What is this worth?

[carnut1969]

My friend and I just picked up a 2010 International Durastar Hotshots truck. It was used by the forestry dept and fleet maintained. Has 138k miles. Diesel, 2wd. Ton of exterior cabinets, built like a tank. We are thinking about a build, or just flipping it. I haven’t cleaned it at all! Runs perfectly. Currently 8 air-ride seats in the box.

 

[AxeAngel]

I'll give you 10k for it.

 

[vintageracer]

$500K

 

[carnut1969]

if we were going to sell it we were thinking $30k cleaned and serviced.

 

[Tex68w]

It'd be worth a lot more if it were 4WD.

 

[billiebob]

It is a 12 year old service truck with a very limited appeal. This is a local market question, how much does the same chassis sell for without the crew box in your area..... where I live you'd struggle to get $8K CDN $$$$.

You might get more selling the box and truck as separate units..... you might wait a few years to sell the box.

So you want $22K for cleaning and service ???

Be sure to let us know what it sells for... what did you pay ??

ps, this was for sale 2 years ago,
as I recall it was incredibly clean and fully maintained/serviced.
You might be holding it for a while at $30K. The market is pretty skinny for a 2WD overlander base with a clutch.





It even includes a clutch....my MUST have option...

 

[billiebob]

So I'm comparing this to an ambulance. Lots of them for sale from municipalities retiring them plus plenty for sale in the overlanding community fully kitted out. Units like yours, bone stock sell under $20K but they give tons of extras your "hotshots" misses. Fully converted with sleeping, dinette, kitchen, refrigeration, lighting, all the bells and whistles including 4WD, they sell for under $60K.

You have a unit comparable to a bare bones ambulance but your rig was a forestry unit so those 138K miles were much harder than 138K miles on an ambulance from Florida.

Its an $8K unit in the overlanding world..... Next July the forest fire states like California might pay more.

 

[carnut1969]

VERY different from an ambulance chassis… I own one of those too. Use is also very different as the ambulance spends most of its life idling with the ac on, so the miles are never really accurate. My E450 was a Red Cross rig- waaaay better for a lot of reasons.

I look at this as a rig ready to travel the world (well, not yet ?). Roof and sides of the box rated for 2.5x the vehicle’s weight, real HD Diesel engine, Allison (auto), air brakes and seats. It’s a super cool rig. A real truck designed to run 100k a year, and you’d be able to tow anything you’d want.

I appreciate your opinions, and may end up keeping it and building another overland rig (btw- I’ve been offered $80k for that one- unfinished!).
How much did I pay? None ya! But a lot over $8k!

meanwhile I’ll get it cleaned up and perhaps painted. I’ve got a cabinet maker finishing up the e450, so
Maybe it gets sold and this one gets built… we’ll see!

 

[Explorerinil]

if we were going to sell it we were thinking $30k cleaned and serviced.

My buddy had something similar he paid 15k for. If you find someone to pay 30k, they are an idiot with too much money.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Simple answer is what you paid for it. You've just bought it, and obviously no one wanted it more than you in its current location or condition.

If you move it to somewhere with a larger potential market, or change the buying terms (for example, ability to test drive and independent inspection vs auction) then you may find a small increase in what you could achieve.

Ultimately the difference is utility of place or utility of form. The difference between your purchase price and the increase in selling price is what price someone places on those (and in particular any specialised skills required to achieve that new state of world). A classic example is a beef steer that weighs 500kg might sell for $7/kg live weight, in the sale yard but you can be sure by the time you buy it at the butchers your steak is now $30/kg, and at a restaurant it's $120/kg. Utility of form is that it's now in a form you can do something with, utility of place is it's now in the shop or restaurant.

The other aspect is the scope of arbitrage where the price in one place represents the cost of bringing it from the cheaper place to where you can realise the higher price, but that now includes that cost.

 

[vintageracer]

Simple answer is what you paid for it.

EXACTLY!!!

It's Worth what the "Last Person" paid for it on the day they bought it.

Now the big question:

Can that "Last Person" git More or Less money for it than the day they bought it???

Time will tell.

 

[displacedtexan]

So I'm comparing this to an ambulance. Lots of them for sale from municipalities retiring them plus plenty for sale in the overlanding community fully kitted out. Units like yours, bone stock sell under $20K but they give tons of extras your "hotshots" misses. Fully converted with sleeping, dinette, kitchen, refrigeration, lighting, all the bells and whistles including 4WD, they sell for under $60K.

You have a unit comparable to a bare bones ambulance but your rig was a forestry unit so those 138K miles were much harder than 138K miles on an ambulance from Florida.

Its an $8K unit in the overlanding world..... Next July the forest fire states like California might pay more.

138k miles on an ambulance are possibly the worst 138k miles you can put on a vehicle.

Lots of idling, wide open on a cold engine...

 

[displacedtexan]

If you can find somebody else with big dreams to dump it on without losing too much, go for it. Or try to find a municipal fire department that needs one and make a tax deductible donation.

I am not trying to be negative here, please understand that the only reason I am taking a moment to type here is to provide information I hope to be useful. With that in mind you asked about this vehicle on a forum dedicated to overland travel and if I was given that truck for free - in its current state or fully built with marble countertops and instagram ready compass rose embroidered throw pillows - with instructions and funds to drive the PanAmerica from tip to tip, the very first thing I would do is find somebody to unload it on and use the money from that to buy a light duty passenger vehicle and a sleeping bag.

There are vehicles-that-travel, and there are travel-inspired-vehicles. Any potential this fire truck might have is squarely in the second category. If you can sell it to somebody on that premise, that's valid. Being an instagrammer is a business model and requires props the same way that most entertainment does.

For some uses, yeah, you're completely correct.

But there's people in the bird hunting community that will spend 6-7 months on the road, hunting their from Canada to Texas, avoiding cities and only stopping in small towns to get fuel for their motor home and some basic food supplies.

They aren't overlanders, but they spend half the year or more traveling and living out of a large, heavy, 2wd vehicle. That's far less capable and cool than this one.

 

[carnut1969]

Thanks, I appreciate all the constructive feedback. I think it’s worth more than we paid for it… it was purchased at a wholesale auction and the sale was just off that day. It’s in Colorado Springs.

The perfect buyer will have the vision and time/ experience/ desire or the vision and money.
I’d MUCH rather start with this than a Sprinter/ Promaster for the same money. Look them up and see what $30k buys. There is a 16 2500 with 73k miles for $36,000 locally. Want a 3500? $40k+

Want to tow your toys? Tow anything you want with this. It’s built to take serious use and go 100k miles a year. At 138k this big diesel Is just broken in, and was fleet maintained.

I personally think it’s awesome, and if I wasn’t in the middle of a move I’d be the one building it. Still might be!