High mileage Yukon

[MassHoe04]

Do you have a mechanic you can trust 1000%? If you do anything with that dealer, you want a thorough inspection into every nook and cranny. Not just a 15 minute look-over. Pay them for a good hour or more and see if anything shady turns up with the condition of the vehicle. If it checks out and you still feel you are paying a fair price for what it is in your market... Then, OK.

I'd still be pissed at how they were treating you and I am not sure I'd be able to negotiate with them and keep my cool. Trust is gone out the window already for me.

The last few times I was shopping at major brand dealership, or even smaller independent dealers, I would walk the lot. If anyone ran out to chase me down in the parking lot, I would be out of there in a hurry and not go back!

Places I did buy from would let me look in the lot all day and wait for me to come in to ask questions or ask for a test drive on a specific vehicle. If they were confident enough they can stay in business by not hunting me like a leopard in the lot or harassing me, they would keep things no-pressure and wait for me to make a move. I like those guys and I even was a repeat customer to a few more than once. Just because of how they treated me...

Same went for any dealer where the salesman would go back and forth to the manager and instead of just giving me their best price I was asking them for, would come back and ask "How much do you want to pay per month?... We'll make the numbers work..." I understand you are in business to make money. Just give me your best price instead of playing silly games.

Respect my space when looking. Leave me alone. Let me test drive without you on a ride-along. Be there if I need more information. Don't use pressure tactics. Set a price that allows you to make a profit, just be fair. Don't play games. Do this and you will have my respect and maybe even a sale.

Sorry... You might have hit a trigger with me on dealer experiences.

 

[Jeff53]

Do you have a mechanic you can trust 1000%? If you do anything with that dealer, you want a thorough inspection into every nook and cranny. Not just a 15 minute look-over. Pay them for a good hour or more and see if anything shady turns up with the condition of the vehicle. If it checks out and you still feel you are paying a fair price for what it is in your market... Then, OK.

I'd still be pissed at how they were treating you and I am not sure I'd be able to negotiate with them and keep my cool. Trust is gone out the window already for me.

The last few times I was shopping at major brand dealership, or even smaller independent dealers, I would walk the lot. If anyone ran out to chase me down in the parking lot, I would be out of there in a hurry and not go back!

Places I did buy from would let me look in the lot all day and wait for me to come in to ask questions or ask for a test drive on a specific vehicle. If they were confident enough they can stay in business by not hunting me like a leopard in the lot or harassing me, they would keep things no-pressure and wait for me to make a move. I like those guys and I even was a repeat customer to a few more than once. Just because of how they treated me...

Same went for any dealer where the salesman would go back and forth to the manager and instead of just giving me their best price I was asking them for, would come back and ask "How much do you want to pay per month?... We'll make the numbers work..." I understand you are in business to make money. Just give me your best price instead of playing silly games.

Respect my space when looking. Leave me alone. Let me test drive without you on a ride-along. Be there if I need more information. Don't use pressure tactics. Set a price that allows you to make a profit, just be fair. Don't play games. Do this and you will have my respect and maybe even a sale.

Sorry... You might have hit a trigger with me on dealer experiences.

I agree about the dealership. I'm really not happy with them. As far as having a mechanic inspect it, unfortunately, any mechanic I trust is here where I live. The dealership that has the Yukon is 35 miles away, so logistically it's not ideal. I don't know if they'd let me take it overnight.

To me, the selling points of the vehicle are the documented maintenance on the Carfax for the life of the vehicle. Also, how clean and undamaged the interior is. I've looked at quite a few where the interior is beat up and dirty. To me, that indicates the person really didn't care about it and probably neglected other things. Another thing is that everything on it is still factory with no modifications, somewhat of a feat for a 20 year old vehicle and another indication that the person(s) took good care of it. I'm not saying all mods are bad, just that it isn't all hacked up. About the only downsides are the rust areas and the price. I think it's more of a 5-6K OTD truck. Unfortunately, the market is what the market is right now.

I guess I could wait a while. Right now, I'm driving either my old 96 Jimmy or my 06 Silverado dually diesel that takes up the room of 2 vehicles. I'll be selling the dually soon, as I don't need it for towing the 5th wheel anymore. I love the truck and it's in great shape, it's just too big for most purposes. I originally started looking for an Avalanche 2500 with the 8.1, but they're like hen's teeth, especially ones that aren't beat to death. And the Yukon/Suburban 2500s are just as hard to find in good shape. I wanted the 2500 in case I wanted to buy another trailer, so I wouldn't be limited in size. But realistically, I'll probably never get another one, so the 1500 series should work for most everything else, even smaller trailers. I used to have an Av and really liked it for versatility/ride, but the plastics haven't held up well on them over the years and it's basically a Suburban with the back turned into a truck bed anyway. So, I started looking at the Yukon/Suburban. I'm leaning towards the Yukon XL mainly because I've always liked the GMC styling a bit better than the Chevy.

 

[MassHoe04]

If it seems that good and the price is what you believe to be fair, maybe go the next step, even if they were kind of jerks to you.

With a deposit in their hands...
Negotiate your final purchase price, leave a decent (refundable) deposit. With a deposit in their hands and sale agreement pending, they should be reasonable enough to let you drive it 70 miles round trip to your mechanic on their repair/dealer plates. If nothing major is found by the mechanic, finalize the sale and you make arrangements to pay or finance the balance. If there is something serious found, the cost of the repair should completed by the seller, the cost be taken off the final sale price or give you the option to void the sale and get your deposit refunded.

In MA, sellers with vehicles sold over a certain amount have to guarantee they will pass state RMV inspections unless sold for parts or repair.

Also, there is a 30 day warranty putting sellers on the hook for repairs within that month after sale.

Good luck!
Hope things go well for you and everything works out in your favor.

 

[Jeff53]

I'm starting to lean towards just biting the bullet and buying it. Realistically, I'd like less miles and no rust, but by the same token, those two things would cost me about twice as much or more where I live. I've seen tons of other ones listed on Facebook and other places with more rust and well over 200K miles for the same or more money. The fact that the previous owner(s) seemed to be fastidious about maintenance eases my worry somewhat. Like OR VietVet mentioned, those engines can go 300K or more. As I said before, I'm more worried about the 4L60E, but it seemed to shift well with no strange noises or anything. it's always a crapshoot with those trannys. I had to have the one in my Avalanche partially rebuilt with less than 70K miles on it.

I have a friend that's an excellent body man that will fix the rust for me. The only bad thing is he works at Maaco, but I've had paint work done there before and that particular shop has done a decent job. I don't know if they can blend that blue. If not, my thoughts were to do a two-tone with the Pewter color they had around that time, like on the pickup trucks, as overall, the paint in general looks pretty good. I'm going to go and get some wings and beer and think it over some more. I'll let you know what I decide and please feel free to keep posting your opinions. I still haven't completely made up my mind. I want to thank everyone for the input/help I've gotten so far. This is the best forum I've been on since I used to be on the Excursion forum (when I had an Excursion).

 

[Mudsport96]

That is a steal where im from.
A couple weeks ago a dealership in my area sold a 1995 k1500 for 49k... and then there is this.
Just about half original msrp

 

[B-train]

@Jeff53

In reading all this, I feel the same as you on the documented maintenance and condition of the interior. I use those 2 metrics as a good indicator when I purchase across country. The dealership is being a douche and I hate high pressure tactics. As stated above, they probably don't have more than 3k into it, so I'd walk in with 6k cash, offer 5k and then walk out if it didn't fit your budget.

If your buddy does good rust repair, then that could buy you some time. I'd definitely have it professionally rust proofed afterwards to seal stuff up.

I've stated this multiple times in other posts, but if you have the time and ability to search from salt free states, you can probably find a similar deal and start with a rust free option that removes some of the problematic things that show up do to that. It does take more time and increases the risk a little bit, but with good homework it is possible to accomplish.

 

[Jeff53]

Well, I texted the salesman that I would accept the $7K price, even though it was more than I wanted to pay for it with that many miles. My salesman, who is about as old as the number of vehicles I've purchased in my life, responded with "I can speak with my GM tomorrow and see if we can release the car for 7K.". I told him "Tell your GM that my 7K offer is only good for Monday. After that, it drops $300 each day.".

 

[Sam Harris]

Well, I texted the salesman that I would accept the $7K price, even though it was more than I wanted to pay for it with that many miles. My salesman, who is about as old as the number of vehicles I've purchased in my life, responded with "I can speak with my GM tomorrow and see if we can release the car for 7K.". I told him "Tell your GM that my 7K offer is only good for Monday. After that, it drops $300 each day.".

Douchebaggery!!

 

[oldchev]

1. Dealerships are used to the game.
2. That's the rust you see.
3. Caveat Emptor.

 

[Miami-Dade]

As far as having a mechanic inspect it, unfortunately, any mechanic I trust is here where I live. The dealership that has the Yukon is 35 miles away, so logistically it's not ideal. I don't know if they'd let me take it overnight.

You might want to consider a Mobile Mechanic with a 5 star rating.