Need input on 2000 Ram Van I'm purchasing to flip

svtfocus2cobra

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So at the shop I work at I had a customer bring in his 2000 Dodge Ram Van 1500 for repairs which ended up totalling over $4k in work as it had a blown head gasket and then the cylinder heads came back from the machine shop with cracks in the valve seats (common 5.9 issue). So he approved getting some reman'd cylinder heads from LKQ which I have here along with all the other hardware needed to complete the job. The snag is that two weeks ago the guy passed away in a pretty grisly incident from what I found on a local news article. So the van was left to I'm assuming his daughter or another family member who I have been speaking to who doesn't have the funds to pay us the portion of the bill that is owed. After two weeks I finally offered to take the title off her hands and in return I will pay to have the rest of the work completed which is only going to cost me about $1500.

The outside of the van is in decent condition. A few dents and some peeling paint on the roof and a few of the doors which is due to the common issue Dodge had back then with a bad primer/sealer that you see on a lot of their vehicles. The interior though is superb for the age of it and for having 153k miles. No tears in the leather and all the leather and cloth materials is very clean. It's pretty much loaded and has a bed in the back.

So I'm going to fix it and then list it for sale and was thinking a van like this would go for at least $5-6k since they seem to be really popular these days and a lot of people around here in Western Washington are living out of vehicles and RVs since housing is so expensive. What do you guys think realistic pricing is? My girlfriend and I plan to use it to travel with and stay in some before selling it but I just feel like the roughly $2-3k values from KBB and NADA are quite low for what you get here. I feel like real world pricing is double that, especially around here and I dont think there will be any issue selling it and making a little off it. What do you guys think?

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AssPikle

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To be honest, it's tough to say what people are willing to pay, which is why kbb is used as a reference. I'd be willing to bet you wouldnt get much more than what kbb says. However, if you took the time to find the right buyer, you may get more. I dont know how the van market is, but those just arent very popular vehicles anymore.
 

svtfocus2cobra

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I agree with you on the overall market, but around here I get customers all the time with Chevy Express vans like these and I actually have a customer that has two of the Chevy travel vans and he has money so I may contact him to see if he is interested. People living out of vehicles is a huge problem out here so I think if I'm going to sell in any market this is a better one.
 

josephcostello

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My cousin bought one almost identical with 170k miles for 2300 for the only purpose to gut the inside, convert it to a living quarters, and drive around to national parks. He said he got a deal considering nice ones go for 5-6k. I think your market will be people who want to do the same. I’d finish the motor, gut the insides, half convert it to an “rv” with a bed and other ideas you see online. And then sell it like that to someone who could get a lot of use out of it. My .02


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svtfocus2cobra

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Put it to work

I always have wanted my own business lol.

My cousin bought one almost identical with 170k miles for 2300 for the only purpose to gut the inside, convert it to a living quarters, and drive around to national parks. He said he got a deal considering nice ones go for 5-6k. I think your market will be people who want to do the same. I’d finish the motor, gut the insides, half convert it to an “rv” with a bed and other ideas you see online. And then sell it like that to someone who could get a lot of use out of it. My .02


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I dont think I could gut it because the interior is damn near perfect and I dont see anyway to really improve on it. I'm for sure going to use it as long as I can until I can find the right buyer because my gf and I love to hit up areas around the state and it beats having to pay for a hotel or finding a campground. If I cant find a buyer then I will just keep it and slowly improve it.
 

svtfocus2cobra

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Take it to Japan and sell it for like $50k. Japanese have a fetish for dodge vans for some reason.

I was going to mention that. I had heard the Dodge vans are highly sought after there and they race them I think.
 

big reg

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Throw a mattress in the back, paint over the windows and turn it into a rape wagon. Dump them right out the back door when you’re finished. Just a thought.
 

svtfocus2cobra

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Throw a mattress in the back, paint over the windows and turn it into a rape wagon. Dump them right out the back door when you’re finished. Just a thought.

It has an automatic fold down bed so I can just fold it down, open the back doors, and they will slide right out the back with the plush leather.
 

Sn95Snake

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To be honest I would be surprised if you get more then 4k for it even with the engine work. You can pick up pretty nice ones around here between 2-4k all day long, they just don't really hold their value well.
 

svtfocus2cobra

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To be honest I would be surprised if you get more then 4k for it even with the engine work. You can pick up pretty nice ones around here between 2-4k all day long, they just don't really hold their value well.

If I can get 4k then I will be fine with it. That will be a quick $2500 flip for very little effort, I actually got paid to track down the parts and order them so it is all here and I will be able to have one of the techs put it back together on a slow day. I just got the title to it about a half hour ago so it is officially mine now.
 

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