2022 F-150 XLT SuperCrew 3.5 EcoBoost bought sight unseen through Lake Park Auto Connection, 34,750 blind bid

figured this board needed a buying report with actual numbers in it, so here is mine, five days after the truck landed in Moorhead.

the setup. i drive Moorhead to the sugar plant in Hillsboro most days and i had a 2011 F-150 5.0 with 218,000 on it and a rusted through bed. the plan was a 2 to 3 year old XLT with the 3.5 because i pull a 7x14 enclosed sled trailer in winter and the 2.7 felt short on it when i borrowed my brother in law's.

dealer lots around Fargo in august: 2022 XLT SuperCrew 4x4 3.5 302A with 25 to 35k miles were sitting at 40,995 to 43,500 and nobody was moving on the number. Carvana had one at 39,800 plus 790 to ship it.

a guy at the plant bought a Silverado through the lake park auction back in july and would not shut up about it, so i went and looked. they broker bank repossessions for a handful of lenders. the trucks are not on a lot of theirs, they sit wherever the lender has them, and you put in one sealed number. you never see the high bid. no buyer's premium on top. i bid on a 2021 Silverado LT in july at 29,000 and lost it, and i never found out what it went for, which is the part of the format that still bugs me.

the one i got: 2022 F-150 XLT SuperCrew 4x4, 3.5 EcoBoost, 302A package, 28,140 miles, Iconic Silver, at a lender lot in Wichita, Kansas. one owner on the Carfax, serviced at a Ford store in Wichita, no accidents reported. the listing had 38 photos and a walkaround video. i called and got a person, asked for underside photos because i wanted to see the frame and the rear axle, had them the next morning. Kansas truck, no rust to speak of.

number: i went 34,750. KBB private party was 35,900 to 37,200 for the miles, the Fargo dealers were 41 and up, and after losing the Silverado at 29 i was done being cute. found out three days later i had it. wired the money on a monday.

delivery is free inside 1,000 miles of their place and Wichita to Moorhead is about 640, so nothing on that line. they said figure about 14 days. it took 16. i am not going to cry about two days but there it is. truck came saturday on an open car hauler, more on the handoff below if anybody wants it.

first look: 28,152 on the cluster against 28,140 on the listing, so the yard moved it a couple times. interior clean, both rear seat belts still had the tags on them, the bed has a spray in liner nobody mentioned. and one thing that is not in any of the 38 photos: a crack in the windshield, low on the passenger side, about 8 inches, running in from the edge under the wiper. i went back and looked, the two front three quarter shots were taken with the sun on the glass and you cannot see anything through the glare. i do not think anybody hid it on purpose, but nobody caught it either. emailed them monday with a picture and asked where that lands on the warranty. no answer yet as of tonight.

four days of driving it to Hillsboro and back: 3.5 pulls like it should, the 10 speed is busy but fine, 21.8 on the trip computer at 70. happy so far, windshield aside. questions welcome, i will answer what i can.

first_truck_jace wrotehow did you actually settle on 34,750 and not 33 or 36? if you cannot see anybody else's number what are you even bidding against

you are bidding against the number you would be happy paying. that is the whole trick and it took a lost bid to teach me. i wrote three numbers on a notepad: what the Fargo dealers wanted (41 to 43), what i would pay a private seller after a test drive (36), and what i would pay for a truck i could not drive first (34 to 35). then i bid the top of the third number. if somebody wanted it more than that, they can have it, and in july somebody did.

first_truck_jace wrotedid you ever talk to a human or is the whole thing a website with a wire form at the end?

yes, twice on the phone and a few emails. a woman answered the number on the listing, sent the underside photos, and when i won i got an email with the wire instructions and the bank's name on the bill of sale. the money goes to the lender, not to some paypal thing. the lake park people are the broker in the middle, they say plainly on the site that they do not own the trucks. for a first truck i would still go sit in a few at dealers so you know what a 28k mile interior is supposed to look like. then decide.

al_turns_wrenches wrotedid the driver let you start it and run it through the gears before you signed the delivery sheet, or was it sign first?

start first, and he offered before i asked. it came on an open three car wedge behind a Ram 5500 out of Kansas City, with a Tahoe and a Camry on it. driver called friday night and again saturday morning, met me in the Hornbacher's lot on 8th street because my driveway is not a place you back a wedge into. he ran it off the ramps, handed me the key, and i drove it to the far end of the lot and back through the gears before i signed anything. the sheet was one page: VIN, mileage on arrival, a box for damage noted, my signature. i wrote the windshield crack in the damage box and took a picture of the sheet with my phone, which is the only reason i have a dated record of it.

your checklist, since i did it in that same lot. oil cap clean, no milkshake. coolant right at the cold line. tires are the factory Hankooks with 2021 date codes, 7/32 all around. battery fired instantly, it must have been on a tender at the yard. so nothing off your list, just the glass.

answer on the windshield came friday, so four days, which is a lot slower than the pre-sale emails were. the answer was no. the 6 month, 10,000 mile limited warranty is on the mechanical side, glass is not on it, and the 30 day money back deal is for a truck that was materially misrepresented, which an 8 inch crack on an otherwise correct listing is not. i figured that going in, and honestly if i were the outfit in lake park that is the answer i would give too. what i told them, and what i will tell anybody reading this, is take the glass photos out of the sun.

Safelite in Fargo did it monday. 389 for the glass and 175 to recalibrate the camera for the lane keeping, 564 all in. my comp deductible is 500 so i just paid it.

paperwork for the fleet guy. Kansas title, the bank's name as the owner, lien released right on the face with a signature and a date, plus a bill of sale that lists the bank as seller and the broker as broker. took it to the DVS office in Moorhead the thursday after it landed. 6.875 percent motor vehicle tax on the 34,750 was 2,389, title and plates were another 110 and change. lady at the counter did not blink at the Kansas title. done in 25 minutes.

one key. you called it. the listing said one key and i read right past it. the Ford store in Moorhead cut and programmed a second one for 285, which stings, but that is a 2022 fob with the remote start. FordPass was still on the old owner's account, i had to call Ford with the VIN and the bill of sale and they cleared it in about a day, then it paired fine.

2,900 miles on it since it landed. pulled the sled trailer up to Park Rapids last weekend, 7x14 enclosed with two sleds, about 3,400 loaded, and it did not know it was there. no real cold yet, we have been in the 30s. block heater cord is tucked behind the lower grille on the driver side if anybody with a 22 is looking for it, took me 10 minutes to find.

UPDATE, december, because something finally went wrong and it is worth writing down.

first real cold week, minus 14 tuesday morning, and the 10 speed started banging on the 2 to 1 downshift coming up to a stop. not every time, mostly the first mile. searched it and there is a known calibration for it. took it to the Ford store in Fargo, they pulled the in-service date (march 2022), confirmed it was inside the 5 year 60,000 factory powertrain, and flashed the PCM and TCM. no charge, one day, loaner was a Maverick. so al's point in post 2 turned out to be the useful one: on a 2 to 3 year old truck the factory warranty is doing the heavy lifting and the broker's 6 month warranty is a backstop you may never touch.

starts fine at minus 14 with the block heater on a timer. 6,100 miles added since october. total spent on the truck that was not gas or a wash: 564 windshield, 285 key, 849. that is the whole list.

would i bid blind through lake park again. yes, and my number would be built the same way. would i want the glass photos taken out of the sun and the one key thing in bigger letters. also yes.