2011 Ram Big Horn - strange carfax

[PieceOfChum]

I am looking at a 2011 Ram Big Horn with 56k miles on it two owners both personal not a rental or commercial vehicle. I am a little concerned since the vehicle has been up for sale for a year and has not sold. I am going to try to find someone to do an inspection but the vehicle is in an area that is an hour away that I am not familiar with. The carfax also shows the truck failed emissions but immediately (same day) passed. On the plus side the vehicle was offered as a Chrysler Certified vehicle, but is not now, so I am assuming that means it passed a thorough inspection but that could be a bunch of bunk. The truck still has 16 months of power-train warranty. Going to check it out tomorrow.

Here is the carfax link any advice would be greatly appreciated.

CARFAX Vehicle History Report for this 2011 RAM 1500

Also if anyone in the Massachusetts area could advise me on a reliable vehicle inspector that would be cool.

 

[smurfs_of_war]

Yeah, the two that stuck out to me were failed emissions and sold at auction. I don't know about where you are, but around here vehicles sold at auction mean three things:
1. Fleet
2. Estate sale
3. A problem child the dealer can't get rid of.

I'd have my antenna up on this one, especially with the low mileage.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[O.R.T.]

Problem Child. Walk Away.

 

[PieceOfChum]

In my area auction vehicles are normal I would say the bulk of he used cars here in Mass are northeast auction vehicles. What is abnormal is for a truck to last so long on the lot. And the failed emission is concerning although I have had a new vehicle fail emissions because the computer needed to be reset and then fed new "good" data and that was a Honda.

I was thinking that the powertrain warranty would protect me from anything serious but that may not be a great approach relying on the warranty.

I agree that it is most likely a problem child, it is too bad it has the options I want and the price is reasonable.

I will check it out for fun but doubt I will purchase it.

 

[HemiRoar]

whats the asking price?

 

[PieceOfChum]

They started at $25,577 and they recently reduced it to $23,477 then I offered $22,300 and they said ok. So that was great but a little too easy.

But I have got great deals in the past I bought a Sienna at $300 above trade-in value and the car is awesome and never had a major issue some minor ones still under warranty but they were typical for the vehicle.

I have negotiated new cars for other family members way down to the point where people were concerned. For instance I helped my cousin by a brand new 2013 Accord 4 door sport, new at the time, for $4,000 under msrp and with some additions (2 years free maintenance and remote start) on top of that and it took me less than 1 hour over the phone.

 

[O.R.T.]

Could also just simply have been an aftermarket item, possibly even SMOG legal, and the SMOG Tech was too lazy to bother looking for the EO Stamp, they found the stamp, called the Tech a dumba$$, and reran the sniffer once the EO Numbers were input.

That said, things don't sit without a good reason.

 

[PieceOfChum]

That is a good point I didn't think of that. And yes things don't normally sit for that long my Sienna was on the lot for 5 months and that was a long time to my mind and was a concern I bought it and had it immediately inspected at a local Toyota dealership and they said that it was fine.

However over a year in New England for a truck with all the right options seems like a problem. I will say the dealers web site was not very good and it was updated recently. Initially I didn't find the truck on the dealer's webs site but through auto trader and then found that the truck was listed under the Dodge Specials category and no other searches would show it. It should have been listed under Ram and the search should have found it in either case as a truck style but it didn't.

I am thinking of asking to take the truck home after putting down a small deposit and having it checked at a local dealer where I live and having them do a compression check on the engine but that is a ton of work and not sure if the dealer would allow me to take the truck overnight without purchasing it but who knows maybe they will.

 

[HemiRoar]

seems a bit overpriced at that mileage, when I bought mine over a year and a half ago, also a bighorn..had 33k miles, extended bumper to bumper warranty till june 2015, for $22k canadian.

just be careful, there was a thread earlier about a member buying a certified '10 I think and it barely lasted him a week..the transfer case was dry and all this other stuff was shot but it had passed safety and emissions.

here:
http://www.ramforum.com/f26/avoid_security_dodge_all_costs-52503/

 

[PieceOfChum]

Wow you got a fantastic deal where I live that is according to kbb the trade in value is around 22k. I bet it is a lot different where you are maybe I should buy mine in Canada . Around here a 2011 usually is listed at around 25-27 and they probably sell for around 22-23k with around 60k or less miles with the Big Horn package. Also there isn't a huge supply of used Ram's with the options I want there are maybe 10 or 12 around my area and most of those are way over the 56k mark for miles.

I would never buy a car site unseen I spend a couple of hours inspecting the vehicles I purchase and check for sludge in the engine oil, rust, vibrations at 45, 55, 65, and 75 mph. I also check to make sure the tires are wearing evenly. I check that all the seams are original and don't have ruffing, the paint reflects light like a mirror without waves. I bring a magnet to make sure the panels are metal etc...

My big disadvantage is that I don't know much about trucks in fact this would be my first one.

 

[moparrtguy]

Don't trust the CarFax completely, I have found errors on my own personal vehicles. Sometimes dealers or shops code the service wrong or submit the wrong service code to CarFax and its a ***** to get it corrected. Keeping that in mind, I would still be concerned about the length of time it has been for sale.

 

[bobbo7915]

i grew up in the area and have a friend who was working at the Colonial South chevy dealer up the street from the dodge dealer up until a couple of months ago. i'll ask if he knows anyone over at the dodge dealer and see if i can find anything out.

i also think its a little over priced for that many miles. i paid just over 28k for my new 14 express quad cab....

 

[NYCruiser]

Have you asked the seller for an explanation of why it hasn't sold?

 

[cgeorgemo]

Have you asked the seller for an explanation of why it hasn't sold?

Wouldn't it be funner to wonder about it on an internet forum rather than ask the people selling the truck for more information?

If it is overpriced I think we are answering the question. It's probably sitting on the lot because there are better deals to be had elsewhere. If the dealer isn't willing to lower the price to market value it sits.
That being said have it checked out by an independent tech.

 

[Andrew09HEMI]

I really dont see what the big deal is on it.. They got it, didnt passs emissions then fixed the issues, it then passed. Sat on lot for 4 months but was drove almost 1k miles, then sold at auction.. So it sounds like maybe someone from the dealer was driving it as a demo or something.. Failing emissions is really not a big deal, could have had a TPMS light on and it didnt pass cause of it, who knows

 

[PieceOfChum]

i grew up in the area and have a friend who was working at the Colonial South chevy dealer up the street from the dodge dealer up until a couple of months ago. i'll ask if he knows anyone over at the dodge dealer and see if i can find anything out.

i also think its a little over priced for that many miles. i paid just over 28k for my new 14 express quad cab....

Thanks that would be helpful. And maybe I am just looking at this wrong it is so weird it is by far the lowest I have seen and lower miles than most. Maybe I should just get a price on a new one with the options I want I assumed it would be in the mid 30's which I cannot afford. I also used kbb which is not the best way to determine the value of a vehicle but generally accepted as a good guess and it has a trade in value of $22k.

I did ask the dealer why it was on the lot so long they said they had been renovating the dealership and moved there used stock around to other of their dealerships so they weren't doing a lot marketing and they weren't agressively pricing it at that point.

I agree that failing an emission isn't a big deal by itself. I actually contacted the previous dealer and they said the Truck was fine since they did offer it as a certified pre-owned but they couldn't give me any more details.

 

[PieceOfChum]

I checked out the truck today. It was actually in pretty great shape.

There was one rust area where the paint was raised and there was rust. I don't think this was from any kind of abuse but just a defect, the dealership said they would grind it out and put touchup paint on it. That was the only thing that I saw that made me nervous at all. The affected area was near the rear passenger brake light it was about 3/4 of an inch long and maybe 1/4 inch across. I know the corrosion warranty is still on the truck so maybe I can harass Dodge about it. The exhaust smelled a little but no white exhaust smoke and after it warmed up I didn't notice any smell at all and yes I put my face by the exhaust ha ha.

Outside of that the engine oil looked good no yellow or anything, the undercarriage had some surface rust but I have to think that is normal for a truck that is four years old and it didn't make me nervous typical surface rust although a truck has a lot more metal surface area so it looks worse than a car.

The tires seem brand new the treads were almost perfectly even in depth, brakes felt great, the engine was very quiet and didn't shutter at 45 mph or 55 mph I didn't get it above that but will before I buy it. The truck handled fine a little loose in the wheel but I am used to a subaru legacy which has really heavy steering. The engine compartment was clean the interior was clean not perfect a few coffee stains but nothing that bothers me. All the electronics work.

I put on the auto awd and the light for that came on and said it was on. The bed was near perfect a few places where on the tailgate the spray in bed liner was peeling but only in a few places. There was no ruffing around the doors. The vin stickers were on the driver door and the hood and matched. Not sure if there are any others that are say to find I would assume there would be one somewhere near the bed but didn't see it there.

Didn't see any waves int the paint but didn't have natural light so I will have to double check that but seemed to be origina l no rough spots could be felt. Frame seems straight and the car drove straight when I took my hands off the wheel. I examined the undercarriage for a while.

 

[PieceOfChum]

I found out what the issue was with the 2011 Ram Big Horn truck that I was looking at the issue was that there was some damage in the wheel well. The inside metal lip of the wheel well is rusting out and the metal is flaking off. The dealer said they would fix it that it was a $300 fix but not a good sign and my experience with rust is once it starts then it doesn't stop. Also there was an unusual amount of rust, although not terrible just more than there should be, on the engine oil pan and I would most likely need to replace it in 4-5 years. The truck needed a new serpentine belt and the rear center brake light needs to be replaced. The big one is the rust in the wheel well it is bad. So I am going to just wait until I can buy a newer truck and get the undercarriage sprayed every year too bad I love the truck otherwise but not really feeling comfortable with rust and possible unreported accident (although I think it is more likely that something got caught inside the wheell well and damaged the lip but I cannot verify that).

Wil always always get an independant inspection from now on it was the best $65 I ever spent.