i was out driving tonight and a found a person that wants to trade me a 1998 dodge avenger for my 1999 ford ranger. The avenger has a 2.5 litre V6 where as the ranger has a 2.5 litre 4 banger. my truck has 73k miles and the avenger has 189k the engine and has new head gaskets and pistons. the body has a few problems such as while the previous driver has a blowout at 90 and the tread scraped off the paint on the right rear quarter panel and the front bumper has crack directly under the front point he said he would fix both for free since he works in a body shop. the only other major problem is the transmission is going out so it will cost me around $400 to get it fixed which i dont think is that bad of a deal since the cars are very easy to upgrade. thanks in advance for any advice.

I'm not that familiar with the Avenger but I would get a quote on the tranny repair $400 sounds pretty cheap to have a tranny repaired.

Sounds like the person trading is getting the better deal... it has almost double the miles of your truck.

If you're intent on trading, definitely plan on possible engine components going out in the near future along with the tranny. No doubt suspension components (struts, wheel bearings, etc.) are ending their useful life if they haven't already. Have those been replaced? Lastly, make sure the paint is good. Some Avengers left the factory with contaminated paint which led to fading and sometimes peeling.

Don't do it.

You have the luxury of having both a car and a truck. Keep the truck. Later on you'll wish you still had a truck.

Now as for the deal it's self
Definately get an actual quote on the tranny fix.
The paint sure he say's he'll do it for free since he works at a body shop but if that's the case why is it still not taken care of? If he put off doing it for himself what makes you think he'll hook you up once the trade is done?

Personnally I'd walk away from the deal.

the reason he hasn't painted the car yet is because he bought it a week ago for his girlfriend and she had wanted a small standard transmission truck.

as to him getting a better deal cause it has double the miles on the truck i went to kbb.com and the private values the two cars are only $400 difference. if we do decided to look at it i am going to take it to a shop and have them run the full diagnostics on the car for $60. but because of the price difference in the two cars i might make him get the tranny fixed along with the body work. granted there is twice the miles but the last 20K miles on that truck have been really hard on it.

Tell him you want the car and $3,000.