Trying to decide if this makes since. I'm in sales and travel about 40,000 miles a year and get vehicle expenses for my mileage driven. Currently us a Honda accord and get about 30 mpg. Here is where I'm at. I currently have a 2006 f350 with the 6.0 powerstroke that we use for pulling our camper and my wife uses for her vehicle. We only have 73,000 miles on it which isn't good for diesels. And my wife struggles to get in and out of the vehicle and drive the beast around town. I am considering letting her drive the accord and get a new 6.7 f-250 to drive as my company vehicle. My calculations show that the new 6.7 would cost me about .11 cents per mile more to dive than the accord. But still be affordable with my companies vehicle reimbursement program. That is based on getting 20mpg with 90% highway driving(which I do)
So basically it would be $4,400 per year more than an accord to use. But here are my thoughts.
1) I will be using a diesel the way they are designed to be used.(worked)
2) we will save about $1,000 per year by my wife driving the accord instead of the diesel. And it is easier for her with her arthritis.
3) my saftey in case of an accident is raised significantly by driving a super duty instead of a small 4 cylinder accord.
4) how cool would it be to drive a new superduty everday for work. I should also be able to get cheaper fuel as it is used for campany use.

What do you guys think. I would use my current truck to see how it works out finacially, but my company policy requires the vehicle can be no more than 5 years old. I'm in no hurry to do this now. But if I do decide to go this route, I want to do it now while my 2011 accord has 135,000 miles and still has life left in it for my wife to drive. Just looking for opinion from others.

 

Just my opinion, but I would never drive a high dollar new/used vehicle to commute in. I commute in a C-Max, drive a Raptor on the weekends and afternoons. Going to purchase a F350 soon.

Few things to consider, I'm sure you already have:


1. Depreciation #1, you will lose a lot of money driving high miles.
2. Extra maintenence expenses
3. 20 MPG is a little optimistic. I would factor around 13-15 MPG.
4. Buy the diesel - Enjoy it on the weekends!
5. It's your decision - If that's what you want to do, Go for it!

Best wishes with your decision!

 

both my 2012 f250 and 2012 f350 DRW have a fuel cost around 28-30cents/mile

 

Yes but he's also deducting the operating cost of the Accord from those figures. If I was doing that I'd also add in the cost of the longest highest mileage ESP plan that I could get. The Premium ESP plan includes a loaner car if your vehicles at the dealer over night. Very important if this is going to be a work vehicle.

 

Thank you for the quick replies. I appreciate it. All of the points you bring up is the reason for me thinking long and hard before doing this. Currently my 06 is great and I get 18-19mpg highway. My wife gets 13-14 around town. So I figured the 6.7 would be a bit better?
My main reason for thinking about doing this is because it is getting harder for my wife to drive the beast as an everyday driver with her arthritis condition.
And I here ya David1986, for the price of these new 6.7's I could damn near by 3 small high mpg cars. LOL if my 2006 6.0 was problematic I would probably do it, but it is running great and getting great mpg.

 

If I were you, I'd drive the 06 and pocket the Co's money for a future vehicle or repairs. Your daily drives would be good for it.

 

Are you also figuring the depreciation when you sell that high mileage pickup after 5 years? You are far better off keeping what you've got now and piling up the miles on the Accord

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I agree pocketing the savings driving the Accord and use that money on a new toy. I know it's tempting to drive a nice truck for commuting, it's just no economical to do so. I hate seeing my Raptor sitting in the garage when I leave everyday.

As others have said, for the money you will save get the wife another vehicle that fits her needs.

 

Don't think you will average 20 per gallon either. Figure more like 16-18 on average.


This does not make sense to me.


I have a commuter car that I drive to work.

 

Maybe if you are talking about a 2015 truck, sure maybe not 20, but in a 2014 and below you could hit the 20MPG mark all day everyday if you are doing 90% highway.

That being said, I would NEVER buy one of these trucks to commute in if I already had a car. If she can't drive the 6.0 around, just buy her a car????????????

 

I agree. I guess I was just looking for a reason that would put me in a 6.7 truck. The itch for the new truck is there, but the financials just don't make since. I think I will keep everything the way it is for now. Maybe go another year and get a new car for company use and let the wife drive the accord daily and just keep the 6.0 for towing the RV until it just quits or starts nickel and diming me. Thanks guys for bringing me to my senses. I still really like this 6.7 though. I just don't need it. But man I like it. But I just don't need it. But man I like it. LOL

 

We all understand wants. If I only had what I needed, I would be retired already, less stressed and a lot better off. But I just like rewarding myself for hard work. We all do and there's nothing wrong with wanting to drive a 6.7 Superduty. That's why Ford makes them like they do…for us to want, want and want to drive them them.

God bless the USA!!!!!!

 

Take a closer look at the company vehicle reimbursement program too. Many programs like that have rules. One major company I know of restricts personal vehicle use with many rules. For example, to be eligible for personal vehicle reimbursement said vehicle must have an EPA rating for mpg 20+. Meaning that the gubmit sticker on the car with the mpg rating has to be documented and has to be 20mpg or better.

Most folks I know that work for this company can't use big trucks because they're not rated by the EPA. Therefore, they all drive ecoboost f150's or Toyota tacomas. Some may start getting that dodge 1500 eco diesel. I've seen a few of those around lately and makes me wish ford would do that in the 150/expedition.

 

Yeah we have certain criteria we must meet also. Pretty general though.
.46 cents per mile
Must have 4 doors
Must have certain enterior sq ft (very small a civic is big enough)
Can go to 200,000 miles or 5 years on each vehicle.
And then x amount of insurance coverage
So pretty basic. We can get just about anything.

 

You only get paid 46 cents per mile?

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