Do not expect to drive pickup trucks before buying at auction. It doesn’t matter if you are planning on attending a live auction or an online auction, the preview period doesn’t allow you to actually drive a truck before you bid on it. This bothers some people because they feel like a test drive is necessary. While driving a vehicle before you buy it can make you feel more comfortable, it shouldn’t be considered essential. The mindset that test-driving is necessary largely stems from habit because used car dealerships and private sales always allow test driving. Fortunately, there are ways to get the same information about a truck at auction, without actually driving it. Here are 3 keys to keep in mind.
The first way that you can overcome not being able to drive pickup trucks before buying at auction is to identify what you learn by test-driving. There are two primary pieces of information that you get. The first is the feel of the vehicle. Some of the biggest variables that will affect the feel of a truck includes how high you are sitting above the road, how smooth the ride is, and spacious the interior is. The second piece of information is what the engine sounds like when it drives. Since you can’t test drive a truck at auction, you need to know what the engine should sound like. This will allow you to hear the difference between a perfect engine and the potential targets at auction.
Now that you know what information you need get, the next step is actually finding it. There are several ways to go about this. The first and most convenient option is to find a friend or family member that has a similar truck and take it for a spin. Not only will you be able to gather all of the information that you need, but will also pick up additional tips about the truck as well. Unfortunately, this isn’t always an option. If you are willing to put up with a salesman, the second best option is to do a test-drive at a used truck dealership. Finding someone selling a similar truck privately is also a way to find trucks to test drive as well.
It is important to understand that you likely won’t need to test drive the exact same make and model of the trucks that you will targeting at the auction as long as you stay within the same generation of trucks. The year to year changes within a generation are often relatively minimal.
Once you have gathered all of this information, you will be armed with the same data that you would have if you could drive pickup trucks before buying at auction. You can then apply it to any potential candidate at the auction. This will ensure that what truck you end up bidding on, you already have a very good idea about how it will drive, how it will feel, and what it should sound like.
