Truck buying war story
Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 6:51 amSo last time I posted was I think April. I am now CLOSE to being ready to take this setup camping. Bought trailer early April and truck late April. This is now mid-July. It has been that much time worth of un-freaking-believable weirdness.
VERY long story short, I saw an ad for a 2002 Chevy 2500HD, crew cab, tow package, only 86K miles. Ad screamed in full caps NO RUST!!! Said it was a southern truck. Drove 2 hours to see it, liked it. Oh yeah, upon greeting, the heavily tattoo''d, very burly, loud-speaking seller asked if I brought a man. I said no. He scolded, "when looking at trucks you should always bring a man!" I laughed out loud, not meanly, I was truly amused. And said I knew of nothing in the genetic code... well anyway. Man or not, I arranged for it to be given a full pre-purchase inspection by a Chevrolet dealership not far away. I stressed to them that rust and signs of heavy plowing were of high interest but otherwise I wanted it fully checked out, and I meant fully. The morning of the inspection I even emailed them a detailed line item of things to check (friend sent me this) "any of which would be in addition to whatever you would normally check." Phone report back" Truck in excellent condition, mechanic amazed for its age, it does need rear brakes and one backing plate, otherwise great." All details I asked, positive answers. Bought it!
Took it to my mechanic for the prescribed brake work, and very quickly after leaving, he called and said "Come right back here. I want you to see this." He included photos. Totally rusted out whole front part of frame and everything attached to it. Horrible! Here's where the long story is short. 1-1/2 months of hassling with the official Chevrolet dealership who did the pre-purchase inspection, including having the truck taken back up to them so the GM could see it in person, and a big "etc." later, they fired the mechanic who did the pre-purchase inspection and paid my mechanic's bill of $3,200 to replace the whole front frame and all its attachments, rear shock mount and I also got them to throw in the cost of the brakes and backing plates as penance. That took almost a month because my mechanic's expert fabricator was having twins and taking the whole month of June off.
Now I FINALLY have the truck and mechanic found a great donor frame so it's now a really nice truck. And the trailer dealership "forgot" to assemble the hitch so I did that myself, set ball height, took the assembly to my mechanic to torque the bolts and by the end of the day (still some stuff to do on that part) I will be able to hook up to the trailer. And I made reservations at a campground from Thurs. through Sunday this coming week. Still have not pulled the trailer yet. I will practice backing it up on my 600-700 ft. driveway starting today (actually it's more like a dirt road) and then leave earlier on Thurs. than I'd otherwise do and practice some turns and backing turns in Walmart's way-back parking lot, then take off.
Geeez! This has been beyond insane. Oh! Forgot the kicker. I did a google search on the seller. It turns out that he used to work at that same official Chevrolet Dealership. Yup. While the GM wasn't yet employed there when Paul was, the mechanic who did my pre-purchase inspection was. Hmmmmm.
VERY long story short, I saw an ad for a 2002 Chevy 2500HD, crew cab, tow package, only 86K miles. Ad screamed in full caps NO RUST!!! Said it was a southern truck. Drove 2 hours to see it, liked it. Oh yeah, upon greeting, the heavily tattoo''d, very burly, loud-speaking seller asked if I brought a man. I said no. He scolded, "when looking at trucks you should always bring a man!" I laughed out loud, not meanly, I was truly amused. And said I knew of nothing in the genetic code... well anyway. Man or not, I arranged for it to be given a full pre-purchase inspection by a Chevrolet dealership not far away. I stressed to them that rust and signs of heavy plowing were of high interest but otherwise I wanted it fully checked out, and I meant fully. The morning of the inspection I even emailed them a detailed line item of things to check (friend sent me this) "any of which would be in addition to whatever you would normally check." Phone report back" Truck in excellent condition, mechanic amazed for its age, it does need rear brakes and one backing plate, otherwise great." All details I asked, positive answers. Bought it!
Took it to my mechanic for the prescribed brake work, and very quickly after leaving, he called and said "Come right back here. I want you to see this." He included photos. Totally rusted out whole front part of frame and everything attached to it. Horrible! Here's where the long story is short. 1-1/2 months of hassling with the official Chevrolet dealership who did the pre-purchase inspection, including having the truck taken back up to them so the GM could see it in person, and a big "etc." later, they fired the mechanic who did the pre-purchase inspection and paid my mechanic's bill of $3,200 to replace the whole front frame and all its attachments, rear shock mount and I also got them to throw in the cost of the brakes and backing plates as penance. That took almost a month because my mechanic's expert fabricator was having twins and taking the whole month of June off.
Now I FINALLY have the truck and mechanic found a great donor frame so it's now a really nice truck. And the trailer dealership "forgot" to assemble the hitch so I did that myself, set ball height, took the assembly to my mechanic to torque the bolts and by the end of the day (still some stuff to do on that part) I will be able to hook up to the trailer. And I made reservations at a campground from Thurs. through Sunday this coming week. Still have not pulled the trailer yet. I will practice backing it up on my 600-700 ft. driveway starting today (actually it's more like a dirt road) and then leave earlier on Thurs. than I'd otherwise do and practice some turns and backing turns in Walmart's way-back parking lot, then take off.
Geeez! This has been beyond insane. Oh! Forgot the kicker. I did a google search on the seller. It turns out that he used to work at that same official Chevrolet Dealership. Yup. While the GM wasn't yet employed there when Paul was, the mechanic who did my pre-purchase inspection was. Hmmmmm.
