Hi Everyone!
I will be selling my 2013 truck, 120k miles as it's quickly developing a whole bunch of issues... lifters/cam knocking sounds, brake system pulsating, transmission doesn't shift to D/R quick anymore.
I decided to trade it in, or sell it to a dealership because i can't look into eyes of private buyer and lie to them that it's a good truck. It will be very expensive to fix it all, and i'm also afraid they will try to get back at me. I bought a few cars at dealership and familiar with the negotiations game, but never sold/trade-in car to dealership before.
A few questions:
1. My truck developed knocking (cam/lifters) in the past month. No CEL yet. It's very light knocking so far, but if you listen to engine, or rev it, you can clearly hear it.
What does dealer do when you take your truck for sale or trade in? Do they have their mechanic evaluate the truck? How thoroughly do they inspect it before giving you an offer?
2. I also have "service brake system" light come on 1-2 times per week, then it goes away. I checked with my basic OBD bluetooth scanner, and didn't see any codes show up. Will dealer check with their advanced code reader for any codes/issues before giving me offer?
3. I have a few nice add-ons on my truck: Morimoto XB led headlights/tail lights, ARE contractor truck cap, yakima rack, PPE larger capacity transmission pan, heavy duty TufTruck rear coil springs to carry heavy loads - while these items would be very attractive to private buyers, especially at $3-4k contractor cap, does dealership consider any of these items in their offer?
4. Should i consider selling the ARE truck cap separately and trade-in without it, as dealership will not pay me anything extra for it?
4. My truck is very dirty... and has a few scratches around. Should i waste time washing it or it wont matter for what dealership will offer me for it?
5. I didn't decide if i want to trade-in for another Ram, or if i will buy another brand truck.
What are my better chances? If i take my truck for trade-in at e.g. Toyota dealership, is there a less chance they will know about the Lifter/knocking issue and will not try to give me lower price because of this issue?
OR - should i sell my truck to Ram dealership, and then go and just buy another brand truck after that?
My main concern is that dealership will want to REALLY low-ball me because they will know it's a Cam/Lifter issue. Or how does this work when you trade in truck with potential issues???
Any help is greatly appreciated!!! Thank you!