Best way to sell a tuned truck?

[Thero]

So I have my truck up for sale and had a guy committed after he was able to look at it, but before he was able to drive it. I've been running the Spartan 300 as my DD for a while now but tuned it back down to the 275 for his test drive just for peace of mind that he didn't go tear it up ... and I just kinda like the feel of the 275 better, the 300 just gets me better MPG's.

He comes back trying to tell me the tranny is bad because of the "hard" shifts and backed out. I tried to explain to him aftermarket tuning and what it all does to the motor and tranny and that it's perfectly normal but he just didn't get it. I tuned the truck back down to stock power level and tried to get him to come back for another test drive but he wouldn't bite. The truck drives perfectly normal btw at stock power. Shifting is smooth as ever (not having that power sucks though for sure!).

So my question to anyone who has sold one of these beasts is did you return it to stock and offer to include the tuning equipment for an additional price, or did you just explain the world of tuning and get them to understand? I told the guy that if he's going to keep looking at these trucks he's going to have to start researching them and learning about the DPF and deleting.

[jesilvas]

If he thinks "hard" shifting is bad, he's an idiot.
Personally, the person who ever buys a modded truck from me will have to fill out an application
But really, they had better understand this stuff. Cause I'm not selling it to grandpa who doesn't know what diesel is, or someone who just expects it to run with the key turned on.

[Thero]

You just explained this guy to a T. Older guy, probably mid 50's, coming from a line of F250 gassers that he's used to haul his camper, tired of 7mpg and hears he can do better with diesel ... just hasn't spent any time getting to know anything about them. It's funny the way you worded that tho because I was honestly concerned for my trucks future in his hands!

[travisH3]

That's why I turned my 6.0 to stock and sold tuner separately. Unless you sell to someone on here, the people comin to look at it just go by what they feel since the don't know nothing about them. They feel the bumps in the shifts and get scared but they don't understand about shift firmness so rather than explain it, your better off turning to stock and selling tuner separately if you have stock parts. U also get a little more money this way also, just with added hassle of removing it and selling separately

[Cuzmail]

Set it to stock for the first test drive. Then explain what the tuner is and does.

If they want to take it back out with it tuned, then let them.

You never get a second chance to make that first impression. If they don't know or understand the tuner, then you are up a creek on the first impression.

Shawn

[ars5147]

Originally Posted by Thero

You just explained this guy to a T. Older guy, probably mid 50's, coming from a line of F250 gassers that he's used to haul his camper, tired of 7mpg and hears he can do better with diesel ... just hasn't spent any time getting to know anything about them. It's funny the way you worded that tho because I was honestly concerned for my trucks future in his hands!

Haha this kinda sounds like the unsuspecting person that buys a DPF truck off the lot with the salesperson telling them it will get great mileage, then it doesn't

To bad this guy is to dumb to listen to you, good luck with other potential buyers

[srjd]

even worse the people who buy dpf deleted and drive it off the lot it goes in limp mode cause the exhaust is on but no tuner ive heard that happen before......i would do what cuzmail said let them drive it in stock mode the explain about the tuning

[Capt dong]

just an excuse. he didn't understand what a tuned truck is like. If I were to sell I'd return it to stock.

[DieselFeverDisease]

Originally Posted by srjd

even worse the people who buy dpf deleted and drive it off the lot it goes in limp mode cause the exhaust is on but no tuner ive heard that happen before......i would do what cuzmail said let them drive it in stock mode the explain about the tuning

This is what I did, but becuase of this exact same scenereo i got a great deal! It was at a Hyundai dealership and they didnt know the first thing about trucks, much less diesels with or without DPF equiptment. The seller gave it to them with exhaust and no tuner. I walked in there knowing exactly what to expect (from doing tons of research on here) and then i played dumb to get a deal. It worked
I called PTP on my 10 hour drive home, and ordered the H&S tuner and AFE.... my truck was a beast 2 days later! Those two days of constant regens and limp mode felt like torture, but the sweet taste of a great deal and then a tuned truck was well worth it!

[Alberta Advantage]

Sounds like just another tire kicker/cold feet. Test pilots, need not apply! I'd do what Cuzmail said. Set it to stock, let them drive it, then set a tune and let them drive it to compare. It's too bad loading a tune on a Spartan is so time consuming.