Would you buy this RAM? Carfax confusion

[jp28173]

New to the forum, not a RAM owner quite yet but probably will be shortly. I'm strongly considering this one but some of the CarFax is a bit confusing and I'm hoping someone might be able to help me out. It looks like in Feb 2019 it was first sold and registered as a corporate fleet vehicle, then in Sept 2019 it looks like it was traded in... but eventually sold at auction on 6/1/20, so 1) why would a dealer not be able to sell a vehicle that's less than a year old with 12.5k miles in a 9 month period???

Then, 10 days later it looks like it was offered for sale (6/11/20) by "Overdrive USA", assuming that's the party that bought it at auction, but then only 4 days later it was yet again sold at auction (6/15/20).

Then, 12 days later it was offered for sale again (6/27/20) and purchased a month later (7/27/20), with first owner reported on 7/30/20.

Also noticing that owner put 14,486 miles on it in about 6 months.

Now, it's been listed for sale by the current dealership for just over a month.

Is the auction stuff above normal / typical? Maybe the buyer at the first auction installed the lift and tires and flipped it to someone else? No idea how all this works but just seems concerning, any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Princeton_Man]

Yup, that would be one that I simply would walk away from. If it smells bad, it's probably bad.

 

[Fishstickz]

I agree with the guy above. If it smells bad, its probably bad. Auction vehicles aren’t inherently “bad” but if dealers are sending a brand new truck to an auction and nobody is hanging on to that truck for more than a few days, then something big is definitely wrong

My ‘06 was in a few auctions before I bought it. It was cheap and i knew going in that i would be putting in a lot of time and money to fix it up. I assume you’re looking at new, low-mileage vehicles so you can have a reliable rig, and that one doesn’t spark much confidence lol


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[retired]

over 14,000 miles in 6 months tells you that it is probably reliable at least. Dealer wants almost $500 admin fee run don't walk.

 

[GTyankee]

If someone put a Lift on it, it was likely undriveable under some conditions.
That truck is only a Trailer Queen because of driveability.
Auctions are used a lot by dealerships, As Is, no liability

My dealer told me that i could only get auction price for my 2009 Big Horn, they said that it would never sell on their sales lot.

About 6 years ago,I sold it myself to another person in town for a decent price, i see him driving it about once a week, he waves every time he sees me. It looks just as good as it did when i sold it. He has only had to replace the water pump & buy tires

 

[rod from md]

i know my company cars are actually owned by the lease company, and when we order a new one, the old one is moved to a wholesaler, whether that be an auction or another similar company.. so i can see some of those paths

but, im sure there are other deals you can find w a more straightforward history

 

[Phirebeard]

Seems weird to me. Fleet vehicles are either well maintained or not at all. I think Id keep looking.

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[jp28173]

Thank you all for the input. I went to look at the other one that was tied for my #1 (and didn’t have any questionable carfax stuff) but by the time I got there the sales guy pointed though the glass and said ‘those people’ are signing papers on it as we speak.

Back to square one. Both had lift and tires already done which I wanted. Tires are easier to estimate but I admittedly haven’t done my research on lifts. That being said what would I be looking at parts and labor for a 2-4” lift? Would be a street queen, don’t need off road performance but still want a decent ride.
(I have a 2003 Tahoe now with 3” coil spacers in the rear and front torsion keys turned up and it rides like you know what).

edit: I’m in NC

 

[tron67j]

I used to help transport auction vehicles for a short time. This truck could have been ordered by Landers, put into service as a rental in their own dealership as there is no auction transfer back to them before they wholesaled to an auction in June of 2020 (the title transfer before that looks like the dealer officially moving it from rental back to inventory). Then the sale at auction to Kia, with Overdribe involved could be where the dealer purchased a large number of vehicles and may have had excess inventory and put truck on lot at Overland (could be a connection between them) until dealer offloaded excess at second auction. Then truck was sold to private individual for half a year or so and decided they should have bought a Ford. I obviously don't have first hand knowledge, but I have seen crazier things where vehicles had no real problem, just unique use history. One thing, the Dealer between auctions would have had to disclose a defect that they did not fix if that is the reason they sold it again. You could take it to a private mechanic and have a thorough inspection done if so inclined. Good luck.

 

[Mpgrimm2]

Anything in particular you looking for?

As an example you can get a new Classic (tradesman though) for about the same price new and then you know what's been done to it. Saw this one today while picking up my truck.

New 2021 Ram1500 Classic TRADESMAN CREW CAB v8 4X2 5'7 BOX Crew Cab
(With Rambox and 8.4 Android/Auto Apple Carplay)
$38.5k before $4750 in possible discounts

https://www.piedmontchryslerdodgeje...lassic--55d247760a0e0adf35290a4d2b2484fb.htm#

.

** Also check out Kernersville Dodge in NC. **

M² Mods.

 

[jp28173]

I appreciate the additional replies.

tron67j gives me a little hope for the one I asked about but it’s 2.5hrs away so a mechanic check would be an unknown shop and budget basically a day just around that.

At the end of the day I’m looking for a newer model with <50k miles, 4x4, V8, and preferably lift and tires already done. I did my Tahoe DIY/budget style with torsion keys and coil spacers but my next rig I want done right. Nothing massive, just a 2-4” lift and 35s... don’t know if I’m better off buying a bare bones low mileage truck for a low price then spending the $ to have a shop do the work, or if I hold out for the right one to come along already done.

Would like to stay in the ballpark of 30k total either option (turn key or stock and aftermarket lift/tires)

 

[tron67j]

Mpgrimm2 is describing kind of what I did. I found a Tradesman leftover (2018 bought Oct 2019) and negotiated a great deal. Then I did upgrades I wanted with including items from him. You can go a inventory search in your area, find a few you are interested in, and start negotiating. I did it all via email and the last back and forth was a phone call, it was 5 hours away and never saw it until day I picked it up. Once you get deal, talk to them about adding dealer options (negotiate these prices also) like lift, bigger tires, etc. They can add those on and add to total you purchase or finance. And since they are OEM they are included in warranty. And no mystery in vehicle history.

 

[Dave2018]

Fleet read RENTAL. It was most likely a rental vehicle. It's not unusual for vehicles to go through the auction numerious times. I don't see a problem with that per-se. I went to Enterprise as one of my stops looking for my new truck. Most of the rentals were priced pretty close to a new one but had 24k or more miles. It came down to getting a lower trim level tradesman with zero miles and complete warranty vs a slightly upscale SLT Kinda a bighorn with 24000 miles for about the same price. If you buy a used one, better spend some time looking at the frame and undercarriage. I'll never forget one that looked like it was either from the coast or up north. Alot more rust than I would have expected on a 1-2 year old truck.

 

[GTyankee]

If you are in N.C., you don't have to worry much about seeing a Made for use in Canada Ram, they have slightly different Electronics, mostly it's some of the Uconnect functions.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

I would not be concerned about this vehicle.

The trips via the auction are about dealers making money not about the vehicle.

Two real owners both drove for over 10k. No real reported problems, 4 wheel alignment documented, still under warranty, although it's close to being done

 

[indept]

I would not be concerned about this vehicle.

The trips via the auction are about dealers making money not about the vehicle.

Two real owners both drove for over 10k. No real reported problems, 4 wheel alignment documented, still under warranty, although it's close to being done

How do you do a 4 wheel alignment on a vehicle with a solid rear axle housing? No adjustments back there. Was it due to an accident?

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

While it has a solid axle, it is a 4 link with a panhard bar, so it is adjustable with the right components, can be moved left and right and with adjustable control arms forward and backwards.

I know on my truck which has an adjustable panhard bar and adjustable upper and lower control arms, my axle has been moved to align the rear suspension and the truck has never been in an accident. It has been lowered and lowering changed the alignment

I've read the car fax so based on how it's described, it may have been a 4 wheel or a 2 wheel I have zero clue.

 

[Svon89]

If something doesn’t feel right, it just isn’t worth it. I bought a brand new 2019, but when they were setting up the truck for me it had already been setup for someone else. I was told that happens when a salesman gets ahead of themselves and sets the vehicle up for the person.

Then I had issues with the transmission dropping to neutral at low speeds starting at 1000 miles. I bought it with 200ish miles on it I believe. So I started feeling like something was t right so I pulled a car fax, and while I was the original purchaser, it had been at another dealer, prepped for sale, then sat on the lot and traded to my dealer after another 2 preps. Then prepped for my purchase. I’m betting the original purchaser took it out for a final test drive before signing papers and the trans dropped to neutral and he bailed. It took me 8 months of trying to get the truck repaired before I dumped it and went with another truck. 4 months after I got rid of it there was a service bulletin published with a fix. It was more than just the transmission valve body change.

I purchased the truck through the friends and family deal that you see Chrysler offer every now and again, so I couldn’t lemon out the truck that sat on the repair lot for over 40 days. I took a low buyout from the dealer and walked away. Chrysler was useless in trying to honestly help. Take all of that for what it’s worth, I still believe that Ram makes a good truck, but wouldn’t trust Chrysler to make good on much except taking your money.

I also had the car fax pulled after the truck sold to someone else, and all of my trips to the repair shop were listed as service. No reasoning, no customer states vehicle drops into neutral, customer notified to monitor situation. I had probably 20 pages of service notes that were reduced down to 4 lines of service on the carfax.

My reason for pulling the carfax the second time was because the dealer had told me they were going to fight with Chrysler to get the truck taken back, and I saw it out on the road with plates on it..... Before the service bulletin fix

 

[ram1500rsm]

Modded vehicles go to auction. Seems to be moving fast in auction too. Not exactly sure it's a bad thing.

 

[Neil E]

If it's under the factory warranty, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it if the price was right.