Chase Vehicle Value

[Bill Tabor]

Hi All,

I was thinking of trading in or selling my old chase vehicle and was wondering about the strategy and value of selling a chase vehicle. My '96 Tahoe has about 200k on it and lots of mighty fine hail dents (many from the larger baseball or softball hail), but it is tough metal.

When the rest of you sell your vehicle how do you handle the hail dent issue? Does it really hurt the value of the vehicle? Should I state this was a storm chase vehicle? Will guy purchasers out there think that is cool and increase the market, or will it just turn all the buyers off? What is your experience and opinion?

 

[Shane Adams]

In my experience hail dents are only cool to chasers. Muggles seem to freak out because they cherish their vehicles....a luxury I guess comes from having money, I dunno. But I wouldn't expect to hit the homerun on a resell with a chewed up chase vehicle, especially one with 200,000 miles on it.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Yeah I have a blown head gasket too. $1500 to repair, or I can try and do it myself. I've kind of gotten to like my hail dents and appreciate them, but as I recall the general public may be somewhat appalled by seeing them. They probably just look at them as beat up old cars rather than a chaser car. I recall some chasers sometimes advertise and sell there vehicles to other chasers. I wonder if this is worth the effort or if the chaser market is so small it makes no difference.

Man, I sure hate to think about a new vehicle and payments all over again. I'm not really that vain, and don't have to drive a really nice, new vehicle. As long as the Tahoe has been running I've been fine with it, but I just wonder with the higher miles how long it will be before I get one of those Brian Stertz and Jeff P deals with the breakdown in front of the tube. Plus, I fix this head gasket and I'm still on the original transmission which I've heard usually only last until 80K. My mechanic was very surprised it has lasted as long as it has. A rebuilt engine installed is $2200 with 3 year 50K warranty.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Hail dents are a huge detriment to a car's value. When I bought my car in 2005, just for fun I took my 2000 Ranger (180K) in to see what they would offer me on a trade-in. They looked at all the hail dents and just laughed. Even with the dents, what they offered was comical in itself.

IMO, a chase vehicle should be one that you never plan to sell, ever.

 

[David Drummond]

Doesn't take much hail damage at all to financial total out a vehicle. That said, with a vehicle that is essentially now about 13 years old (prob manufactured near the end of 1995) it probably won't make all that much difference at a used price. Some insurance companies won't even give full coverage on that old of a vehicle, and many finance companies aside from the buy here/pay here bunch won't finance one either.

Like Shane said, about the only buyers that will think it's cool would be storm chasers/spotters.

 

[David Drummond]

Dude, get a head gasket set, yank those heads off and take them down to the machine shop for a cleanup, valve job and put the valve seals in (that come in the head set) and slap it back together. You'll prob get off less than $500 if you don't have a bunch of bad valves or a cracked head, and it will almost like a new engine.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Dude, get a head gasket set, yank those heads off and take them down to the machine shop for a cleanup, valve job and put the valve seals in (that come in the head set) and slap it back together. You'll prob get off less than $500 if you don't have a bunch of bad valves or a cracked head, and it will almost like a new engine.

I'm thinking about it. I've replaced a head gasket before, but that was years ago on a simpler / smaller engine. The Vortax engine looks a little bit complicated, but I suppose if I screw it up I can always tow and have someone else do it.

Dan mentions a chase vehicle should be one you never part with. I can see that approach as it just doesn't make sense to have a newer vehicle close in to a storm environment and risk getting it smashed up. However a newer vehicle does provide some better level of reliability. Then again, it's hard to tell when any vehicle is about to break down, and old or even new can do it.

I'm also looking at this whole gas mileage issue too. When I got the Tahoe gas was close to $1.00/gal now it is about $3.00. I get about 15 or 17 on the highway so I'd have to have a vehicle that gets about 45mpg to make up for it. A Ford Escape Hybrid will do 36mpg. I believe only a Prias will get about 45. That said the cost of a new vehicle will go along way to paying gas, and mechanical repairs.

 

[Graham Butler]

I'm also looking at this whole gas mileage issue too. When I got the Tahoe gas was close to $1.00/gal now it is about $3.00. I get about 15 or 17 on the highway so I'd have to have a vehicle that gets about 45mpg to make up for it. A Ford Escape Hybrid will do 36mpg. I believe only a Prias will get about 45. That said the cost of a new vehicle will go along way to paying gas, and mechanical repairs.

Yea, but i'm not sure I can picture you driving a Ford Escape Hybrid

That being said the new hybrid Tahoe/Yukon are an improvement (21/21 estimated) although probably more noticeable on my tahoe since im lucky to get over 10 in the city and rarely see 14 on the highway!!

Good luck with the decision

Graham

 

[Bill Tabor]

Hey Graham! Good to hear from you. How are things at Tech? I think it would be cool to have a hybrid, but they are more expensive than the standard models, and WOW looked up new Tahoe prices and they are like 50K!!!

With gas prices, and economy we have I may be chasing on a moped soon.

 

[Doug_Kiesling]

You really should check around for a whole new engine for that even if it might set you back a couple grand. You would have a new engine in your chase ride that would be good for another 200K. Just look at what it would cost for a new truck vs a new engine in a truck that your already used to and won't cry if you get cored... again.

 

[Tony Laubach]

You really should check around for a whole new engine for that even if it might set you back a couple grand. You would have a new engine in your chase ride that would be good for another 200K. Just look at what it would cost for a new truck vs a new engine in a truck that your already used to and won't cry if you get cored... again.

I gotta go with Kiesling on that one... I've already replaced the transmission in my current ride and would likely do the same with an engine. Aside from an accident, I see no reason to rid of a chase vehicle. My next car will be a real car... one that I may go a few years and trade out. The chase vehicle will remain as is. Even with the repairs, it'll probably be cheaper in the long run.

 

[Craig Maire II]

After the hail damage and my run in with a deer a few weeks ago (both hail damage and deer damage has been repaired) along with the 117,000 miles the book value on my car is probably 10 bucks, lol. My cars monetary value may not be much but it runs great, looks nice etc. so it's worth alot to me

 

[Bryce Stone]

I put my Crown Vic on eBay a few months ago because I wanted to go back to a vehicle that doesn't stand out like a sore thumb. I invested $6,500 in the car (including all the equipment) and decided I wouldn't sell it for less than $4,000. The car had just turned over 100,000 when I listed it on eBay, was in good mechanical condition with no dents, and had a bunch of extras. I've only chased one season with it and the 15,000 miles I've put on it were almost all highway miles. My highest offer was $2,000. One guy wanted to turn it into a taxi. So in my experience, chase vehicles don't have a high resale value; even ones that are in good condition.

 

[David Drummond]

Well second hand ex police vehicles don't carry much resale value by themselves either. Used dealers by these up for next to nothing on auctions and turn around and sell them on buy here/pay here lots for 4 or 5 times what they paid for them.

 

[Bill Tabor]

You really should check around for a whole new engine for that even if it might set you back a couple grand. You would have a new engine in your chase ride that would be good for another 200K. Just look at what it would cost for a new truck vs a new engine in a truck that your already used to and won't cry if you get cored... again.

Thanks for the input all of you. Doug, etc I probably should have gone that route as I had a quote for $2200; however I found a guy that was going to do the job for $1100. I figured that justified it, but when it was in the shop it needed a water pump (which is probably what caused the initial overheating), and new hoses - then a few more piddly things. So I get out instead for about $1700 including tax. However I take it out driving and have terrible ping (possible minor detonation) when in overdrive going up hills at say..60mph+. I take it back and the guy says it needs a major tuneup, and that the wires are arcing. Typically I tune it myself but I just want it running at this point so I let him go ahead. I think he charges $350 or so for that plat plugs, wires, rotor, cap and new fuel filter. Bend over I suppose eh? By the time I get out the door and it is running I've put in about $2100 including tax.

Well, at least it is running again. 200k miles hmm.. and now that it is running I at least have to consider some type of trade in or new vehicle. Gas mileage is bad on the Tahoe, but payments or cash outlay on a new vehicle will buy a lot of repairs and expensive gasoline. BTW I hear many expect gas to go to $3.40 - $3.50 a gallon through perhaps next June until they expect the price per barrel to drop to about $70 - then hopefully relief.

Right now, I am just driving the Tahoe. It takes fewer brain cycles to just keep driving it, but I'll continue to ponder the idea of a replacement if I can think of a suitable one.

I should mention one thing that bothers me in some of the newer and smaller vehicles is a place to put things like notebook computer, and dashcam. My Tahoe has plenty of room, and only the drivers side has airbags so no worries of the passenger getting a dashcam or notebook in the face on impact. All the smaller / newer vehicles though have no good place to put things as they typically have accessories everywhere or uneven mounting surfaces. Likely I would have to find some new type of mounting hardware solutions. I did notice many of the new vehicles have built in gps with moving map. That might save some room if as detailed as Delorme, but of course there would be no overlayed radar.

Possible new system in this Mon / Tue. I need to get my com port fixed on my notebook just in case a local chase is in store....