Yep. Then you have your next vehicle fund. I've thought this many times and will likely do this. Unless my kids take it all from me. ;-)

 

Bought my truck used with 233K on it, Had it now 6 years. 298k on it now. I do the repairs [mechanical, can't keep up with the body ] , but i don't have a truck payment, I've just recently returned it to DD status driving 65 miles a day to work and home. I keep one nice car (my wife's) and it has a lein, but also has extended warranty to 100k, She only puts on about 10k a year. All my other cars are used. We limit ourselves to one car payment at a time. Next new (or newer) vehicle goes to me (my turn, she's gotten the last two.)

 

It can also be a regional economy thing. For instance, when we moved to ND, I was *shocked* at the prices on used, very high mileage trucks up here. I had been looking for a 1-2 year old truck with low miles to take advantage of the depreciation that someone else had already paid for.

All I was seeing were high mileage trucks, like a one year old truck with 80k on it? 80k? In a year? Did the guy ever shut the engine off? 2-3 year old trucks with 100-150k on them, and they were asking as much as brand new. I looked for over a year before I bought my brand new truck off the Ford lot, as a model year closeout for cheaper money than I've seen any of the high mileage used trucks listed at. And I got an extended warranty to boot.

I wasn't really looking for brand new, but for me it was a no-brainer. I'm sure as hell not going to pay brand new price, for a used truck with a boat load of miles on it that someone else tried to run the wheels off of. To me, if that truck is hitting 50k+ miles a year, then the asking price needs to drop off exponentially.

You guys want top dollar for your trucks when you sell them? Bring them to ND, people up here apparently like to buy used trucks at or higher than new truck prices.

But for me, my truck, I'll keep it forever. Not interested in trading in every few years. This one will out last me. I'll fix whatever needs fixing as it crops up over the years, but my plan is to have this one until I'm too old to drive it anymore.

 

The value to its owner is highest when he/she can say this truck is worth more getting me from point A to point B than any dollar figure. It's paid for, relatively reliable, only has to have liability insurance and does everything I need it to. If your want to get to that juncture then you have to pass by the idea that the truck is worth x amount and If I can get that, I'll get another. Doing that means you just started over. Now if you are financially fine with that situation, then great, you have achieved the highest value you are ever going to albeit you will be constantly paying something. Personally, I'm in the first group. I'm happy for those who keep buying the shiny beasts (I'm sure FORD is also) but I don't need one.

 

I was planning on buying used earlier this year when I started shopping around. I bought my '15 off the lot, and got it to less than what used '14 and '15 same everything other than color were listing for, and the used had 20-35k miles. And I know there isn't that much room in the used ones to haggle down. Lots of incentives and I got the 7 year 100k warranty, as it actually brought my rate down. The warranty was decided on in the finance office after we saw the rate drop. Compared to it listed up front, I payed less than half for the warranty and it covers what I would want.

I couldn't have gotten the warranty on a used truck, nor could I have gotten the same low rate.

I'll drive it into the ground. Hopefully will have a center console behind it in a few years. My wife and I drive them until it isn't economical to put money into it. Hopefully just before something major.

 

I shopped for a few months for a truck last year. I checked out diesels but forget it. I know nothing about them and the maintenance required for them can be daunting. Checked out some gas trucks, and being up in the rust belt, $15,000 got you a 100k mile V8 3/4 ton with no rockers or wheel wells, bald tires, exhaust leaks, and holes in the floor. The trucks I was looking at were HAMMERED.

Against my initial feelings, I started looking at new. Originally ordered a 6.7 F350, backed out of it, and found a deal on a 2015 6.2 F250 CCLB. Sure, I have payments now. In four years it'll be mine. I figure I drive about 7k miles a year. Have only owned vehicles with 200k miles on them, and when the time comes, not afraid to bolt on sheet metal and duct tape the fenders. It should take me almost 15 years to get even close to 200k miles. I don't wind the motor out, race to the top of every hill, take it off road, or beat on it. I wash it once a week and once a year I'll reapply the FluidFilm. Will it rust? Yes. Will I care? By then, not really. My last truck had coat hangers holding up the exhaust, four different tires, no spare, 220k on the odo, rot holes in the floor, door pins gone, sheet metal screwed into the fenders, and duct tape on the rockers. I drove that pile in the ground and sold it for more than what I paid for it.

I got **** for buying a new truck constantly. I still do. I had people telling me the best thing that could happen to me would be total it out with me inside of it killing me in the process. Its odd though, I'm ahead on my payments and still have enough to look for a truck camper. In the end, I did the opposite of what the majority of "experts" were telling me to do, and I ended up with a great truck that I 100% plan on still driving in 20 years. End of the day, do what you feel comfortable doing. New. Used. Gas. Diesel. Ford. Dodge. Chevy. For nearly 15 years I took other people's advice and always got burned. The last three years I did what I felt like doing, and I'm in the prime of my life.

 

I agree JM, the "experts" anymore are just paid hacks, their advice destroyed the housing market by 2008 and made it socially acceptable to be a deadbeat and run up debt, etc. F 'em.

 

This brings to mind that when I was in college a friend was lamenting to his dad about the cost to repair his old truck vs. the costs of replacing it. His dad said, "son, you gotta learn that if you want to drive, it's gonna cost you. It doesn't matter whether new or old, it's gonna cost you. If you can't deal with that, don't drive."

That said, the longer you keep a vehicle, the less cost per year as long as it's not a maintenance nightmare.

However, I leased my '98 expedition for exactly 48 months and 60k miles and my only cost was the lease payments, which I had budgeted for (I never even bought tires). That worked out well for me, but it was the only time I leased.

I personally prefer to buy new even though I know the initial depreciation is a killer. If you buy new every 2-4 years that will eat you up but buying new comes with reassurance that maintenance will be minimal so your costs are closer to fixed.

The older you buy, the more of a crapshoot it can be.

Years ago I had a Suburban in excellent shape with 120k on it and I had to rebuild the transmission and figured it was worth it. 2 months later it started smoking like a freight train and I did not want to add rebuilding the engine to the transmission expense so I got that new Expedition.

If you want to drive, it's going to cost you.

 

IMO, trading is NEVER a good deal. I have never been offered anything I thought was reasonable for a trade. I always turned it down and sold it for much more than the dealer offered. The last one, my 99 Dodge I had before my F-250, they offered me $1200 for. I sold it about a month later for $4500. I'm now 57 years old and have yet to trade-in a vehicle in my whole life.

 

I bought this truck with intent to drive it and pull 8k travel trailer, and no payments on it either. I do some of the maintenance and plan on keeping it until her wheels fall off. Just saying...lol

 

Who the heck would wish that on you?

 

The proverbial asshole of the internet where all the **** passes through.

 

Without taking the effort to find examples, if you look at nearly any 2-3 year old vehicle and work out the miles on it as a true age (70k miles/12k that YOU drive per year = just under 6 years of use) you'll find it hard to justify the deal. Even when its 24k miles, look at the cost per year. Now if you truly just need to save money that's different. But cost of use per year is best on new or once they are more than 6 years old generally. Blue book retail on low miles same year is often higher than dealer invoice. I know that's more like retail to wholesale, but we don't get them for free either. On our lot, we rarely make much on late model auction purchased cars. We sell em to make money on the back end and help with switching folks to new... well at least that's what I do with them!

 

As long as they don't nickel and dime you to death, just run em until they don't run no more.

I've paid mine off in 4 years and I've kept every one of my ford trucks for at least 10 years.

I took one when I was done and turned it into a company truck. They worked the heck out of it. One day when we were looking for a replacement a guy happened to come by and bought it for $1500.00. We replaced the truck with a chevy farm truck. Paid 2K for that one and it's still in use 2 1/2 years later.

Run em until the don't run no more. Anything else is just throwing money away. Nobody really cares if you a have a perfectly painted ride with big chrome wheels and big meats.

Who cares? To me it's a matter of utility. I have a 2004 King King Ranch that I threw a New to me 8' Fisher Plow on last year before the snow started in New England. That thing paid for itself 10 times over.

 

"People borrow money they don't have to buy things they can't afford to impress people they don't like."

Hm.