Help pricing B3000

[James Morse]

Now I have the 97 I'm going to need to sell the B3000 SE. I'd like help on pricing it.

The Good:
Drives nice, shifts smooth, steers good, tires front 2 new, other 2 real good, brakes I put the new drums etc, and front brakes good. No leaks, no drips (drop of oil here/there sometimes). A good dependable truck with 185k miles. Nice bedliner, alloys, extended cab, rear doors work. Body solid. All stock no mods to truck. Radio/4 speakers sound great.

Could be improved:
Couple dash lights burned out. I have the bulbs, and not a hard fix
Driver seat spring in back broken. But seat comfortable and supportive, it does not seem to affect it.
CD works sporadically
Left rear cyl not installed (I have it) because connector frozen, so requires that short brake line. Cheap and not hard, and cyl is not leaking so not a big deal. I was just swapping them as part of putting in the new brake drums/parts.
Body has some dents and scratches not tiny

Probably I am just changing the oil that's about it because there's nothing significantly wrong with it plus my attention is more on the '97 now.

For somebody with not lots to spend but needs a good daily driver it would be great. Or for 5.0 swap for a street truck but the engine is strong it doesn't need a swap.

I have a number in mind where I'd neither gain nor lose tons on it - trying to be fair but not screw myself either and I wanted to see if I was anywhere close to your thoughts. I have one guy who asked me to call him if I sold it so I'd do that first. Probably take me at least a few weeks to feel like I'm confident in the 97 being sorted the best I can then I'll want to move it reasonably fast. Obviously the most someone will offer is what I can get, but I want to be at least in the right ballpark. Usually I think in terms of "I'll ask x, but I"ll take x-15%" or something like that.

 

[Shran]

Look at NADA value and price it 500 to 1000 above that "OBO" and see where that gets you. Little trucks are in high demand.

 

[Blmpkn]

I always price crap I'm selling at 20% over what I want, that way I can let someone beat the price down a bit and still end up with what I want lol

 

[Josh B]

Spend a morning driving around town looking at vehicles ( similar to the one you want to sell ) as if you're looking to buy. You will find the pricing world has turned upside down in the last couple of years

 

[James Morse]

Used 1999 Mazda B3000 SE Pickup 4WD Ratings, Values, Reviews & Awards (jdpower.com)
you notice this is a problem I cannot get it to pick 2WD. I choose it but it keeps putting in 4WD so if anyone can run that great mine won't do it.
So say deduct 1000 for not 4WD as a guess.

Avg retail 7,325 less 1,000 for not 4WD call it 6300 add 1000 per instructions, price 7300. I'd say it's average or better.
High retail 10,600 (9,600) it's not that, it'd have to be collector quality and lower miles.
Low retail 3,875 (2875)it's gotta be worth more than that because you can't find sh*t even halfway drivable for that

Seems like these prices are sort of believable. They must be updating them to reality. The books dealers use would no doubt say it's worth 1500 or 2500.

I guess I could ask 7300 and link them to the valuation and say I'm asking just above average retail because everything works and good tires and inspected etc etc.

Likewise I cannot get the site to choose '97 4wd 6 cyl something is wacky there

 

[James Morse]

Josh yes things are so nuts. I think I got it (Aug '21) when it was getting bad but not like now. Of course you're right and I have done that (didn't see the truck I wanted) but just looking at stuff even remotely close, I did keep thinking well h*ll my B3k has to be worth something decent.

I'm thinking of writing it up and putting a sticker in the window. Seems like you used to see that a lot but never do any more.

 

[Josh B]

You've done a lot of searches lately that are likely in the mix. I still use a CC cleaner to take out cookies fairly regular, they can cause all kinds of glitches, maybe it's doing that to you, but then I'm on an old desktop, which has print large enough to read

 

[fastpakr]

Used 1999 Mazda B3000 SE Pickup 4WD Ratings, Values, Reviews & Awards (jdpower.com)
you notice this is a problem I cannot get it to pick 2WD. I choose it but it keeps putting in 4WD so if anyone can run that great mine won't do it.
So say deduct 1000 for not 4WD as a guess.

Try this:

https://www.jdpower.com/cars/1999/mazda/b3000-se/pickup-2wd

 

[James Morse]

no when I click it I get 4wd

yeah I use CC cleaner I'll run it

other half ran it said 2wd not that diff maybe 500 less.

 

[stmitch]

As a data point for you, there's a super clean 99 Ranger extended cab 3.0/auto, 2wd on my local list site for $7100. It's got just 82k miles, and comes with an extra set of wheels.

Almost unbelievably rust free for this part of the country

 

[James Morse]

Wow that's a good price, I almost was like "oh crap" but that's just 2wd. Looks like it has a power options, but not buckets. XLT would of course have at least some options. Body looks super nice. Either prices are coming down fast or it's a good deal or else something we don't know about it.

As a data point, well, it's less than half the miles of my B3000 and basically the same truck, so to me it sounds like either JD Power is running high on their numbers (for my mileage) or this is just a good deal because it looks to be better than average.

I wasn't able to run a good JD Power on my XLT, but it's GOT to be higher, because it's super clean, no rust, 4x4, bigger engine, buckets, etc. Not EVERY option, but what's missing is fogs, some other stuff I don't care about like body side moldings. but it's a cleaner look w/out either of them (and they could probably be upgraded with new valence, although, not sure I see wiring for it like I do on the '99). Interior on mine is like it was never used, go figure. 125k miles, and a bunch of work was just done on it before I got it. Actually, what the '97 would sell for is kind of irrelevant because unless there's something I haven't yet found out about it, I wouldn't sell it. When I started this exercise, I had a list of things I wanted different than by B3k and the XLT has them all plus the buckets which you really don't see all that often. And I like a red truck, high-vis and sharp. So I don't think I would have done better on the XLT and it was local and in fact always local, it was registered here since it was new. Somebody loved that truck - the first guy had it 20 years, and put the cargo box in after he had it at least 15 yrs (box is dated 2012), kept it another 5 years, then the second owner kept it 5 years (then me).

Anyway, got off on a tangent about the XLT... still honeymooning with it. Only thing so far I would have liked is the rear doors, was cleaning off some stickers from the inside back windows and with the rear doors it's way easier to get in there, but '97 didn't offer them. With the cargo box I won't be messing around back there much really. In the '99 I was always switching out stuff but with cargo box no need, just carry everything there. Granted it's not worth much, but, it's already installed and really is pretty nice.

I think bottom line on the '99 is I'll want to sell it before winter and as the weather gets crappy, probably harder to sell (wild guess). I'm not looking to make a killing on it. Vehicles aren't investments (in normal times at least) unless you're a collector. I figured if I could get what I paid, plus parts, I'd be doing real good. Let's say all told after selling the 99 I was out-of-pocket $4k for the XLT. That's not bad, it's a serious upgrade in every way. I'd be fine with that, and if higher, great, but at some point un-needed and un-used vehicles become white elephants and you're paying property tax etc etc on them for nothing. So I guess I could ask 6,500, negotiable, and I'd have lots of room to cut the price. Something like that.

Part of the problem with this whole thing is where is the truck. You can read ads and they sound great and look great but then you drive however far, and it's not at all as you envisioned. I looked at an '03, I think it was, FX4 thinking oh, this is the truck, got there, yuck, and it was a lot more money than the XLT. You can burn up a lot of time and energy and gas driving around. The '97 really "is" an FX, you won't find much of anything on an FX you don't find on mine, except maybe the rear fender decals. I'll probably leave it stock (no decal). As they say, a wolf doesn't have to know what it's called to know what it is. Decals, unless painted on, are just another thing to get in the way washing/waxing.

 

[stmitch]

Used prices are softening and that's expected to continue. Lots of publications that give car values have predictions based on data that's a couple of months old or more. In a stable market that's not a big deal, but in a rapidly changing market it can cause their estimates to be different from actual selling prices.

Local markets are all different as well of course. So the only way to really feel ok about the current value of your truck is to watch your local market like a hawk. Unfortunately, that takes time and time is the enemy when asset prices are falling. I'd sell it ASAP. Holiday bills are coming, and consumer confidence in the market overall seems to be shaky at best. You don't want to be trying to sell stuff if the economy actually gets bad.

 

[James Morse]

Yeah I totally agree I forgot about Christmas and all that.
I suppose I can assume the XLT will be good to go after I replace radiator. If it were disabled for something else I have other vehicles I can use to get parts.
XLT has 60k less miles than the Mazda and I was driving the latter with no worries but I'd gone over stuff and was pretty confident I was good to go and not at that point with the XLT yet.
But the clock is ticking.
It's really hard to get a feel for prices here because like used 2011 w/ say 50k miles are priced $25k so that tells me nothing about a 99 and you really don't see in town Mazda at all for sale and you don't see older ranger similar to it for sale but ton of people drive older Ranger they just don't get rid of them I guess.
I know one '99 4x4 Ranger has been in c-list forever at 5500 but it has salvage title.
I looked at an 03 FX4 for 12k but it was shit.
'06 probably going for 15k or more if mileage isn't horrible
but the thing is those vehicles are all like 200 miles away I didn't find shit around here - well - I found the XLT and got it then I stopped looking.
I don't have any 1 to 1 comparisons

 

[4x4prepper]

KBB has been a good indicator for vehicle worth on private sales in my experience, NADA not even close in my experience. NADA used to be more targeted for car dealers then anything else for models six years or newer.

mileage counts
outstanding mechanical problems count, especially brake work, which can turn a good or fair vehicle into a poor rated vehicle.

When you ask for more then 2-$3000 on any vehicle older then six years, you will likely sit on it a while unless it is a 4x4 diesel. If it is a manual transmission, you will have it for a LONG time if trying to get over $2k for it.

> Or for 5.0 swap for a street truck

That market is nearly non-existent. I doubt there are even 100 people in the whole USA looking for a Ranger to do that.

Though 99.99% do care about a vehicle having good brakes on all fours corners when it is being driven home.

 

[James Morse]

When I click on NADA link I get JD Power so I don't know what to think

I have no mechanical problems that I know about it drives nice shifts nice lots of power just put new drums pads/rotors good good tires all around 2 are brand new
just inspected and by dealer they didn't cut corners

so it's by no means poor all it needs is a couple dash lights which I have 6 new ones w/ it maybe I get around to putting them in maybe not

the XLT just had new drums and rotors and (3) wheel bearings so to me that was a plus having just done brakes on the 99

99 you can still lock up rears if you try but brakes are real good and nice and smooth p-brake holds it doesn't need any adjusting

my old one is a drive-away-nothing-to-fix truck really. I was going to be keeping it just found 4x4 sooner than I thought I would
time for oil change on '99 I have the filter didn't get around to changing stuff yet

anything broken or not working on the 99 I have knocked out with help TRS have list of anything I did.

you have old trucks you can't predict the future but as it runs now there's nothing to do on it and no indication of anything going south