Earlier this year we bought a 22' box truck - a 2006 Ford LCF (low-cab front) with 47k miles...it looked/looks beautiful and has come in handy...but here is what went wrong...

 I've heard of some folks getting a sweet deal sharing a truck, or being able to rent from where they lease space for as little as $20 a day, but we didn't have such options and so went with rental. Didn't think uhaul looked too professional so went with the white trucks of Enterprise.  Although advertised rates are low low low, after adding the myriad taxes, fees, required insurance etc etc  ends up closer to around $200 a day. If you're fairly busy and committed to the business, it's a no brainer financially to buy a truck..although yes it's a commitment.

 The math for doing it wasn't hard to do...factor in monthly payment and allocate say 200 a month to save up for repairs..normal oil changes vs cost of renting a truck and it should represent a savings with just a few jobs a month.

 Got the idea in the first place after driving by a Uhaul and seeing they sold trucks for say $5,000 for a 26 footer, less for a 17footer and claimed in great shape looking at an onscreen status on the truck. I later found that the descriptions are the same for virtually all the trucks.  Many folks said ‘never' go with those as they take a lot of abuse and recommended Penske trucks which as a fleet rental get regular maintenance and reportedly much better care with less wear & tear.

 Looked all over the web, even e-bay, and found a number of possibilities for used trucks.

It appeared you could get a 17' for less than 10k, but once you got to the 20+ footer, the size of the truck itself jumped up as did the cost (but also the rated longevity.) Gas vs diesel...so many factors. Could go on and on.  Realized to be careful w/trucks in New Orleans (flood damaged and ‘reconditioned'), trucks up north and cold climates tend to have more body damage from rust, etc etc

 I didn't want to drop $7,500-10,000 on a truck with a lot of miles feeling if it dropped dead I was out all that money.  I also knew we were going to invest in a nice ‘wrap' with design and logo and seemed crazy to spend a large percentage of the truck cost on the design when truck wouldn't last.

 There wasn't a lot of in-between...most trucks were really old or had a ton of miles...or new...but not a lot of in-between. The reason is mainly companies use them until the maintenance costs rise to the point where it makes sense for them to buy new. Smaller diesel trucks will last to 300k, larger (say 26ft+) closer to 500k. (the ratings are even higher)

 So we ended up with a 2 year old truck with relatively low miles - 47k.  It cost a pretty penny, but still far less than new. The beauty of it, we felt, was in buying from a "reputable" dealer, and given its relative newness, we'd get the balance of full 3 year unlimited mile warranty and overall have much better luck with lower maintenance. I'd wanted to bring in a mechanic and sales guy was ‘sure, but its almost new..we checked it out, we're a Ford dealer, serviced it, and if ANYTHING goes wrong you still have 6 mos left on the full factory warranty.' They advertise on the web their trucks as having unlimited mile 3 year warranties. Basically they just lie about what it actually covers. I'd blame it on salesguy but given the advertisements, it's a gimmick the dealer users.

 When we sat down to do contract, he wrote the year of the truck..saying warranty was from time it went in service. The contract says "as is" and he said yes, from us ‘as-is, but that's because the warranty is from the factory.

  2 weeks later the truck dies. Turns out both batteries dead and the alternator gone - in the middle of a staging project!!!!  We get it towed to local dealer and find out "no, you're not under warranty anymore  - it expires after 2 years or 36k miles, whichever is first." I call back the salesman who says "there are so many warranties I may have made a mistake." Now this is from a Ford salesman of 10 years it turns out - kind of hard to plead ignorance.  Later, when his boss got involved he denied saying anything. When I reminded him of when I wanted to bring mechanic how ‘no need, anything covered' and what he said he says "well its not like you wouldn't have bought the truck if there wasn't the warranty". No I don't have on tape..wish I did. Now he won't pick up the phone.

 The bosses at this place told me I was SOL, that they wouldn't help with the repairs or honor the ‘full warranty'.  I filed with Better Business Bureau..but that doesn't help. The dealer responded to with a 1 liner letter ‘truck was sold ‘as is' and has balance of 3 year warranty'.  Turns out there is a 3 year warranty, but that is only on the truck is for the drive train only. Extremely rude - the owner said ‘I"ve known Mike for 10 years...he'd never lie like that". Mike was the kindly old salesperson.  A week later, tail light burns out (dealer wanted $129 for replacement tail light but I found for $13 at NAPA), radio dies, and cigarette lighter doesn't supply power. (we use that for GPS system.)  I have to run all over town to get it checked out and we find a bunch of ill-conceive wiring and a tracking device hidden in the dash. A leak in door that rusted out the speakers. The mechanic said it could have caused the original problem with the failed batteries. So now we're out a couple hundred more.

 So, I guess two learnings-

1)Stay away from any dealership who tells you things too good to be true. Ours was top of the notch slimey, because we've been warned about the types of them, but you would never have guessed it from our salesman, as he was an older gentleman who played w/my daughter while we were checking everything out.  We even have a picture w/him in it b/c I was sooo excited about having my first and very own boxtruck.  It doesn't matter if they are a large "reputable" company as Griffin Ford-Mecury & Griffin Trucks out of Loisberg, NC, was. 

2)Ask for a copy of this warranty, (even if they swore on a bible) get it in writing.  I'd go so far as to call whatever 800# and ask ‘if x breaks..would that be covered',if  y breaks is it covered...

 I was thinking that if things slow down, I can take them to court - probably won't win but maybe it'd be worth it just make the old sales guy sweat and have to lie under oath (then again, maybe he wouldn't have a problem with that - I wouldn't be surprised), but I do believe in Karma and I don't like to be in company of negative energy.