Buy a Used Truck

There are some people who refuse to buy used and always purchase new but they are in the minority these days. Everyone is looking to spend less and make it work so that they really feel they got a great deal. I don't blame them one bit. Let’s take a look at that scenario.
 
It's important to remember that a used box truck is not going to be set up for your industry.  99.9% of the time it will be the typical basic truck with a roll-up back door, one dimly lit light bulb and if you're lucky it will have cruise, tilt and a ramp.  If you're real fortunate, the mileage won't be too high and the vehicle won't be too old.  It will probably have rust over parts of it and someone else's decals still visible.  It will be a small miracle if any warranty is left and a huge one if there is no damage anywhere.  But let's say you find that needle in the haystack and you work out a price and now you set out to rehab it.
 
You are already starting with a poorly designed rear roll-up door that sometimes is easy to open but is usually difficult to close especially if you're short.  Combine that with a wet, slippery bumper and can you say, "workman's comp?"  With that rear door you better not park on a driveway with a tilt to it or there can be a lot of your equipment falling out the back.  Well, you have to deal with that, so now it's time to set things up the way you need them to be.

Even our price leading 14 foot restoration truck has cruise and tilt.  All 4500 models come with cruise, tilt, power windows, power locks, CD radio and a pull-out ramp.

All of our restoration trucks have easy to open and close double doors in the back.  Preceding the entrance to those doors is a special mesh grip strut insert in the bumper for safe entry and exit.  We also cover the entire rear bumper with a Linex coating to enhance appearance and safety on all of our 4500 models.

Adding all of the above options will finally be getting you close to our finished product. So you spend a few bucks and now it's time to pop that big slide-in unit into the truck, and now you're ready. So you get it in there with your two tanks, hose reel, some LGRs and a few fans and now it's out to that first job. But you start driving it and the front end feels a bit heavy and the truck leans a bit to the left as you look at it from the rear. The problem is you bought a 3500 and you are overweight with your payload. Being over the GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) will get you fined at weigh stations if you are heading out of state not to mention the stress that the weight puts on your suspension. If your plans are to use a large slide-in truck mount such as a Pro-Chem Everest or Titan 875, you will be over the GVWR of your truck once it's loaded.

The bottom line is rehabbing a used truck might look like a good deal but you will be spending a lot of time and money BEFORE you're finished, you'll most likely have issues AFTER you've finished, and don't count on good resale value if things just don't work out.