Would you buy a truck with commerical ownership history?

As the title states, pretty much.

Looked at an 05 Chevy 2500 with the Duramax tonight that I'm thinking pretty seriously about, but running a Carfax on the VIN reveals the first owner, who put on the bulk of the miles over about 7 years, registered it as commercial use. I had kinda wondered about this during the test drive, being a white truck in pretty basic trim level, but it is actually pretty clean, unmolested, and drove well. Interior is clean and the body and bed aren't beat to hell, like it's hauled gravel it's whole life or anything. It's got a little bit of rust in the rockers and cab corners, but the price is right, cab configuration is what I want, and mileage isn't too bad at about 150k.

What says the hive, do I run?

I would run from my experience, but there was a very hazardous middle owner between the company that owned it and me buying it. Of course I own a 230k mile cop car now, so what's my opinion really worth?

Back to the topic, I had an old power company fleet truck. 98 Sonoma, basic trim, square tube tailgate, came with a toolbox. The tool box hid the rotten bed rail, the leaf springs were busted, and I couldn't keep tie rid ends on it.fixing the leaf springs changed the angle of the drive train and it stripped out the rear end. That was the story I was told about the rear end, I just know a month after getting new springs the rear end spun out. They must have been broken for a long time.

Put maybe 50k miles on it in 18 months and doubled my purchase price in repairs. I still think a big part of my problem was the shady mechanic and the middle owner.

If it's a fleet vehicle, I think its safe to say it's been maintained, but if there have been owners in between I'd be cautious.

Look into what counts as "commercial use" in whatever state it was in. Here in CA, all pickups are considered "commercial vehicles" (and thus pay a weight fee as part of registration) even if they're owned by an individual and used as commute vehicles.

2005 is an LB7, right? You know about the injectors, right? :)

I'd be wary. My only experience comes from my difficulty finding a van and winding up with a Dodge B2500 which I bought from a contractor, but which started its life with Airborne Express.

Folks buy pickups that get treated like family pets all the time, but vans seem to just get worked until they're not cost-effective.

Not sure who along the way yanked the ABS, or welded the upper ball joints in, just to name a couple of things I've dealt with...

At least with pickups you have a choice.

I wouldn't unless it was from a government fleet.

In reply to RevRico:

Hard to tell if your experience is more due to the fleet life or E36 M3ty PO. That said, I'd be much less wary of a compact fleet truck like that than a diesel 3/4 ton, likely to have lived very different previous lives.

There have been 3 owners in between, two of them each owned it for a couple years and averaged like 10k/yr. The seller has had it for like a month, bought it at the dealership he works at (presumably got a deal) to flip it and changed all the fluids, serp belt, that kinda E36 M3, and presumably put the kinda brodozery wheels on it (otherwise stock.) Says the guy before him was an old guy who maintained it as well, redid the EGR system, tie rods, pitman arm, ect and I forget what else.

In reply to codrus:

It's an LLY, so injectors should be good. Just gotta worry about the head gaskets instead

I bought a '94 Environmental Police Bronco at 195,000mi and the oil looked new at oil change time, didn't use any either.

That's my good-luck story. I'm not sure all of them are that way.

It's probably a crap-shoot just like buying anything that had a human responsible for its upkeep would be.

In reply to codrus:

And to your point on what constitutes commercial use, it was registered in NY where it seems anything over 6000lbs counts as commercial unless you've installed a stove in the bed or something.

So I guess this whole discussion is moot, since the 'commercial' designation really tells us nothing.

Some commercial customers of mine are so tight that Lincoln cries when they hold a penny. Their trucks are always massively beat up piles of junk that are bouncing along from one tragedy to the next.

Other commercial customers recognize that their truck is what makes them money, so they maintain that sucker to a T because downtime is time when the truck isn't making them money. These trucks are almost always in good condition inside and out as well as mechanically.

If it looks good, and drives good, it probably is good.

Most of the commercial fleets we deal with are great about being on time for services, but a few arent and all the trucks are abused aside from the office trucks.

So a good question would be where to buy those ex-fleet well maintained examples? Obviously goobermint is an option. But private companies? Does any company ever sell direct to the public like rental companies do as I seem to remember?

I would, my cousin uses an 07 Colorado he bought from the city of Balmer as a work truck and it's in alright shape.

Don't really see how fleets and companies can beat a truck any worse than private owners, since I've seen terrible things from both.

This is the best answer.

Trans_Maro wrote: I wouldn't unless it was from a government fleet.

I have an old port truck with 155K miles and had only one off the wall repair, other than that it's been a great truck for the small amount of money I paid for it. Now buying an ex-fleet truck from a private company can be a real throw of the dice. If the price is right and the truck is nice (enough) I would buy it.

I take care of my trucks and with the exception of the ram and previous avalanche all of them have been previously used commercially before i do the same. We need our trucks to work, so they get taken care of. I don't find anything worse in commercial trucks than ones used by private individuals

I'd have no worries about it if you've if you've looked it over and driven it. Any issues of mistreatment in a previous life should be pretty obvious in it's current condition, or they've been fixed previously.

I have more faith in fleets than civilian owners. They condition decide.

Sure. Why not?

There is nothing about the registration that tells me anything about the condition of the vehicle. One of the best vehicles I've ever owned started life as a rental.

There are far more individuals who treat their vehicles like E36 M3.

It's the same as any other vehicle. Check it out. If it's in good shape, buy it.

All you guys who avoid stuff just because of the registration just makes more good vehicles available for me.

Not unlike private sales, you can easily spot the well maintained fleet vehicles from the poorly maintained ones. The well maintained ones will either have well documented records, or they have one shop/mechanic where all their vehicles go and that shop/person will be able to clearly vouch for how well cared for the truck was.

Most large fleets, private or government, have a regular PM program for their vehicles. Their old vehicles may have been used hard, but they have generally been serviced regularly and repaired when needed. When I worked for the power company, we wanted to keep every vehicle "as serviceable as new" for its entire life. Not necessarily as pretty as new, but just as reliable and usable.

Theres no set of special maintenance rules for commercial fleets. One company may be incredibly anal about it while another does only the jankiest repairs when it wont move anymore. Look under the hood and under the truck. If it looks good it probably is. If you see zipties and drywall screws run away.

Edit; one exception is trucks with a toolbox bed. When those need service the guy that uses it has to move all his tools into a POS "loaner" truck that nobody wants to use. Its a huge pain. So the drivers dont tell the boss when their regular truck needs work until they absolutely cant keep driving it anymore.

The Colorados I bought last year were fleet vehicles. They have been perfect so far. For work vehicles, they are hard to beat.

I've bought 14 service body trucks over the years. Most were BellSouth, but some were not. All but 1 were Chevrolets.

I never had a lick of trouble with any of them related to previous maintenance.

I would assume the opposite. The guys who drive service bodies don't want to part with them, but they are also the most competent at repairing them, and the most respectful of machines.

BTW, anyone looking for a service body- BellSouth bodies are custom, and they are awesome. They include multi-point locks, slide out trays for welding tanks, and pull-out parts drawers that are 2' wide and nearly 5' deep.

They are pretty much free when you buy an old truck with one attached. They were probably $8K or $10K when new.

They are not pretty, but they are awesome to work from.

Ok, you guys have assuaged my fears on fleet vehicles (especially since I don't even know for certain that this was one, per my post above), so allow me to switch gears towards a more general "Enable Me" thread.

I think he'd take $12-12.5k for it. It will need rockers and cab corners at some point in the next few years, but I see no other immediate needs. Looking at this as a DD/future tow pig for a trailer I intend to acquire at some point in the next year or two. I readily admit a diesel is completely overkill for my needs, but there is a financial case to be made based on resale and fuel economy. So, enable me?