Sell your truck in Columbus
we pay for the work it's done

Trucks get priced like cars by people who don't know trucks. An instant-offer tool sees a 2019 Silverado and a mileage figure. It doesn't see that the bed has never had a pallet in it, that the tow package is the heavy-duty one, or that you have every service record since it left the lot. Those things are worth real money on a truck, and they're exactly what an average flattens out. We buy trucks every week at the Caine Road buying centre, and this page is a fairly complete account of how we arrive at a number — so that when you get yours, none of it is a surprise.

On a car, you start with year and mileage. On a truck you start with how it was built, because two trucks wearing the same badge can be twenty thousand dollars apart before anyone looks at an odometer.

A crew cab short bed 4x4 and a regular cab long bed 2WD share a name and almost nothing else. They were bought by different people for different reasons and they sell to different people now. The same is true of engine choice, axle ratio and payload package on the heavier trucks.

This is the single most common reason an online estimate on a truck comes back wrong. The form asked for four things and your truck is the sum of about fifteen.

Here's what we establish first, before condition enters the conversation.

The bed is where a truck's life story is written, and it's the part sellers most often underestimate. A sprayed-in liner, a drop-in liner, or bare paint with a decade of scratches tell three completely different stories about what this truck has carried.

The tailgate takes the worst of it. Dents from tailgating loads, a bent hinge, a damaged step, a torn cable. It's also one of the more expensive panels to replace, so it carries weight in the number.

Tow equipment gets a proper look rather than a tick box.

None of this is a hunt for deductions. A truck with a clean bed and a complete, well-maintained tow setup appraises higher than one without, and that only happens if someone actually checks.

A work truck isn't automatically worth less. A fleet-maintained truck with a folder of records regularly appraises above a personal truck with none, because the records tell us what has already been paid for.

What we look for is honest use rather than hidden use: holes in the bed rails from a ladder rack, toolbox mounting points, a plow prep package or a mount that's been removed, wear patterns on the driver's seat bolster that don't match the mileage.

Plow trucks get a closer look at the front end, the cooling system and the transmission, because pushing snow is the hardest work a half-ton does in Ohio. If your truck plowed, tell us. We'd far rather price it correctly than discover it on the lift and have to revise a number we already gave you.

Where the number genuinely drops is heavy commercial mileage with no maintenance history at all. If that's your truck we'll say so plainly, and we'll still make you an offer — we buy plenty of them.

Diesel trucks trade on their own logic, and the emissions system is most of it. DEF system health, DPF condition, EGR history and any related repairs already done are the first questions we ask, because they are the most expensive things a buyer can inherit.

One thing we have to be straight about: we cannot buy an emissions-deleted truck. Selling a vehicle with defeated emissions equipment is not something a licensed dealer can legally do, and no amount of performance makes that workable. If your truck is deleted we will tell you in the first conversation rather than after you've driven over.

Beyond emissions, the usual diesel questions apply. Injector and fuel system history. Turbo condition. Whether it's been used for sustained towing, and whether the transmission was serviced on a schedule that reflects that.

The flip side is that a well-maintained diesel with complete service history and an intact emissions system is one of the strongest vehicles you can bring us. They're genuinely hard to find and we price them accordingly.

The honest version: modifications almost never return what you paid for them, and anyone who tells you otherwise is setting up a disappointing conversation later.

A lift kit narrows the buyer pool rather than widening it. Aggressive off-road tyres do the same, and they're usually closer to worn than the owner thinks. Aftermarket wheels are neutral at best. Tunes and exhaust work can actively reduce what a dealer will pay, because they raise questions about how the truck was driven.

What genuinely helps is keeping the stock parts. A lifted truck that comes with the original suspension and wheels in the garage is worth more than the same truck without them, because the next owner has a choice rather than a project.

We don't penalise you for building the truck you wanted. We price it for the person who's going to buy it next, and we'll show you exactly where the modifications landed in that calculation rather than folding it into one number you can't check.

Not an exhaustive list, and we buy well outside it — but these are the ones that come through Caine Road most often, and the ones our team knows best.

Half-tons dominate: F-150, Silverado 1500, Sierra 1500 and Ram 1500 are the backbone of the Columbus truck market. Tundra and Titan turn up less often and hold value differently.

Mid-size trucks — Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado, Canyon, Frontier and Gladiator — have their own market here and a following that keeps values firm. Tacomas in particular do not depreciate the way an online tool expects.

Heavy duty is where configuration matters most: F-250 and F-350, Silverado and Sierra 2500 and 3500, Ram 2500 and 3500. On these, the axle ratio, cab-and-chassis versus pickup, and diesel versus gas change the number more than the mileage does.

If your truck isn't on that list, it doesn't mean anything. It just means we'll ask a few more questions.

Road salt is the single biggest factor on any Ohio truck, and trucks catch more of it than cars do. Frame rails, brake and fuel lines, bed mounts, rear spring hangers and the area above the rear axle are where it shows first — and a truck that looks clean standing next to it can be badly compromised underneath.

Plow trucks get the worst of it, because they do their working hours in exactly the conditions that cause the damage.

The reason we get under every truck is that this cuts both ways. Most Ohio trucks carry some underbody wear, which means a genuinely clean one is worth real money here in a way it simply wouldn't be in a dry state. If yours was garaged, undercoated, or spent its first few years in the south, that's money in your pocket — and nobody finds it from a form.

The freeze-and-thaw cycle does the rest. Potholes take out wheels, shocks and alignment, and a loaded truck takes it harder than a car does.

We buy trucks from across Columbus, Dublin, Westerville, Worthington, Powell, Hilliard, Upper Arlington, Gahanna, Grove City, Delaware, Marysville and Plain City — and out into the farm and contractor country past all of them.

Four steps, and most of the elapsed time is waiting on your decision rather than on us.

There's no cost at any stage and no obligation to accept. Plenty of people go through the whole process, take the number, and think about it for a week. That's fine.

You don't need all of this to get a number — bring what you have and we'll tell you what's missing rather than send you away.

The two that most often cost sellers money are the second key and the service records. Both are worth more than people expect and both are easy to bring.