I am about to buy a 53' ft dry van and park my flatbed

You apparently don’t go to many, or any auctions. I’ve seen trailers and trucks go for stupid money.

 

Stupid money is everywhere.

How's that guessing working out?

 

That's exactly why you pay that few hundreds bucks to a well Qualified mechanic to inspect the ones that you're interested in. And come out a winner every time, and still save thousands.

 

Do you hire a mechanic to do your pre and post inspections?
Doesn't take much to look over a trailer. You should already have the experience.

 

Just out of curiosity why are you parking the flat? Rates/freight availability or dont wanna deal with the winter months or something else?

 

What are you even talking about?

How does it feel to be the dumbest mofo on the forum?

 

I thought that was you.
Clam it buckwheat.

 

Pre trip or post trip is not good or thorough enough when buying from an auction. That's like saying doing a pre trip or post trip at the dealership for a used semi is good enough to avoid buying a lemon, no way buddy.

 

It can be as thorough as one makes it.
But yeah. A second set of eyes can be of great help. Specially one that might be familiar with common problems.

I looked at a truck couple weeks back. The exhaust was modified. Instead the curl that puts the exhaust to the ground. They put a box on it so the exhaust went straight back to the rear end. And was only 6 inches away. I could see the rear end, brake lines and abs electrical and all that jazz getting fried. And every bushing on the spring suspensions. Was worn out.