I have been looking for a 3/4 ton crew cab truck for a while. Me(Chevy family) and my roommate(ford family) found a 2006 f350 6.0 lariat crew cab the other day that seems to be in really good shape. Interior is really clean, bottom of the driver side doors have a little surface rust, rust is just starting to bubble through wheel wells of the bed sides. Already has studded heads, new turbo, new exhaust, new front calipers, new oil cooler, new bully dog tuner, new glow plugs, egr delete, pretty much everything except new injectors within the last 60ish thousand miles. But it had a salvage title when the guy bought it. It now has 155000(idk what it was salvaged for). He’s asking $13000. We briefly test drove it. Drives really smooth, engine runs really good, no strange noises or anything. Seemingly really nice clean truck. Is it worth getting for 13? Or if a guy was to make an offer off of what it is worth, what would that be?

 

Welcome to the site..

The salvage title would really hurt a resale price. Salvage has the potential to scare may away..

Taking the corrective mods into consideration, no doubt affects pricing as an increase, but without the salvage 13k would be about trade in value (probably a bit of a stretch) for a untouched clean titled truck.
I sold my highly optioned 05 CC XLT that was in ‘exceptionally clean condition’ not even a scratch and with a service pedigree at about the same miles for 15.5. That’s about all the market would command, so at 13k the price is fair. But.. Always go in low,, it’s harder to come down
Could be the salvage is due to a buy back, or possibly body damage, theft recovery etc. The salvage title alone would set a red flag until I knew the reason. I used to build salalvaged vehicles for years here, most were collision reconstruction. Not a huge deal to take a chance on a salvage if prior damaged, keeping in mind resale options, and as long the repairs were done correctly.. A salvage title isn’t a deal breaker, to me....
The corrective repairs, not so concerning,,, but coupled with the power enhancement (and title) may lend to how it was used by the current owner, or past.
You could run a Carfax and such which may point to a salvage cause, and/or you can have your local Ford service run a no cost Oasis Report per its VIN. The report would show and repairs etc done while under warranty.

Quite a few 6.0’s have undergone HG changes/upgrades, coolers, turbos and such which isn’t alarming, but depending on ‘who’ did the work (shop, owner?) and ‘what’ meaning who’s parts especially the head gaskets may lend to how bullet proof it is. And if documentation that supports the work done is available, better yet...

On any purchase, having a quality shop look it over isn’t a bad idea, and a little extra insurance or piece of mind before pulling the trigger.. The less unknowns, the better....

 

My uncle also repairs and sells salvaged vehicles and the way I understand it is when the bank books what it’s worth for a loan is they appraise salvaged vehicles at 60% of what an original title would be and they’re worried that years from now if I ever decide I wanted to get something different and try to sell it I wouldn’t get hardly any resale out of it being a salvage title. Regardless of what’s done to it. The guy that did all the work is a very well known diesel mechanic whom my roommates family has had do some work on their vehicles and he said he really knows diesels. I’m gonna talk to the seller later today about the reason behind being on a salvage title.

 

Not all lenders will finance a salvage or ‘rebuilt vehicle’, for some of the reasons you stated.
Their much much harder to get financing on,, sometimes the build quality is less than to manufacture standards, some easily detected, some not, or quality is compromised over time and service life, and the stigma that blankets them and sometimes for good reason..

Back in the day I was building, the yard I worked with would have to pay 25-35% of what the payoff to the original owner was. I’d have to sweeten the pot, usually somewhere between their up front costs, and a parted value.. Now,, with the auction houses like Copart etc, much harder for the independent dismantlers to survive and/or sell builders at a decent price, and to get a decent deal at auction level given the buyer excitement... Certainly making it harder for rebuilders to profit.
I used used to see quite a few salvage for sale at our local CarMart, basically the fairground, and Some were painfully obvious of the level of repair that was done..


Over the length of time I was building, 20 years or so, not one vehicle was financed (although I supported payments at times) and we’re talking some very late model desirable rebuilds..

As before,, I have no real concern on rebuilds, but quality work done at any level be it body, engine,, as long as it was done to professional levels, with OE spec parts, or better...

Good luck with your decision, let us know if the sale goes through, and do post up some images,, we like images!