Buy a 2024 Gladiator Max Tow with zero maintenance history?

[BH1973]

Hey all,

So, I'm looking at a 2024 Gladiator with the Max Tow Package - 17,000 miles, dealer's asking $33,500 (MSRP was $56,000 - the depreciation on these things is nuts!). Not certified. Looks clean, no obvious signs of abuse, and drives fine, but zero maintenance history - not on the Carfax or from Jeep/Chrysler, nada. What do you think? Stay away? Or try for a lowball offer that pays for an extended warranty? Anything else I could check? I'm sure a lot of buyers don't bother looking at the Carfax and the dealerships know that and will probably pass on a lowball offer to account for lack of maintenance history.

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[oldironsights]

Why not do a thorough inspection?
It might involve crawling beneath it.
I purchased a 23 Sport S last year with 56k+ miles with no logged history.
An inspection revealed much cosmetic wear but i could not find any mechanical defects on non-wear items.
I looked in the glovebox & found insurance & ownership documents within the owners manual.
It turned out to be a retired rented mule from Enterprise in the Ok/Tx area.
I had no access to their maintenance logs.
With the $$$$$ saved, I can always fix the mechanical stuff.
Best of luck with your choice!

 

[BH1973]

A big, reputable rental company like Enterprise probably follows the maintenance schedule of its rental vehicles pretty closely - probably get flagged in the system when at every interval. I'd worry a little about how renters treat a vehicle like a Gladiator, but pretty good chance it was well-maintained.

 

[Proximo]

Hey all,

So, I'm looking at a 2024 Gladiator with the Max Tow Package - 17,000 miles, dealer's asking $33,500 (MSRP was $56,000 - the depreciation on these things is nuts!). Not certified. Looks clean, no obvious signs of abuse, and drives fine, but zero maintenance history - not on the Carfax or from Jeep/Chrysler, nada. What do you think? Stay away? Or try for a lowball offer that pays for an extended warranty? Anything else I could check? I'm sure a lot of buyers don't bother looking at the Carfax and the dealerships know that and will probably pass on a lowball offer to account for lack of maintenance history.

Buy it, it's still under manufacturer warranty.

 

[NC_Overland]

Hey all,

So, I'm looking at a 2024 Gladiator with the Max Tow Package - 17,000 miles, dealer's asking $33,500 (MSRP was $56,000 - the depreciation on these things is nuts!). Not certified. Looks clean, no obvious signs of abuse, and drives fine, but zero maintenance history - not on the Carfax or from Jeep/Chrysler, nada. What do you think? Stay away? Or try for a lowball offer that pays for an extended warranty? Anything else I could check? I'm sure a lot of buyers don't bother looking at the Carfax and the dealerships know that and will probably pass on a lowball offer to account for lack of maintenance history.

Depreciation used to be really good with them, but the entire used car market is down. A lot. Also, Jeep was asking way too much money for them a few years ago and has adjusted the prices back to reality. For instance, when I bought my Jeep, the MSRP on my overland with every available option, minus the spray in bed liner, was $55k 10/2019. Then in 22-23 (maybe 24) is was $67k+ for the same Jeep. The dealerships had to do insane discounts to sell them so they adjusted the MSRPs back down to reality.

The zero service history on carfax doesn’t phase me. They either did the maintenance themselves, which would only be a handful of oil changes, or they had it done somewhere what doesn’t report to carfax. A lot of places don’t. Even a lot of dealerships. My dealership group didn’t. If I pulled the carfax on mine, it would show zero service history. If I traded it in, they’d throw away the service records to protect my privacy. That’s another policy that any reputable dealership has.

 

[DirkG]

Little weird that there's no record of Jeep Wave oil changes, but it's only (now) 2 model years old and only 17,000 miles. I have a detailed spreadsheet for every vehicle I own and do most of my own maintenance. But maybe that maintenance record didn't get to the dealership. Plus at only 17k miles, any maintenance overlooked can be rectified.

 

[NC_Overland]

Little weird that there's no record of Jeep Wave oil changes, but it's only (now) 2 model years old and only 17,000 miles. I have a detailed spreadsheet for every vehicle I own and do most of my own maintenance. But maybe that maintenance record didn't get to the dealership. Plus at only 17k miles, any maintenance overlooked can be rectified.

He’s talking about records reported to carfax. Not its actual service history. A lot of dealerships don’t report to carfax for service.

 

[BH1973]

The sales guy also checked with the service department and they had no records of any maintenance performed at a Jeep dealership.

Anyway, it's probably not an issue - first owner likely did an oil change. I'm thinking that the buyer who gets the max tow package probably is the kind of owner who changes the oil.

 

[NC_Overland]

More than likely. Doesn’t trust the “stealership”. lol

 

[MPMB]

at 17k miles, that's really only just over 2 oil changes and a couple tire rotations for maintenance.

If the MSRP was $56k, that's a lot of options, so if possible, take a look at the original window sticker, or do a VIN lookup to make sure all the options are still with the truck (like dual top option).

once you confirm all the options, then compare against other available trucks on pricing. $33k seems a bit high (MSRP is a bit irrelevant since Jeep jacked up the MSRPs in '22-'24).

 

[BlackRuby23]

My Jeep has no maintenance history and I have changed the oil religiously since new, never exceeding 5k miles. I think the lowest the oil change indicator ever got was 38% life remaining. The most I've done is snap a cell phone shot of the indicator and mileage when I changed it.

 

[Gvsukids]

m thinking that the buyer who gets the max tow package probably is the kind of owner who changes the oil.

Thanks for thinking highly of us Max Tow owners, but I don't do my own oil change. I will, however, spray off the mud before church.

 

[RHINO79]

Sounds like a good thing to me!!!

 

[Hootbro]

If at a CDJR dealership, it should be a CPO candidate with a 7/100K warranty. If they are not making it a CPO, I would be asking why?

I doubt you are going to be able to knee cap them any more on price. It is a fair price and somebody else will take it.

I will also leave this for you to ponder. Even though you have remaining factory powertrain warranty and if something was to arise later, you could still be on the hook to prove maintenance was done from day one and not just when you assumed the vehicle. If the selling dealer of the used JT is a CDJR one, they can help cushion such things but that is out the window if bought elsewhere outside a CDJR dealership.

 

[BCB]

I also do my own maintenance and keep records. None of this is on carfax or anywhere else. On vehicles I have traded it, I offer the dealers my maintenance records and they are never interested, Yet if I'm a buyer I am very interested. Don't know why the dealers don't want the information. I do agree with some comments above, someone who purchased the vehicle with a max tow probably did their own maintenance. In support of another comment, you probably won't get a better price but might get them to CPO the vehicle as part of the deal.

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