I still maintain that you should expand your search. When I say $3-4K for a toolbox...I'm talking about a $13,500 toolbox for $3-4K. And if you make so much money that it's not worth it to spend 6 hours to save several thousand, you should just buy new...you can afford it. By my calculation, to save $3,500 by driving 6 hours....you have to be make MORE than $1.2 million per year for this to not be worth your time. I'm talking about paying 20-25% of list instead of 50-60%. A top quality toolbox can last a lifetime, so it's not like you will need to do this a lot.
And while there are some very successful and booming areas of Virginia and Maryland (and especially in DC), the further you go from Washington, the more the economy ***** just like everywhere else. There HAS to be turnover. People die, become disabled, retire, move away, get promoted to service writer, change professions, etc.
And there are plenty of boxes that come full of tools as well. When I'm in the hunt for tools and boxes, I check 27 seperate CL's several times each day.
Since you obviously don't know me from your foot, you can have no idea of what my financial or personal position might be.
Please take a long look at the three examples I posted. notice the short little descriptions I give to the boxes I list. either they're 80% of the retail cost, or they're 50% and significantly larger than I need.
I have no qualms about spending several thousand dollars on a box, but obviously since I'm not looking to buy a large box, saving $3500 isn't a realistic number. Doing simple math, based on what I value my time at, added cost for operating a vehicle large enough to go get a tool box, you'd have to be talking about saving more than $2500 on a box, which given the size I'm looking at, I find to be a far from practical concept. Also to note, is there are very few of the size boxes I'm looking for on craigslist.
I'm looking for a KRA2411/KRLX022B sized box with at most a side cab. Not some 100"+ wide monster, I'm also not looking for something that's been chromed out or some flashy color. blue, black, red.... something basic and not screaming 'look at me!'. There's been at most 3 examples of what I'm looking for on the 3 local craigslist sites I look at, and all are asking $3000-4000 for an originally $4300 box or 70-90% of retail. Using your 20% concept, I'd have to be spending less than $1000 on the box that I want. I think a realistic cost is closer to $2000.
Having a full time job and 3 small kids at home, my time is both spoken for, and extremely valuable to me, as such, I don't have time to browse through 27+ different craiglist sites, or drive 6+ hours to get a tool box.
Yes, there's turnover, but public demostration of it is much lower in an area that's not as economically depressed as an area that is. Joe Schmo changes professions and thinks 'maybe I'll hang onto that tool box for a while, you never know what might happen' instead of 'Oh ****, I've changed jobs and need money to make ends meet, let's sell that sucker quick!'.
My thought is: SO Dealer gets occassional trade ins for bigger boxes, and then sells said trade ins, he's likely to get smaller boxes, and he's not looking to hold onto them for longer than is necessary, thus willing to sell them at the 50% of retail range that I feel a used box is worth. He's also likely to do his homework before taking a trade to confirm if a SO box is being financed, paid for or what it's status is. Joe Schmo selling toolbox is not necessarily going to be 100% honest about that position, especially if he's cash strapped and just looking to get money quick, and doesn't care about long term consequences of credit damage. I'd rather rest assured that box is paid for by previous owner, so that in the even something were to go wrong with it, SO or whoever's warranty would still be valid and useable. Not 'oh box was never paid for by original buyer, you're SOL, we're taking our property back'.
just a little FYI about making generalizations about people. before making claims about any sort of understanding of another person's situation, you need all of the facts.
