I'm about to go to a dealer

[jage]

I've spent the last month looking for a Cherokee or Comanche and I've seen many overpriced, run into the dirt or outright broken Jeeps. I even looked at a wrangler priced double Edmunds dealer price for the model and mileage and it had a cracked windshield so bad the guy admitted a state trooper had told him it was illegal to drive it like that.

There was a Comanche that was bone stock except for some fiberglass fenders and the guy wanted $7500 for it! Insane- there is a super built one on the east coast, done right with axles, gears, and huge tires that's only $6700- where's the guy get off thinking his coil spacers and $200 fiberglass fenders make the truck worth $5000 more than it ought to be?

So today took the cake. There are some bad photos that don't really show the condition of an MJ down in Colorado Springs. I drove 3 hours round trip to find out what made this worth $2000. The thing is a piece of crap, dents all over mismatched doors- normally charming features in a Jeep, but only if it's mechanically tight. I couldn't really tell if the engine was good at 220K miles because the transmission slipped so bad we barely made it backing out the driveway, which was nearly flat.

I made Kim drive, because it's ostensibly for her. We went down the block and came right back because the tranny is obviously toast. Just before the driveway I said, "Slam on the brakes, see if the brakes pull." It didn't. It also took 20 yards to stop from 10 mph.

All the 4wd parts are in the bed (axle t-case and front driveshaft) and it's unlikely they'll bolt up to the tranny (moot anyway since the tranny is hosed). The inside is filthy missing part of the seat, and the seatbelts were unusable because we didn't want to stain our clothes.

The tranny is so bad you couldn't even put it on the emissions dyno (which although "legally" the sellers responsibility the onus is on the buyer to prove and then sue if it's not done- makes it a little hard to bargin too).

I'd give the guy $500 but it's got more than that in the badly installed stereo, and I don't even want it. Plus he'd be insulted as he seems to think it's good enough to pull $2000 as is.

Yarg, shopping for vehicles sucks!

[lowracer]

There's nothing like that new car smell, I always say. Good luck on your search.

[dave_in_delaware]

Wow. Sounds like "POS" is an understatement.

Offer $500 to take it off his hands, if it's even worth that to you. And if he laughs or gets insulted, then so be it. Sounds like you'd be doing him a favor by removing the vehicle carcass from his property.