Thanks, I'm going to try and find one in the southwest where there's not rust. I'd also prefer a private seller so I can get answers to questions a dealer isn't going to know.

 

What makes you think you're going to get answers from a Private Seller that a Dealer wouldn't know?

 

Hopes & dreams.

 

These vehicles have a small cult following and I find the owner has some enthusiasm towards the vehicle.

I can ask things like 'How much oil does it burn between changes', 'Has the roof ever leaked', 'how often did you replace pads/rotors', 'how often did you get it aligned', 'do you have any service receipts', etc etc. All sorts of things can be gleaned from the actual owner vs a salesman. And I'd rather know about these things as the new owner vs. not knowing and be surprised by it.

I have purchased the carfax unlimited report plan and have begun running reports on all 08/09's with high mileage I can find in the classifieds. I'm hoping this will give me some idea what it takes to get one of these things to 200k miles. So far I'm seeing check engine, reprogram transmission module, and body electrical entries.

The search continues.

 

So would you buy a 5 owner H2 with 55k miles or a 1 owner H2 w/ 75k miles. Same price and neither have any red flags in the carfax report? The only issue w/ the 5 owner car is that it spent half of its life in the midwest. Being from Ohio, I know that's long enough to have some rust on the under carriage. The 1 owner has been in the southwest from the beginning.

 

I would lean towards the one owner myself. Just for the reason of five different drivers with different driving styles. Means parts will wear differently and you may up having to replace a ton of worn out parts. The 5 owner also scares me as none of the previous owners havenheld on to it for a significant amount of time. Which may indicate a lemon that people keep getting rid of.

One owners are not alwaya great vehicles to buy either. As sometimes the vehicle has only had the safety test done from the initial purchase. It may be years since that vehicle has had any service or parts replaced.

I agree with you on buying private rather than dealer. You can tell alot about how a vehicle and how it was driven and maintained by talking to the owner.
A dealer i just assume its all lies and make my own judgements on what you can see and hope for the best.

Btw, if they try to sell you a THIRD party warranty. Save your money. Not worth the paper they are printed on.

 

Thanks, I am going to go see the single owner 75k one tomorrow. I'll admit, I'm a little nervous about the miles.

 

Unless there's something very wrong, 75K is not a lot for these vehicles. I have almost 250K miles between my old 2003 & current 2009. They both ran/run amazingly well.

Just drive it around & ask how the vehicle was used, assuming the person selling is a private seller. Mine had to have been used offroad in some fashion. The suspension was entirely worn out, but parts can be replaced. Most of the work has been easy enough for someone who, prior to this, simply didn't work on cars (ME).


While looking for H2s, I passed on anything with multiple owners. When I see a vehicle that kept being bought & sold in short periods of time, it made me wonder what the deal was. Some of the times, you'll see the a vehicle was sold at auction & then bought by a dealership, so that covered "3" of the owners (original, auction company & then the stealership) which wasn't much of a red flag. Others will show the vehicle being owned by 2 or 3 people in a period of 18 months to 5 years. I just ignored those options.

I also looked at the overall carfax history. I noticed a trend of electrical systems being checked or TCM/ECM replacements. Those I flat out steered clear of. Most of the time, if it was checked or replaced once, it ended up happening again. You'll see a trend of it being check/replaced & soon after sold. That's a major red flag.

Suspension issues & the like aren't as bad since most of it is basic stuff that can be replaced, although I'd stay away from those too.

If the vehicle has been in a wreck, see what was replaced. Mine was, & if you knew me, you'd call me a hypocrite for buying it. I have always said to never buy a vehicle that's been in a wreck. Well, the carfax didn't state that any repair work was done, so I assumed it was a fender bender & so far, it's been fine. If there was major work done after the wreck, then I wouldn't own the one I do right now.


I am not sure what your budget is, but if you really want an H2 & are willing to drop some serious cash (I'm assuming you are since you prefer lower mileage 2009s), consider what you're paying for. I bought mine, knowing that the $10k I saved would go towards a diesel, eventually. I'd rather buy one for $30k to $35k & dump $25k into a duramax/allison, then get a low mileage one, that in the scheme of things, will only last 300k before major engine maintenance/replacement. I'm also not spending $55k up front either. If this vehicle is just a stop gap & don't plan on keeping it long term, don't even consider what I just said.

 

Definitely not a stop gap that's why I'm proceeding cautiously.

But I've noticed what you have in the car fax reports. Some have a history of 'check engine', check electrical, alignment. Then there are others with none of that.

 

If you decide this is a long term keeper, consider what the conversion diesel runs as that's really what the H2 should have been built with. Other than losing TC2, you can still have one built w/ an Allison transmission that does 2WD, AWD & 4WD LO, or Just 2WD & 4WD HI/LO that puts out around 450hp/700ft-lb. Considering you tow, that's what I would do, pending you have the funds to do it. The 6.0 was a dog of a motor for the H2 & the 6.2, while a pretty significant improvement is still anemic as this thing really needs more torque or a different gearing for highway travel. Of course, that wouldn't work for offroad, so there's a trade off.

That brings up the option of finding one that has a blow power train & buying cheap & immediately having the diesel conversion done. I'd have done that if I didn't need it as a daily driver.

Yeah, the car fax reports are strange.
Keep this in mind. When my mom traded her 2013 Challenger RT towards the 2008 H3 Alpha she has now, the carfax on the Challenger showed one or two "check ins" with the dealership. Nothing was mentioned about checking the transmission, replacing blown shocks or anything. There were also 6 or 7 meetings with 4 different dealerships where things were done or checked. The carfax in no way reflected it, but hinted at something wrong. If there's a few things on the carfax that looks bad, 9 times out of 10, it's even worse. The dealership bought a lemon of a car from us & was still able to sell it to some poor fool.

The cleaner the carfax, the better.
Also taking into consideration that different states have different standards. Here's, there's barely any, which is a blessing, unless you want to rely on carfax reports. California standards are insane in a bad way, but you seem to get a clearer picture of the vehicle.