Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
TDR members represent a huge body of experiences, opinions, and varying value systems. I'd appreciate hearing your suggestions about what to do with my current truck. I expect to get a call no later than early next week that the '08 3500 Cab and Chassis I ordered almost two months ago has arrived at the dealer.
I have a very clean, very well maintained 2006 Ram 3500 SLT QC DRW truck with 227,500 miles on the odometer. It is white, the paint is shiny, and it has no dents or dings. The interior is perfect. The driver's seat has always been protected by an aftermarket seat pad. It rides and drives as tightly as a new one. If I hid the odometer and let someone inspect it and drive it they would have no idea that it has 227k miles on it. It has all the bells and whistles except in-dash GPS and leather. It is a "Lonestar Edition" with that package of options. It has U-Connect, Sirius, Premium cloth, 6 disc premium sound system, fold flat load floor, XM add-on, Garmin GPS, a full built DTT 48RE with all the billet steel parts, exhaust brake, Mag Hytec deep pan transmission and differential covers, Pricol gauges, Geno's floor mats, Geno's radiator guard, Reese 20K fifth wheel, 70 gallon Transfer Flow tank, notched aluminum fifth wheel tool box, and lots of other goodies I'd have to dig out of my records. It has a 60% set of Michelins, recent new front hubs and brake pads, recent new A/C compressor, recent new water pump, belts, and hoses, recent alternator rebuild by an Amish craftsman, and more. I have kept a a full maintenance history. A friend of mine who is a former Dodge dealership mechanic has done most of the service and almost all of the maintenance on it. The truck has had regular oil changes with quality oil and never anything but Fleetguard filters from Genos. The transmission and differential have always been filled with sythetic lube. All the parts that were replaced were replaced before the originals failed because I always choose to avoid break downs.
Approximately 50% of the miles are towing miles and 99% are highway miles. The only thing wrong with the truck is the rear main seal seeps a few drops on the driveway. I have a new seal but haven't yet had the transmission pulled to replace it.
TDR members know that a truck like I have described has at least another 250k miles of relatively trouble free life left in it but, as we all know, it is hard to get financing to buy one with high miles. A buyer has to either have cash or a good relationship with his bank or credit union in order to borrow to buy one with miles on it. I didn't even consider trading it to my dealer and have not tried to price it yet or list it for sale anywhere. I am not certain how to price it or what to do about all the equipment. I could offer it for sale as is with all the equipment still on it. It is perfect for an RV transporter or commercial hauler as is. Or, I could strip all the equipment off of it and transfer everything to the new truck to avoid spending several thousand dollars to set up the new one.
Have any of you had experiences selling or buying similar trucks? Do you have any good ideas as to the best way to proceed? Obviously I'm not going to give it away but I don't owe anything on it and I can price it at whatever it is truly worth.
Harvey
I have a very clean, very well maintained 2006 Ram 3500 SLT QC DRW truck with 227,500 miles on the odometer. It is white, the paint is shiny, and it has no dents or dings. The interior is perfect. The driver's seat has always been protected by an aftermarket seat pad. It rides and drives as tightly as a new one. If I hid the odometer and let someone inspect it and drive it they would have no idea that it has 227k miles on it. It has all the bells and whistles except in-dash GPS and leather. It is a "Lonestar Edition" with that package of options. It has U-Connect, Sirius, Premium cloth, 6 disc premium sound system, fold flat load floor, XM add-on, Garmin GPS, a full built DTT 48RE with all the billet steel parts, exhaust brake, Mag Hytec deep pan transmission and differential covers, Pricol gauges, Geno's floor mats, Geno's radiator guard, Reese 20K fifth wheel, 70 gallon Transfer Flow tank, notched aluminum fifth wheel tool box, and lots of other goodies I'd have to dig out of my records. It has a 60% set of Michelins, recent new front hubs and brake pads, recent new A/C compressor, recent new water pump, belts, and hoses, recent alternator rebuild by an Amish craftsman, and more. I have kept a a full maintenance history. A friend of mine who is a former Dodge dealership mechanic has done most of the service and almost all of the maintenance on it. The truck has had regular oil changes with quality oil and never anything but Fleetguard filters from Genos. The transmission and differential have always been filled with sythetic lube. All the parts that were replaced were replaced before the originals failed because I always choose to avoid break downs.
Approximately 50% of the miles are towing miles and 99% are highway miles. The only thing wrong with the truck is the rear main seal seeps a few drops on the driveway. I have a new seal but haven't yet had the transmission pulled to replace it.
TDR members know that a truck like I have described has at least another 250k miles of relatively trouble free life left in it but, as we all know, it is hard to get financing to buy one with high miles. A buyer has to either have cash or a good relationship with his bank or credit union in order to borrow to buy one with miles on it. I didn't even consider trading it to my dealer and have not tried to price it yet or list it for sale anywhere. I am not certain how to price it or what to do about all the equipment. I could offer it for sale as is with all the equipment still on it. It is perfect for an RV transporter or commercial hauler as is. Or, I could strip all the equipment off of it and transfer everything to the new truck to avoid spending several thousand dollars to set up the new one.
Have any of you had experiences selling or buying similar trucks? Do you have any good ideas as to the best way to proceed? Obviously I'm not going to give it away but I don't owe anything on it and I can price it at whatever it is truly worth.
Harvey
