Truck Inspection?

[Steve Frazier]

Does anyone know of a truck inspection service prior to purchasing a used truck? Something similar to a home inspection to be approved for a mortgage.

My municipality is considering a used truck located at a dealership in western Ohio. Our attorney is strongly recommending an inspection before committing to purchase. We're in NY, nearly 11 hours away.

We're looking at an internet listing with dozens of photos. From the photos the truck appears in very good condition but we'd need someone to confirm that. Because we're a municipality we'd have to hire a legitimate business that can provide us a report on their findings.

I thought with the cost of trucks there might be a service like this available. Thanks!

 

[skyking1]

The federal DOT safety inspection is required annually and that would be perfect for your needs.
Find out who did it on that truck, and then arrange to have a competing shop look at it. Fresh set of eyes.
Example.

 

[Oxbow]

Perhaps an independent shop in the area?

 

[Truck Shop]

Comb that area making a few calls to find the Independent shop with best reviews.
Another dealer won't be as apt to point a finger at another dealer.

 

[Shimmy1]

The federal DOT safety inspection is required annually and that would be perfect for your needs.

You haven't bought many trucks or trailers from dealers, have you. Just because it has a sticker, that's all it means, it has a sticker.

 

[skyking1]

Quote the whole post next time.

 

[Shimmy1]

Quote the whole post next time.

I'm really not trying to be difficult here. My point is, you can have 10 different shops inspect a truck, but the only way to know without a doubt what shape it's in is to personally inspect it.

 

[skyking1]

I agree with that for myself, but Steve is not making the 11 hour run and he wants a shop document for the municipality.
He does not want to be holding the bag on this one

 

[willie59]

Like everything else in life, leave it to attorneys to muck things up! But just to throw this out there, since it's at a "dealership", could they not provide some form of inspection that would satisfy the attorney, even if it required a shop fee? We're not talking DOT inspection or personal satisfaction inspection as suggested by Shimmy, only thing we need to do here is satisfy a lawyer to proceed with a municipal taxpayer purchase.

 

[Old Doug]

Can you get some kind of a warranty ? I would want this even with a inspection. Is it a special truck that you cant find one closer ? I am wanting to buy a vehicle for my self and hate the thought of getting something and it needing a repair that $$$ that maybe the sell did or didnt know about.

 

[Steve Frazier]

I got this worked out based on the suggestions here. We are a local municipality but NY State mandates how we make purchases, the attorney was doing his job keeping us out of trouble. The intention of the laws are to minimize fraud and secure the best value for the taxpayers but you know how that works out.

I went online and found another heavy truck dealer nearby the one we're talking with, explained to the salesman what I needed and he turned me over to the service manager. Told my story again and he said he'd be happy to do the inspections on our behalf. He wanted to be sure I cleared it with the selling dealer. Made that call and the salesman there was thrilled to have the trucks inspected, it's set up for Monday.

The most important task our Highway Dept does is keep the roads clear of snow through the winter. Because of the number of attorneys here in NY they have to be kept safe 24/7 and a lot of salt is used to melt ice and that tears the trucks up. We had sent one truck out to repair rusted fuel tank straps and they discovered the frame extremely rusted and bent. The truck is an '06, the rust is so bad it's not worth fixing.

New trucks set up for plowing are at $300,000 and a two year wait. This includes the front plow and frame, dump body, salt spreader and live hydraulics. The reliability of new trucks in this environment is horrendous and repair costs are ridiculous. One truck recently repaired was $16,000 for emissions equipment. Life expectancy is about 10 years due to the corrosive salt.

Our Highway Superintendent started looking at used trucks in areas where salt isn't used so extensively and located a couple pre DEF/EGR trucks that appear to be pretty clean, both are under $20K. It's not too hard to do the math that used trucks in decent condition already set up for plowing are cost effective. Hell, these could be disposable trucks and still come out ahead. If these trucks are as clean as they appear we should get close to the 10 years service from them, our trucks deteriorate from the salt, both the frames and engine components. This may become how we replace trucks going forward.

Once the deal is sealed I'll share what we found.

 

[materthegreater]

Need to get the tree huggers and environmentalists to ban salt because it kills fish and hurts the plants. And put a curfew on the attorneys from November to April.

 

[Willie B]

2006 I found a good looking truck in Western PA. It was 30 years old but solid, low mileage. It was 6-1/2 hours away. I asked many questions. We made the trip.
It still looked good, I bought it. Ran out of gas twice, (2 tanks) within a mile of the dealership. Trip home took 14 hours, the air compressor kept loosening up from its mounts.
Got home, used a magnet, realized the dump body rails were mostly plastic.
First load, the perfect wooden floor caved in.
Six months later most of the plastic in the rockers & cab corners had fallen out.
Advertized with a 454, it proved to be a 366.
I got money back from the dealer and had a big project on my hands. Might not have done it if a good third party inspection service were available.

 

[DDoug]

The odd thing ^^^ is Pa has state inspections yearly on all vehicles.
tougher than NY state (I am told) and O-HI-O has no vehicle inspections
at all, and so we dump out rusted out vehicles (that won't pass anymore) 20 miles west into O-HI-O.

 

[Steve Frazier]

I completed the purchase yesterday, the trucks are scheduled to be shipped from western Ohio Monday. I'm guessing they should arrive Wednesday.

1994 IH 4900 with DT466 and Alison













1996 Ford L8000 with 8.3 Cummins and Alison

Both trucks are set up for plowing and spreading melting agents. The truck frames are spotless, I think they'll serve us well for several years.

If anyone recognizes what highway department they came from I'd be interested in knowing we may want to purchase future retired trucks from them directly.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions here!

 

[Steve Frazier]

These trucks are scheduled to be shipped tomorrow, most likely using I80 east to 81N to 84 east. If anyone spots them try to grab a pic and post. Thanks!!

 

[materthegreater]

How are they working out? I imagine you've had a chance to use them by now.

 

[Steve Frazier]

They were everything they were listed to be!! We've had a couple light snow storms since they arrived but I'm not sure they have been out yet. They were equipped with tailgate spreaders which requires the dump body to be raised and that doesn't work out well around here. We're rural with many trees on the roadsides that would be a hazard with branches plus our region is fairly mountainous and a raised body isn't stable. Our Highway Super is pretty good at finding used equipment and one of our neighboring towns donated a stainless hopper spreader. Last I was there a couple weeks ago they had it mounted but the hydraulic lines still needed to be put on it.

The IH 4900 is what you'd expect to see in a municipal truck, a basic work vehicle with 35,000 GVWR. The Ford however is the fanciest truck I've ever seen. Factory carpeted floor and rear wall plus door panels. It's got chrome marker lights, chrome Hadley air horns and the large bright grille, not the basic stuff. It also has a 35,000 GVWR. It came from Monroe Township in Ohio, I can't remember the other town but it started with a P. I'll check tomorrow. I had to wait a week for the titles to arrive before I could license them but they ought to be close to ready to work. I'll take a ride by tomorrow and check.

 

[Steve Frazier]

Stopped by the highway garage, the 4900 is ready and the Ford is having the hydraulic lines installed. The guys in the shop are really pleased with them even though they're as old as they are.

 

[DDoug]

"Piqua" Ohio by chance ?