Kerry & Kathy
Member #007
Ok…I don’t normally share details of every vehicle I buy but I’m going to make an exception here.
Most of you don’t know that I used to own an ambulance that I drove as a utility vehicle for 18 years. It was a 1 Ton Dodge Hi-Top that I bought with 46,000 miles from an ambulance dealer. I only paid $1800 for it. The reason it was so cheap was that there was little market for used ambulances and it had been the City of DePeres ambulance used to remove the bodies from the Popes Cafeteria Murders many years ago. When the few potential buyers learned of the history…they seemingly lost interest. It didn’t concern me as I was only looking for a heavy-duty vehicle to haul motorcycles to the races and the history was a non-issue. After 18 years and 84,000 additional miles, I sold the truck to a carpet service for $500. It was a VERY cost effective utility vehicle.
I replaced it with another cost effective truck. A 93 Ford E-350 1 ton 15 passenger van bought new by Kinder Care for transporting kids to day school. It was later used for a year as a hotel shuttle bus. When I bought it about nine years ago it had 44,500 miles and I paid $7600 for it when blue book for the same E-350 with equal mileage at the time was $14,500. It has served us well but now has 130,000 miles on it and is only 2-wheel drive without posi-traction. Being unable to get up and down our steep hill at the farm during inclement weather has been a real limitation. So…we have been looking for another “bargain” replacement utility vehicle with 4WD.
I had been researching a number of different models and decided a ¾ ton Suburban 4WD would best serve our needs. I had been watching Auto Trader, eBay and Craigslist but everything in the 96-2003 range had 140,000 miles or more and seemed way overpriced for that mileage. Anything with less than 80,000 miles was $12,000-$14,000.
However….last Monday night around 7:30 pm a truck was posted on Craigslist in Carthage TN, 50 miles East of Nashville. It had only 77,500 miles and was a 2000 Suburban LS 4WD. It has the 6.0 Gen III LS1 with the HD 4L80E transmission and HD Dana rear axle and transfer case.…. The truck had been purchased through the GSA and was used to transport the family of the Governor of Tennessee from 2000 to 2007. The truck had a push bar bumper / brush guard that was installed on the front in the event the driver had to take evasive action and push a blocking vehicle off the road. A single TN Highway Patrol Trooper who served as personal driver for the Governor and family drove it. The truck had excellent service records.
The seller was a retired TN state government employee who was still working in 2007 and learned of the availability of the truck. He subsequently bought it from the state at auction in 2007 when it had 57,800 miles. The buyer later retired early due to loss of sight in one eye so his wife was the only driver. In the four years they had the truck it remained garaged and was driven less than 5,000 miles per year. Their son had placed the ad on Craigslist Monday night and said he had received over 10 dealer calls from multiple states in the first hour the ad was placed. The ad included a very brief description with mileage, price and one poor out-of-focus photo.
When I emailed the son Monday night he provided numerous details and a number of good clear pictures. He also mentioned that there were two people coming Tuesday morning before noon to look at the truck but no one had yet made a commitment on it.
Although I rarely buy anything sight unseen…Kathy and I discussed it, did a Car-Fax search on the VIN, which corroborated everything we had been told. I called the son back and said we would buy the truck and be driving down during the night to meet with his parents in the early morning Tuesday. Although we offered to make a deposit by Paypal to secure the vehicle, he said it was not necessary if we were willing to drive over 6 hours one way to buy the truck.
We arrived at 5:10 AM in Carthage and waited in front of the house until the parents came out around 7:00 Am. In the mean time, one local police car and a sheriff’s deputy arrived questioning why we were parked in the street at that hour. After a quick explanation all was fine.
When we finally had the chance to inspect and drive the truck…it was better than described. It was exceptionally clean and drove very tight. The only real issue was that it still had the original OEM tires after 77,500 miles, but new Michelin LTX’s are on the way. By 9 am we had the signed title in hand with a notarized bill of sale and were on our way back home. Kathy driving the Acura, while I was driving the truck. After arriving home Tuesday night with no sleep since Monday morning…we both crashed for the night.
Oh…. the final selling price: $8600.........
We have since had two mechanics look over the truck…one is a certified GM Technician. Both gave it a clean bill of health and said the truck was worth $12,500 to $14,000 in its condition with such low mileage.
I think we have a good utility vehicle for the next 10-15 years….We are VERY pleased with it and the bargain price.
Just wanted to share our experience and good fortune.
K&K
A few pics:
Most of you don’t know that I used to own an ambulance that I drove as a utility vehicle for 18 years. It was a 1 Ton Dodge Hi-Top that I bought with 46,000 miles from an ambulance dealer. I only paid $1800 for it. The reason it was so cheap was that there was little market for used ambulances and it had been the City of DePeres ambulance used to remove the bodies from the Popes Cafeteria Murders many years ago. When the few potential buyers learned of the history…they seemingly lost interest. It didn’t concern me as I was only looking for a heavy-duty vehicle to haul motorcycles to the races and the history was a non-issue. After 18 years and 84,000 additional miles, I sold the truck to a carpet service for $500. It was a VERY cost effective utility vehicle.
I replaced it with another cost effective truck. A 93 Ford E-350 1 ton 15 passenger van bought new by Kinder Care for transporting kids to day school. It was later used for a year as a hotel shuttle bus. When I bought it about nine years ago it had 44,500 miles and I paid $7600 for it when blue book for the same E-350 with equal mileage at the time was $14,500. It has served us well but now has 130,000 miles on it and is only 2-wheel drive without posi-traction. Being unable to get up and down our steep hill at the farm during inclement weather has been a real limitation. So…we have been looking for another “bargain” replacement utility vehicle with 4WD.
I had been researching a number of different models and decided a ¾ ton Suburban 4WD would best serve our needs. I had been watching Auto Trader, eBay and Craigslist but everything in the 96-2003 range had 140,000 miles or more and seemed way overpriced for that mileage. Anything with less than 80,000 miles was $12,000-$14,000.
However….last Monday night around 7:30 pm a truck was posted on Craigslist in Carthage TN, 50 miles East of Nashville. It had only 77,500 miles and was a 2000 Suburban LS 4WD. It has the 6.0 Gen III LS1 with the HD 4L80E transmission and HD Dana rear axle and transfer case.…. The truck had been purchased through the GSA and was used to transport the family of the Governor of Tennessee from 2000 to 2007. The truck had a push bar bumper / brush guard that was installed on the front in the event the driver had to take evasive action and push a blocking vehicle off the road. A single TN Highway Patrol Trooper who served as personal driver for the Governor and family drove it. The truck had excellent service records.
The seller was a retired TN state government employee who was still working in 2007 and learned of the availability of the truck. He subsequently bought it from the state at auction in 2007 when it had 57,800 miles. The buyer later retired early due to loss of sight in one eye so his wife was the only driver. In the four years they had the truck it remained garaged and was driven less than 5,000 miles per year. Their son had placed the ad on Craigslist Monday night and said he had received over 10 dealer calls from multiple states in the first hour the ad was placed. The ad included a very brief description with mileage, price and one poor out-of-focus photo.
When I emailed the son Monday night he provided numerous details and a number of good clear pictures. He also mentioned that there were two people coming Tuesday morning before noon to look at the truck but no one had yet made a commitment on it.
Although I rarely buy anything sight unseen…Kathy and I discussed it, did a Car-Fax search on the VIN, which corroborated everything we had been told. I called the son back and said we would buy the truck and be driving down during the night to meet with his parents in the early morning Tuesday. Although we offered to make a deposit by Paypal to secure the vehicle, he said it was not necessary if we were willing to drive over 6 hours one way to buy the truck.
We arrived at 5:10 AM in Carthage and waited in front of the house until the parents came out around 7:00 Am. In the mean time, one local police car and a sheriff’s deputy arrived questioning why we were parked in the street at that hour. After a quick explanation all was fine.
When we finally had the chance to inspect and drive the truck…it was better than described. It was exceptionally clean and drove very tight. The only real issue was that it still had the original OEM tires after 77,500 miles, but new Michelin LTX’s are on the way. By 9 am we had the signed title in hand with a notarized bill of sale and were on our way back home. Kathy driving the Acura, while I was driving the truck. After arriving home Tuesday night with no sleep since Monday morning…we both crashed for the night.
Oh…. the final selling price: $8600.........
We have since had two mechanics look over the truck…one is a certified GM Technician. Both gave it a clean bill of health and said the truck was worth $12,500 to $14,000 in its condition with such low mileage.
I think we have a good utility vehicle for the next 10-15 years….We are VERY pleased with it and the bargain price.
Just wanted to share our experience and good fortune.
K&K
A few pics:
Enjoy it. BTW Paint it white & you & Mark will be twins. 
A Paul Simon impersonator. 
