How much will my truck deteriorate

JCOLLINS10

MEMBER
2007 CHEVROLET SILVERADO
6.0L
V8
4WD
AUTOMATIC
35,000 MILES

I am thinking of buying a garaged kept 2007 Chevrolet 2500HD. Weighing pros and cons before the purchase. One of my cons is, I do have a garage but that is for my wife's car so the truck will be left outside. The main purpose for this truck is to pull our camper, so I do have a daily driver that I drive to work. I will try to drive the truck once a week to work thirty minutes away, so one hour round trip. My worry is, how much deterioration to the body and what damage to the engine, brakes etc, things that are important to have in good shape for towing will there be? I don't want to spend 20,000 on something that will just go down hill quick.

4 Replies

SCGRANTURISMO

MECHANIC
4,897 POSTS

Hi JCollins10, my name is Alex and I will be helping you today. As far as the truck you are thinking of purchasing goes, it sounds to me like it is pretty much like a brand new truck. 35,000 miles on a vehicle is just getting broke in. As far as the truck deteriorating from being outside in the elements, I would need to know where you are located at?

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Saturday, January 26th, 2019 AT 10:48 PM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
108,192 POSTS

Hi and thanks for using 2CarPros.

Based on where you live plays a big role in this. However, it is never good to let a vehicle sit for extended periods of time. Gaskets, seals dry out and then begin leaking.

As far s the brakes, my only real concern would be rust on the brake lines. If the vehicle sits outside all the time and is driven once a week, rust can develop quickly, especially if it is parked on gravel or in the yard. Any steel line can fail such as the transmission lines, fuel lines, brake lines, engine cooler lines.

As far as the engine, you should be find. Make sure the oil gets changed no less than 3,000 miles or one year. Sitting allows condensation to develop in the engine, so keeping it changed is important.

Now, if you are paying 20,000 for a 2007, you really should check its value. That seems extremely high for that model year. It would have to be nearly new with hardly any miles on it. And with that low miles, other things can start happening once it is used again.

Let me know if this helps or if you have other specific questions.

Take care,
Joe

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Saturday, January 26th, 2019 AT 10:51 PM

JCOLLINS10

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I live in southwestern VA. We do have salt on roads when it snows but on average maybe 3 times a year. Winter can get real cold and summer can get real hot. It does have only 35k and he has come down to 18,500. I stay ontop of oil changes on all my vehicles and wash all 3 after snows that required salt to be laid down. What are other things that I could do to prevent deteriation and maintain a good looking and reliable truck?

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Monday, January 28th, 2019 AT 6:07 AM

SCGRANTURISMO

MECHANIC
4,897 POSTS

I think you are going to be just fine by driving it once a week. I was asking where you live because if you live next to the coast I would watch that the salt in the air from the ocean might make the body of your truck rust a little bit faster. Here are the maintenance recomendations for your truck. Follow them and you should have a dependable running truck for a long time. Thanks.

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