I've found a used Silverado 2500HD crew cab duramax that I like enough to have inspected by an independent mechanic prior to dickering with the dealer. It's a 2003. It actually entered regular service in July '03 according to carfax and by last month it had accumulated 61,000 miles! Carfax said it was originally registered to a "company" [not a "person"] as a "fleet vehicle". It started smooth and ran smooth, on the lot. I did not have time this afternoon to take it for a test drive but I certainly intend to. When I gunned the engine a couple times, I did not see major unacceptable amounts of thick black smoke. What I saw looked normal to me. Under the hood it looked remarkably neat and clean. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the dealer "spiffed it up" a bit, it looked so good. Visually the truck is very clean, as near as I can tell. Body outside and inside are like new. No serious underbody rust that I could see with my amateur's eyes. Spray in bed liner does not appear to have major signs of wear. If they hauled stuff it must not have been truckloads of rocks or boat anchors! The hitch reciever did not show signs of major wear. How much risk am I undertaking, if I have it checked out by a competent mechanic who knows his way around diesels and it checks out from his viewpoint? Is a truck like this "rode hard and put up wet" or might it be the bargain it appears to be? I should have mentioned it's being offered for $29,500.
It "should" be fine, but of course who knows for sure? Every truck i have bought used i always take to another chev dealer and have it checked out. It usually cost 2 hours of labor so around 100-150 bucks but thats nothing if he finds its about to die. Another thing i will always do is get a warrenty. They dont like that but if they want to sell it bad enough you can get it, even if its just for a month to cover your butt. The truck should be good for a couple hundred thousand miles so 61 is almost broke in waytogo
I've owned a couple of "fleet" vehicles in the past, they are usually better maintained and in better shape than most privately owned vehicles. Is the truck loaded? That price seems steep to me not having seen the truck, I can buy a new Crew Cab for $35K at the dealer with 0% financing. Back to the original question, I wouldn't think twice about a used fleet vehicle, especially one I had checked out at the dealer or by a competent mechanic.
