What my truck is worth ?

[jeremypope]

Hello, its my first time to post so be easy.

I have an 03 3500 , had a run in with a telephone on 11/17/03

well insurance fix the truck ( $16,000 ) I got a letter from them today to settle the diminished value of the truck. She offer me 3,000 . so my question what is my truck worth, i paid $29,500 for it and all a dealership will give me is $20,000 . So that tell me the value of my truck has drop almost $10,000 in less 6 mo. What do y'all think.

 

[Crunch]

Originally posted by jeremypope

I got a letter from them today to settle the diminished value of the truck. She offer me 3,000 . so my question what is my truck worth, i paid $29,500 for it and all a dealership will give me is $20,000 . So that tell me the value of my truck has drop almost $10,000 in less 6 mo. What do y'all think.

Hate to tell you this, but your truck dropped $10,000 in value the moment you drove it off the lot, wrecked or not. The fact that it has been wrecked just limits the max value even more. Not sure what you mean by the dealership will give you $20K for it, but if that's to buy it you might be wise to see if trade-in value is much higher and buy a new truck altogether. Either way count on your accident costing you close to $10 grand.



And I hope you meant that you hit a telephone pole--I've never heard of that much damage being caused by a telephone...

 

[jeremypope]

sorry it was a telephone pole, thanks for your help

 

[tpuig]

Diminished value is a nice way to get a bit extra out of an accident, but usually from the other guys' insurance when it's his fault. Doesn't really work against yourself. Depending on how rare or "correct" a car is, the diminished value can be sometimes as high as 30%. But in your case it's right about 10% of your purchase price, which isn't out of line.

Best bet is to spend a day or two searching the web and finding comparable trucks of similar level options and mileage for a reasonable (real world) resale value. Kelly Blue Book, NADA, Truck Trader, classifeds, etc. Get the values and if there's a big difference you should have some bargaining room with the insurance.

A dealer is ALWAYS going to give you the least amount possible. That's how they exist. Having a new more powerful engine just announced won't help resale value either on your older less powerful model.

Five years down the line your truck will have a relatively high resale value compared to other pickups, but not right now.

If you want a new truck, now might be the time to make a switch. Won't be cheap, but you know your truck won't become more valuable as time goes on. Hope this helps.

TP

 

[Steve M]

They must be quoting you wholesale value which is just a low ball figure the dealerships come up with and kbb publishes. Retail by owner should be the benchmark your truck is worth. Retail by dealer is generally a little more since they're selling for profit to provide their income. I wouldn't be happy with less than private owner retail.