What are some good questions to ask when buying a used truck from the owner?

Ask if it is okay to have your mechanic check it out. Then do it. A few bucks for a check can save you thousands.
Also get a carfax report and be sure it has a clean history, no wrecks and was NOT near the south when Katrina hit.

What @Dog said. Just take it to a mechanic you trust.

Geez, I didn’t even think of that. Thanks guys :)

Don ferget to ask, “Eh, brah, why you sellin dis ting anyway?”

@hawaii_jake I’ve actually always found that one to be useless. If it’s a problem with the car, they’ll lie, and everything else isn’t relevant.

What did you use it for? (I bought my first used truck from an aircraft mechanic who used to haul engines up and down the East Coast to and from his shop in Florida. I got nearly 180,000 miles out of that truck with nearly no trouble at all, after his own 40,000 to break it in.)

Did you buy it new? (And if not, how many previous owners do you know about? It would be nice to know if this thing has had a series of unhappy owners.)

Do you have the maintenance records? (Someone who keeps detailed maintenance records—as my dad kept a book in which he logged everything down to each fuel fill-up—is likely to be making sure that the proper maintenance is actually done.)

@CyanoticWasp logging each fuel fill up?!

Good idea though, I think if someone kept a log, that shows that they took pride in the condition in which they maintained the vehicle.

@mrrich724 Dad kept meticulous records so that he’d know if something was going bad long before it actually did. And it was easier to keep a log book “then”, when you could set a gas pump to pump automatically and keep your hands free. (Remember those days?)

@CyanoticWasp They don’t now?

@papayalily I never seem to find them. Maybe it’s a Connecticut thing, but when I pump my own gas now (everywhere) it seems that all of the locking mechanisms on the handles have been deliberately disabled, and my gas cap itself doesn’t work as a holder for the pump handle lever.

@CyanoticWasp Huh. I’ve never found one that didn’t do the auto-pump, except for one that was broken…

Most important question to ask is how long they’ve owned the vehicle. If they’ve had it for less than one year, walk away; it’s probably a curbstoner – a slimy used car dealer who operates off the street. If this is somebody with more than one vehicle for sale, that’s almost certainly what you’re dealing with.

Second, ask to see the maintenance records on the vehicle. Ask to have a mechanic of your choice look the vehicle over at your expense. If they don’t agree to this, walk away.

Ask to see the title. If they don’t have it, walk away.

Ask them why they’re getting rid of it.

don’t buy one that was used for snow plowing, ever.

@papayalily and @CyanoticWasp I too have a difficult time finding automatic pumps anymore. Either they are broken, or look like they never had the auto-lever to begin with!

How annoying, now that I think about it.