing.

I can't even begin to relate the horror stories I've heard and the horror story I went thru. I will tell you this - I believe 70% of the vehicles on Ebay are being dumped - they're junkers or significantly damaged in some way. The feedback system does not work for a variety of reasons.

So.... consider the case where the seller is advertising your perfect, dream truck. You buy it, only to discover it needs $1000 worth of engine work, $1200 of transmission work, a $600 rear bumper, a $250 windshield, a $450 tailgate and $750 in differential repairs.

You can't invoke Ebay's fraud protection unless damage to any single system exceeds $1500. There's nothing you can do except drag your butt thru the court system. Mucho time and money and aggravation. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

Best to buy from an individual or dealer near home.

This is the truth for every car, unless you can get it *real* cheap. I'm not exactly sure what a Dealership is going to do for you - they're in no way required to discover all problems with a car, all it takes is a 6 pack of premium brew to get a 'clear' inspection. So far I've yet to meet any dealer-folk that knows properly how to interpret the results from an OBD-II beyond reading error codes.

I attempted to sell a perfectly good vehicle on Ebay and nobody was willing to pay more than salvage-title price for it. I got better dealer trade-in offers than I did bids on ebay. I 'smartened up' and decided to keep the vehicle til it dies, which should be a long way off since used parts are cheap and plentiful (01 Hyundai Santa Fe v6, 26 mpg). By the time this thing gets unreliable due to age/mileage there will be a Solstice GXP in my driveway :P

I'm in the market for a fire (ladder) truck - lets just hope thats all it needs! Plus, all that sounds cheap compared to the fuel bill required to drive any truck Dodge ever built.

"Ebay fraud protection" is a joke. Ebay tries to make out that transactions with their service are somehow 'safer' than an individual transaction when in reality Ebay makes it even harder to pursue fraud.

That doesn't mean I don't score a bunch of good, cheap loot off Ebay... Where else can somebody buy a brand new Farberware Superfast percolator for 1/4th of retail? :)

Online friend has been driving a 78 Datsun 210 he got for $10 off ebay for the last couple years. After 4 hours and about $70 at a parts store he was able to drive the car home (150 miles) after it had been sitting for at least a year. All he's done since then is basic maintenance.. Not bad for $80 invested and ~35 mpg.

JS

if you don't mind me asking......

what the heck are you going do with a ladder truck????