Trucks - $$$

[musical comedy]

If I told you hold old my truck is, and if I showed you a photo of it, you all would

Does anyone remember the Beverly Hillbilly truck? Well, mine is just as much an embarrassment.

The thing is that it runs, and runs well. Long ago, we put in a new motor and it has had a couple transmision repairs. Other than that, just general maintenance.

Right now, it is used for local travel, to pick up hay/supplies, and for the occasional time I need to drive my horse to the clinic, which is only 3 miles.

Even so, I am truly embarassed to drive this truck. The other family car is an old cadillac sedan that only has 21,000 miles on it, so it would be stupid to sell or trade it in. It's like a new car.

So I looked at trucks on the net. The cheapest one I saw was a single seat 2wd short bed for 30k. The prices go up from there, and there are many for 50k and even more. I know a lot of horse ladies can afford this, because they are working at top jobs making a lot of money and with combined incomes. That's not me. I supposed I 'could' swing the 800 a month payment, but should I or do I want to. Is it even necessary? Why should I care what people think about my truck, or my shabby home either, for that matter.

<sigh> I hate being poor. Once with two hefty incomes I could buy whatever I want. Now, both of us on fixed incomes we have to be frugal.

[piedmontfields]

We have a 1995 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD long bed. It's the year with the bad paint flaking, so it is not the most attractive even though it is in good shape and has low miles. Although we are working with decent incomes, there is no way that we would waste 60k on a truck that we use locally maybe once per week. But that is also because we don't want to be poor when we are retired! lol

I do think a lot of used truck prices are so high because 1. People took out very long loans (8 year loan for ex.) on a very expensive truck and 2. They cannot afford to keep paying the loan and are upside down on the truck value.

Enjoy being a NJ hillbilly! I doubt anyone would even notice you where I live

[musical comedy]

We have a 1995 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD long bed. It's the year with the bad paint flaking, so it is not the most attractive even though it is in good shape and has low miles. Although we are working with decent incomes, there is no way that we would waste 60k on a truck that we use locally maybe once per week. But that is also because we don't want to be poor when we are retired! lol

I do think a lot of used truck prices are so high because 1. People took out very long loans (8 year loan for ex.) on a very expensive truck and 2. They cannot afford to keep paying the loan and are upside down on the truck value.

Enjoy being a NJ hillbilly! I doubt anyone would even notice you where I live

My truck is a GMC and it had the pain flaking as well! We had it professionally painted and it continue to flake. That's the worst part of it's looks. The hood and top are just rusted bald spots.
Ok...get ready...it's a 1989 GMC club cab. It was my first truck and I bought a matching trailer to go with it.

I like your thinking Piedmont. Sometimes we have to use common sense. 60k is a LOT of money. Some people don't even have that much in their savings. Worse yet, the truck depreciates. Because my truck is so old, I only carry liability insurance on it. If I were to buy a new truck, then I would need comp and collusion which adds another $300 or so to my insurance bill. NJ has the highest insurance going. LOL on Tennessee. I've never been there, but when I drove to Florida through South Carolina, I saw a lot of worn out cars.

I'm going to take of pic of my masterpiece for you when I get a chance.

[piedmontfields]

Yes, Tennessee is where old cars and trucks go to....live on and on! And then to come to rest in your front yard.

I think there were several years of GM trucks that had that same paint problem. It's a bummer, but it is otherwise an awesome truck. We bought it used from friends.

[Racetrackreject]

It's ridiculous, the price of trucks. When I went shopping for a truck, I started looking for a used truck, but I didn't want anything over 5 years old or with terribly high mileage. Holy crap do those things hold their value!! I bought a brand new truck, that with incentives/discounts of over $10k, ended up being cheaper than the used trucks that I was finding.

[fergusnc]

Any chance you'd find a better deal if you went in a trip to another state/out of the northeast? (If you ever feel the need to get a new truck...I actually love the personality and history of your old truck!). Would prices vary region to region?

I got very very lucky with my 2500HD. 4wd. It is a 2005 and I got it in 2008. It had about 23k miles on it. Nothing power at all. Cloth seats. I think just a good old work truck that probably did a lot of work. His name is Gordy. I paid either $13k or $18k....something crazy cheap for what I got...after having a lot of fun haggling with the guy at the dealership I drove from NC to SC to see it/buy it. I think what I had going for me was the recent bad downturn in the economy, people ditching their bigger vehicles left and right to save money on gas, etc. plus, I found out after the fact that the truck sat on the lot for almost a full year bc no one wanted a truck that didn't have leather and power everything. To me, it's just more to break, it's for pulling horses and farm work, not riding in a parade. at the time, the cheapest used 3/4 ton with 4wd I saw was $30k and was at least 10 years older than this truck with 100k miles. Like I said, I got lucky. And I plan to keep Gordy forever, partly because I love him and partly because I knew trucks would be crazy pricey....just didn't know HOW pricey. Sheesh!

[Moutaineer]

I too have an embarrassment of a truck, complete with flaking paint, rust holes, a light held in with gaffer tape, etc. etc., I started casually looking for a replacement a few months ago, and promptly gave up. The prices are just ridiculous.

The engine's good (crosses fingers and types at the same time) and we've replaced just about every other component in the damned thing in the last 17 years, so it'll just have to soldier on until it finally kicks the bucket. At least no-one is going to steal it.

[highoctane]

New trucks are ridiculously priced. I'm hanging on to our '97 F250 diesel because I just plain can't afford a new (or slightly used) truck payment!

That said, it's probably worth looking into getting it repainted or even wrapped. Both require some prepwork that you may be able to do at home and save even more money.

[kande50]

Why should I care what people think about my truck, or my shabby home either, for that matter.

You shouldn't, because your horse looks and feels good and that's what matters.

My current strategy for buying replacement vehicles is to buy fairly new ones with high miles for their age, because I now know that I'm not going to put enough miles on them to even come close to wearing them out before they rust out.

[Sunshine2Me]

Clifford.JPG (43.74 KiB) Viewed 21206 times

Meet Clifford, as in Clifford the Big Red Dog - he is Clifford the Big Red Truck. A 1999 F350 dually. I bought him for $4,000 last year, and he has 87,000 miles on him. He was a work truck, and the bed is a mess and in interior is not pretty. Oh, and he has a manual trans and some rust in the doors. He gets horrible gas mileage and it takes about $85.00 to fill the tank with the cheap gas. He is only used occasionally for horse/barn chores. I just could not see paying $50,000 + for a truck! I will drive him as long as possible, and I don't care what others think!

[goneriding]

I have a 2001 F250 4x4 extended cab with a long bed, Bought it in 2013 with about 97k miles for $9800. It's been a great truck, hasn't needed anything but routine oil changes. I put maybe 1000 miles a year on it, 2000 if I really go wild. It will last me a long time and I didn't go broke buying it. It was a trade in at the Toyota dealership and languished on the lot at a time when trucks were selling quickly at top dollar, so I figure nobody goes to Toyota looking for a Ford.

[Tarlo Farm]

Musical, first, if it runs and it's paid for, it's the cheapest vehicle you'll ever own. And it's fine. If it really bothers you, have you thought about buying some Rustoleum and painting it? Seriously. Who cares if you can see brush marks?
Otherwise, pick up an "Auto Trader" magazine, or look online and find something out-of-state. Those prices are insane!!

[angela9823]

Trucks do hold their value. I just sold a 2000 F250 extended cab (Lariat model) for over $15k on eBay. I had 40+ bidders on it. Someone up north bought it because the truck was from South Carolina and only had 77k miles on it. It ran great and had no major issues (no rust). I still think the person got a steal on the truck.

I'd suggest looking on eBay for a truck from Texas or South Carolina. There is a dealer in Texas that has trucks at a great price and has a good reputation on eBay dealing in trucks from the south.

[demi]

a truck thread I had a white 1990ish Chevy with the paint peeling thing, just on the hood. I sanded and painted it myself and it looked looked good for years. However, our Weimeraner barfed big time on the cloth seat. I tried everything to rid it of the smell but nothing completely removed it. Years later, a friend riding with me once said "do I smell pizza?" It also developed what Chevy called "driveline clunk" but they said it wasn't a problem. When it started to have transmission problems my mechanic said sell it. I put an ad in the newspaper (yes, that long ago) and the first person that looked at it bought it right away. It still smelled kinda like pizza.

[piedmontfields]

At least no-one is going to steal it.

Yeah, we don't even lock our truck.

Plus, it's a manual transmission so that is another theft deterrent! lol

[Sunshine2Me]

At least no-one is going to steal it.

Yeah, we don't even lock our truck.

Plus, it's a manual transmission so that is another theft deterrent! lol

Mine is similar- you have to start out in 2nd gear and to get it in to 5th you've gotta kinda tilt you head to the left while tapping the steering wheel...or something similar!

[kande50]

At least no-one is going to steal it.

Yeah, we don't even lock our truck.

Plus, it's a manual transmission so that is another theft deterrent! lol

If it's got gas in it they'll steal it, and then they'll dump it when it won't go anymore, and you'll have to go get it and pay the towing charges to get it to the impound plus whatever it costs to get it home. And that often involves another truck and a car trailer because the thieving little bastards burned out the transmission or wrecked it. And then you might even get stuck in a traffic jam for 2 hours on your way home, and when you do get home will likely have to listen to your pissy spouse saying, "I told you not to leave the keys in the truck".

[Sunshine2Me]

At least no-one is going to steal it.

Yeah, we don't even lock our truck.

Plus, it's a manual transmission so that is another theft deterrent! lol

If it's got gas in it they'll steal it, and then they'll dump it when it won't go anymore, and you'll have to go get it and pay the towing charges to get it to the impound plus whatever it costs to get it home. And that often involves another truck and a car trailer because the thieving little bastards burned out the transmission or wrecked it. And then you might even get stuck in a traffic jam for 2 hours on your way home, and when you do get home will likely have to listen to your pissy spouse saying, "I told you not to leave the keys in the truck".

[Kyra's Mom]

Yeah...mine is paid for and it is just FINE. 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 which I have for pulling my Brenderup. Since all my health issues, the horse hasn't left the boarding barn in 2 1/2 years. It only has 46,000 miles on it. It leaks a little oil but I just keep the garage floor covered. It may be a year before I determine if I can ride again. If I can't get back to it, I will re-home the horse and sell the truck. No need for a fancy new one (or even used) at this point. Especially at the price point of trucks now .

I need to drive it today. It has been sitting since my surgery a month ago. At least I will try. The bench seat is not as nice to my butt as the bucket seat on my car.

Susan

[Moutaineer]

Oh, dear, Kande... that sounds like a bitter tale!

[kande50]

We've had cars stolen out of our driveway, and I had my truck keys stolen out of my coat pocket at a restaurant and then they went out and stole my truck.

Two of the vehicles were old beaters so didn't have collision insurance on them, but insurance did pay for most of the repairs on the truck that was stolen from the restaurant.

And we live in a rural area, so it isn't as if thieves are walking by all the time looking for cars to steal. Two of the thefts were thefts of opportunity--they were looking for loose change and found the keys so took the vehicle. One got an hour away before running out of gas, another 2 hours, and the restaurant thieves ran the truck into a tree and I hope they all hit the dash and broke a few bones!

So if one is going to leave their keys in their truck it's probably a good idea to leave it almost empty, too.

[Sunshine2Me]

We've had cars stolen out of our driveway, and I had my truck keys stolen out of my coat pocket at a restaurant and then they went out and stole my truck.

Two of the vehicles were old beaters so didn't have collision insurance on them, but insurance did pay for most of the repairs on the truck that was stolen from the restaurant.

And we live in a rural area, so it isn't as if thieves are walking by all the time looking for cars to steal. Two of the thefts were thefts of opportunity--they were looking for loose change and found the keys so took the vehicle. One got an hour away before running out of gas, another 2 hours, and the restaurant thieves ran the truck into a tree and I hope they all hit the dash and broke a few bones!

So if one is going to leave their keys in their truck it's probably a good idea to leave it almost empty, too.

My neighbor was at a restaurant after a show, and someone stole the mats out of her horse trailer while they were inside eating! Seeing that mats are pretty cumbersome to maneuver, I was shocked to hear they were stolen.

You've sure had a run of bad luck with trucks though!

[kande50]

You've sure had a run of bad luck with trucks though!

It was over a period of many years, although I was talking to our neighbor after ours was stolen and he said he's had two stolen, as well. But he leaves his keys in his truck, and still leaves them in even after having 2 trucks stolen!

[piedmontfields]

So if one is going to leave their keys in their truck it's probably a good idea to leave it almost empty, too.

It's hard to imagine that the environs of Williamstown Mass are rougher than rural E TN. But I do live in a sunny hollow! That said, people around here assume that a long gravel driveway with no turn around and no clear view should be avoided---unless you are ready to look down the barrel of a shotgun or worse.

So our place is pretty quiet (and there is nothing but gas in the truck!).

[Fatcat]

This is a timely thread... Hubby and I were just discussing whether to get a new(used), truck as ours is now 23 years old and has 145k miles. On the plus side, it's a dodge cummins, and not counting the flaky air conditioning, has been low maintenance and just keeps running. I'm getting back to riding and am starting to begin towing again and horse camping and am just wondering if it's up to the task of going over the cascade mountains and down the freeway. I'm going to take it to our mechanic who I trust and have him vet it before I start trailering again.

I too got serious sticker shock when pricing used dodge diesels recently--they're all $40-50k! I paid $14k for ours with super low miles 17 years ago, and just can't swallow these high prices.

[Josette]

We still have our 1996 F-150 which we refer to as our engagement truck. At the time, I told DH to buy me a truck instead of an engagement ring - to pull the horse trailer I was planning to buy. So it has some rust issues but still runs well since DH does most of the maintenance. I finally did purchase a 2nd truck in 2015 another F-150 but a 4X4 this time. I got tired of getting stuck in the snow and need to pick up hay/bedding as feedstore will not deliver when there is snow. Anyway, I told DH I'm planning to retire when I have this truck paid off.

[StraightForward]

I'm glad I bought my F250 V10 in the depths of the recession when gas was hitting $4 a gallon. No one would touch it and I got a great deal, so in about 8 years it hasn't really depreciated at all. Other than auto hubs and power mirrors, I don't really miss any of the bells and whistles that would come with a new truck. Mine was a creampuff 1-owner truck that didn't even have scratches in the bed until I got ahold of it. Only about 118K on the odometer now, and at the rate I drive it, it ought to last a long while. Maybe I'll buy a 2015... in 2025 or so.

[kande50]

It's hard to imagine that the environs of Williamstown Mass are rougher than rural E TN. But I do live in a sunny hollow! That said, people around here assume that a long gravel driveway with no turn around and no clear view should be avoided---unless you are ready to look down the barrel of a shotgun or worse.

So our place is pretty quiet (and there is nothing but gas in the truck!).

Yes, there are some advantages to living in a gun toting state vs a liberal enclave like Williamstown.

Completely off topic for trucks, but my relatives from KY told me about some fool near them who broke into the well protected home and business of a gun dealer. I don't remember the details, but the crook got shot. No surprises there.

I think the reason we got hit (twice) is because we live near the road so they could steal the vehicles while staying closer to the road than the house. The more important factor however (IMO) was that the keys were in the vehicles and the vehicles weren't locked. Not that locking anything will deter a determined thief, but that kind of thief isn't interested in the old beaters. I think those who take beat up old trucks just take them because they find the keys, because apparently, they think that's an invitation.

[kande50]

I finally did purchase a 2nd truck in 2015 another F-150 but a 4X4 this time. I got tired of getting stuck in the snow and need to pick up hay/bedding as feedstore will not deliver when there is snow. Anyway, I told DH I'm planning to retire when I have this truck paid off.

We had to do that too (buy a 4WD), because we jumped the gun when they first came out with the big 1 1/4 tons. It's a very large truck, but the combination of the height and the dual wheels make it just about useless off road. It's a great road truck and we've trailered a lot of miles in it, but it'll get stuck on wet grass on level ground.

[piedmontfields]

Yes, there are some advantages to living in a gun toting state vs a liberal enclave like Williamstown.

Kande, I'm just going to have to meditate on that statement as I do my time in TN.

FYI, it is also legal to conceal/carry a gun into a bar here.