​​Tips on Purchasing a High-Mileage Pickup Truck​ 

Sometime while we were picking up the pieces after COVID and doomscrolling on our phones, the average price for a new full-size pickup truck rose to between $65,000 and $70,000. Midsize trucks, which 40 years ago were the least expensive vehicles you could buy, now have an average transaction price of about $42,000. Those are really high numbers, particularly if you just want a vehicle to haul some things around. The alternative is to purchase used trucks, but recent-model trucks hold their value well, so the next step is to look at high-mileage trucks, where prices finally become more affordable. But is that a good deal or a nightmare waiting for the title to be in your name? Alderman Automotive offers pros, cons, and some suggestions. 

In many ways, a used truck can make a lot of sense. Consider that a 20-year-old performance car may have its dynamics greatly overshadowed by modern models, and even some non-performance cars. A 20-year-old luxury car may still have a fancy-looking interior, but is likely to lack the technology found in today’s economy cars. But the primary job of a pickup is to haul things in its bed, and that can be accomplished just as well by a 20-year-old truck, or even a 30-40-50-year-old truck. And if it is off-road thrills you are looking for, those thrills may come more easily if you aren’t worried about scratching or denting your expensive new ride. 

The trick, of course, is to find a truck that may be in very good shape despite the high mileage, which has brought the price down. Ideally, the previous owner bought more truck than they needed and used only a fraction of its capacity before trading it in because they no longer needed it. Unfortunately, such stories don’t appear in service records or a CarFax report. There are no guarantees, and there is always a risk, but there are ways to improve your odds of finding that oldie but goodie. 

Accept that while it’s more fun to look at the vehicle, you will want to spend plenty of time on research and paperwork. Go online, find owners’ forums for the vehicle you are interested in, and see what owners are saying to each other. Examine every detail available in the service records. You will want to review them with the knowledge of the weak spots in the model you are considering. If a particular model is known for blowing head gaskets at 100,000 miles, check whether the model has already had gasket work. Or maybe it’s a transmission or fuel system issue. Try to identify a particular model’s weak link and determine whether it has already been taken care of or is expected to occur in a certain number of miles from now. Complicating matters, the issue may affect a significant percentage of models but not all of them.  

Diesel trucks are known for lasting 200K or even 300K miles, but they can have some significant repairs along the way. Fuel injectors often need replacement at about 150k–200k miles. An expensive repair. Having that on the service records can provide relief. Diesel trucks have likely worked their transmissions hard, so a replacement or rebuilt transmission is a good idea.  

The information isn’t always available, but try to determine how the vehicle was used. Lots of highway miles with a light load can be a better history than hauled loads near their capacity around town every day. 

Of course, you will need to review the truck as well. Since we get plenty of snow in this area, resulting in likely salt-covered roads, look closely underneath where rust is most likely to form – something unlikely to appear on maintenance records. Another suggestion is to look at the interior. An exceptionally well-cared-for interior can increase the likelihood that the vehicle was well cared for overall. Of course, if you have a mechanic you trust, try to arrange for them to give the vehicle a once-over.  Just remember again, there are no guarantees.  

Please know that Alderman Automotive will work with you throughout your journey. Sure, we want to sell you a truck. But even more, we want you to come back for your next purchase and recommend us to your friends. We inspect each vehicle in our inventory to ensure we provide top-quality vehicles to our customers, and we will work with you to provide the information you need to make a sound decision on a used truck.