Buying Advice

For the price you're willing to pay, you'll find something. Unfortunately, the key is diligence, patience, money ready to go, and the ability to move quickly. Any good deals, especially on stock Jeeps, go very fast. Set up alerts on Craigslist, covering whatever radius you're willing to travel. It also helps if you include a contact number while replying. People tend to respond more quickly if you do. If you're worried about your phone number privacy, get a disposable phone for the duration you're looking.

Other platforms like Autotrader are good, but nothing really beats Facebook now. That sucks, but it's the reality. If you don't have an account, bug a friend who does. That will get old fast though!
 
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Zorba said:
Email craigslist sellers twice. I had to do that to find out the status of a trailer that was listed for sale. FWIW, I found my Jeep on craigslist.
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When I bought my current Jeep. I emailed him 5 times between the 11pm Sat original post and buying it 8am Sun morning. I drove 2 hours and 2 people had beat me to looking at it. I called the seller on the 2 hour drive to let him know that I was carrying $10,000 cash and if I liked it he wouldn't have to wait for the banks to open Monday and see if they could actually GET the cash. SCORE for me being poor.
 
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TheBoogieman said:
I'm on Morhine, Oxycodone, muscle relaxers and other meds for a ruptured disk in my back with exposed nerves. You are still insane and wrong. Reliability and records kept, over color everytime for me.
p.s. A fish taco is still a stinky vagina here. I bet your wife NEVER rides in your Jeep.🤫
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I am My Jeep! lol Show us a pic of Big Ol Red Dirty? Almost 2 years for me and I aint seen one yet! lol
Hope you back gets better by the way! :)
Why do you think I chose Fishtaco? Do you think Americans/Canadians invented urban slang? If I called myself Smelly Cu-t It wouldn't have been accepted on this forum and most others lol Did I ever tell you I registered it as a band name 20 years ago after the US punk band disbanded and dropped it?
Again get better soon bud :)
 
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Fishtaco said:
I am My Jeep! lol Show us a pic of Big Ol Red Dirty? Almost 2 years for me and I aint seen one yet! lol
Hope you back gets better by the way! :)
Why do you think I chose Fishtaco? Do you think Americans/Canadians invented urban slang? If I called myself Smelly Cu-t It wouldn't have been accepted on this forum and most others lol Did I ever tell you I registered it as a band name 20 years ago after the US punk band disbanded and dropped it?
Again get better soon bud :)
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You are my favorite member on here. Sorry, that I pick on you. I know you get my crap.
 
Irun said:
Other platforms like Autotrader are good, but nothing really beats Facebook now. That sucks, but it's the reality. If you don't have an account, bug a friend who does. That will get old fast though!
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This phenomenon is sad, it’s become some kind of badge of honor to not have a facebook account. I get the distaste, parts of it are a shit-show for sure, but at the end of the day it’s just a tool like any other. In the hands of an idiot, it’ll function like the tool of an idiot but if you have a brain it can be quite useful. People that have this zero-tolerance policy about it make no sense to me, perhaps they don’t trust themselves not to be idiots? Like it or not there are a ton of Jeeps from all eras & about a million & one other things that sellers only put on there, so stick to your principles & avoid it to no one's detriment but your own.
 
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TheBoogieman said:
You are my favorite member on here. Sorry, that I pick on you. I know you get my crap.
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There are some good deals to be found in Colorado, but do your homework before flying anywhere. There are some beautiful looking jeeps in pictures and you get there only to find the frame needs replaced. Get the VIN# and check the build sheet. I wouldn't buy or go look at anything from the rust belt.

When I was looking for a replacement, I found a 2005 Rubicon and talked the dealer down to $10,800. It was over three hours away and I ended up finding the perfect piece of shit nearby for $3850. It's a crap shoot if you're going to travel.
 
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I just started asking about paint jobs in another thread, but it seems to me that color of interior and exterior should be secondary to mileage/chassis condition - my 270k '03 TJ is a workhorse, picked it up for $5k, added $5k in replacement parts at the local truck shop, got a beaut now
 
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It reminds me of the current housing market, both FS & Rentals. We had to offer close to $100K over the asking price for our house last October, and if I hadn't lucked up and met the owner personally (and found that we had a lot in common), we would have lost out on this house too, as we did with our previous two offers...

Jeep TJ's fall into a very desirable category for many reasons; to wit:
- They're relatively easy to work on, either by the D-I-Y'er or by any decent mechanic.
- They made a blue million of them, so used parts will be around for many years to come.
- The secondary parts market is enormous; in fact, *I* can't think of a bigger one when it comes to vehicles.
- They are still at a price point that makes them attractive to a wide market of buyers - 1st time buyers, college students, the "usual suspects", and old geezers like me - guys who have owned a pile of vintage/classic cars over the years, but who are unwilling to pay $100K+ for a "cool vehicle" that's just gonna end up being a Garage Queen. Sure - I baby mine; it's garage-kept, I only drive it in nice weather, it never goes off-road, and it's 99% stock. I'm the owner you guys love to hate - UNTIL it comes time to BUY one, that is!

As you're already aware, your primary competition is Dealers, for all the reasons above. These guys camp out on Craigslist and pounce on the good ones like a Priest on an Altar Boy when they come up; it was that way when I bought mine a few years back. I actually paid OVER the asking price, paid cash, got on an airplane IMMEDIATELY (the morning the ad was placed), and was lucky enough to have a Seller that was ethical enough to NOT respond to any further inquiries after he knew I was coming...
Finally, you're dealing with guys who, if/when they DO get a good TJ, they hold onto them like a lobster, LOL. I've had 5 of them over the years, and my current TJ drives PERFECTLY - ZERO bumpsteer, ZERO death wobble at ANY speed EVER, LQQKS as good as it drives, and at least so far, has had bulletproof reliability. I honestly don't know WHAT kind of stupid $ offer I would even consider, since I KNOW I'd want to replace it sooner or later, and the prospect of jumping back into THAT fray is truthfully more frightening a thought to me than the prospect of trying to find a new wife. At least if THAT happens, I've still got my movie star good looks goin' for me...
 
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Don’t hate me. When I read these posts about how difficult it is to find a decent and reasonably affordable TJ I can’t help but feel super lucky. two years ago I found my 97 within 10 miles of home. Original owner rust free 4.0 w 32RH with tasteful and quality mods in exceptional condition. Both engine and trans were completely rebuilt with receipts. In fact he had receipts for everything ever done to or bought for it since day one including the original window sticker in a folder. I’ve put about 10k miles since purchasing and it has been absolutely trouble free.
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I paid $7000!
 
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ANY TJ with zero rust is a big chunk of pure gold. If you want a zero rust TJ in factory shape, you will have to come up with good cash, unless, the owner does not know the Chassis and Body actual value this days. From the photos, I say yes 100% for around 8-10k, BUT, is a 4 cyl, so just because is a 4, I would pass unless my ultimate goal is to convert it to a 6 or 8 cyl with a manual tranny. Rust is almost unfixable, 4 cyl auto is fixable but costly. If you are not planning to mod it to a 6 or 8 with manual, you should pass......
 
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Fishtaco said:
I believe Colour first reliability 2nd and mods 3rd!
With a dealership it is easy to get an independent mechanical check of the TJ you like in the colour you like with the mods (if Any) you like because you are window shopping! Private buying you are always playing pot luck and you eventually start to lower your expectation bar during the purchase hunt period!

There are very few un bastedized one owner low mile perfect running rust free TJ,s in the colour you may prefer! Colour and paintwork matters not to a person who just wants a rock crawling "Toy" Appearance means everything to others while DD ability means most to yet another group!

Which one do you want? Choose accordingly and you will be happy until you want to change vehicles and sell it. :)
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I'd like to get something that isn't Black, Silver, or Blue and that is 95% of what's available locally. I'm not all that hung up on finding something with super low miles because I am leaning towards an engine swap. Finding one that is relatively rust free is my main concern.
 
nk24 said:
Have you looked at the for sale section here on the forum? @Irun's TJ for sale is about as pristine as you will find anywhere:

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/a-very-unique-31-tire-build.60557/
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Oh yes I have seen that one. My last TJ was silver, I'm just after something a little different (something other than black, silver, blue, red). I know that is definitely contributing to the already high competition. That was/is my goal from the start, I don't really want to waiver and get something that ticks most of the boxes and end up regretting not waiting a little longer. I have some feelers out on an Inca Gold Rubi, if they ever get back to me with frame / undercarriage pics.

Not saying anything bad about Irun's build, that is an immaculate Jeep.
 
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I found my TJ on CL it was a search everyday hours on end to find it. If you search enough you will find your deal. I also tried selling n fakebook but its nothing but garbage if you ask me, everything is a paid seller or shipping and just too much hassel. Now im finding my self thinking of selling my TJ for a LJ, my TJ is in fairly good condition and ill prolly ask 14k tbh
 
Irun said:
Mine has 180K on it and I'll bet it's much nicer than many with 1/2 the miles. ;)
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Your jeep @ 180k is probably nicer than most Jeeps at 1/4 the miles. Yours has had attention paid to a lot of the items that would concern me at that mileage.
 
Can't believe how much the market has blown up for TJ/LJs - are they getting more popular now? What happened?

I bought a 55k, bone stock, 100% rust free '05 LJR in 2014 for 22k from a dealership, and I thought it was high at the time.

I think I could get back what I paid for it, and then some, <110k on the clock.
 
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