Hello all, looking for some advice, truck wise and fiancial wise. I am young and make mistakes so I want to do this right haha.. I bought my 2005 F250 do so some massive home projects last summer. Today I am all done and the truck really just sits. Dont get me wrong I love the truck and thought I would keep it forever but I didnt buy it as a daily driver, I bought it as a hauler. I dont tow at all or even have a trailer, but I was hauling huge amounts of materials in the bed so I needed a HD truck to speed up the process..

I think what hurts and why I dont use it as a daily driver or even ever want to drive is is because I get 10mpg.. I knew it was going to happen but if I dont NEED to to drive it I really dont want to..

That al being said I owe 12k on it still, KBB says I can get 11k for a trade in and 14k private party. I still want to own a truck weather I keep mine or trade it in, because I believe every family needs a truck. If I never drive it, is it really worth it to spend 12k more of it to actually own it?

So what would you guys do if you owned a Super Duty that you didnt need or ever drive? Down size to something more economical, or keep it because it will last forever and you never know when you will need a HD..

A guy at my work told me to go buy a 4x4 Ranger and if I need to haul something heavy or really big go rent or buy a trailer and tow it rather that put it in the bed. Sounds reasonable but I am just not sure.

I think my only qualification for a truck is that it is 4x4..

Dont get my wrong though, I LOVE the truck and I mod'ed the heck out of it

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

I understand the emotional attachment, but it sounds like you are wasting money since you don't use it. I would put it up for sale and hold out for as close to payoff value as long as you can. If you sell it for less than you owe, look at is as part of the cost of your home projects.

 

If you get a new truck.... are you going to not do everything to it that made this one get 10mpgs? If you "downsize" to an almost equally large F150 and mod it like this one you really aren't gaining more than a couple (if that) MPGs, and you'll be out ALL the mod costs again, pretty much guaranteeing that you're losing money on the change.

What kind of DD car do you have if the truck is sitting right now? If the truck is your second vehicle, I'd either keep it if you want it and are willing to pay for it, or sell it and be truck-less. Trading a second vehicle for something substantially similar isn't going to save you anything.

FWIW my truck is a second vehicle right now, I'd rather pay a little more in the long run for a SD plus a mpg-getter than try to stretch an F-150 into both roles. A friend of mine has an F-150, his motto is that the bed/toolbox if for tools he needs daily, and his trailer is for any type of hauling. His 5.0 2wd will eek out 21 on the highway, but I'd rather keep my truck in the corral and drive a 30+mpg econ box than burn empty miles in a truck then overwork it when I need it.

 

For many years I have owned a pickup bed trailer and towed it behind my 4Runner. Pickup bed trailers (at least as I make them) are indestructible and can easily be loaned to neighbors without fear. If your daily driver can tow, consider this option. I still use it behind my Super Duty for trips to the mulch place.

Not everyone can store such a trailer because of neighborhood covenants or their wife, but it's a very low-cost option for a poor-man's pickup.

I would sell what you have, but realize that any 4x4 truck won't usually get much better than 20 mpg, so huge gas mileage gains won't happen there.

 

I bought my 2k SuperDuty for similar reasons, but I only spent $4200 & paid cash, so no loan to deal with. Since I don't have a fortune into it, I don't mind if it sits a bit... I didn't buy it for a daily driver.

I've found KBB & Edmunds to be off by quite a bit sometimes. Take it to your local CarMax & see what they'll give you. Also, search AutoTrader & Craigslist to see what comparable trucks are going for (locally). If you decide to sell, try returning to stock & sell the mods off separately (as much as you can). Can't really advise you on the keep/sell front... I'll just say this... swapping/selling solely because of gas mileage is typically a losing proposition. If you sell it for something smaller... your fill-ups will be cheaper, but at what cost?

But I know what you're feeling... I'm single with 4 vehicles. I go through stages where I think of selling one or more of them... It can be a pain maintaining them (not to mention registration/insurance costs), & jockeying vehicles in the driveway... but I've always had a passion for cars & my childhood dream was to have a collection. Now I do... for how long, I'm not sure. Priorities change with time. Sit down & make a list of pros & cons for selling the truck... then consider the more emotional/sentimental aspects. Either way, it won't be the end of the world. Only you can decide what the correct course of action is...

Good luck!

 

Not sure where you are, but just figuring the sales tax to get it registered, plus dealer fees, if you buy from one, suggests you are going to have to use a lot of fuel just to get back to the break even point. For the average driver, it has been my impression you seldom come come out ahead, if mileage is the only reason to trade.

I don't use my diesel much other than an occasional trip to Lowes, but I make sure to drive it every couple of days. It's paid for and there when I need it. Plus, I know the truck so I don't have to take on a new set of problems that sometimes happens with a trade or vehicle change.

Just my thinking,

Steve

 

I had a 4x4 ranger, and you'll be lucky to break 20 mpg on strictly hiway, and that was after a little modding, so do the math before you go that direction.

 

I guess just the way I look at it is.. I have a $12k truck sitting in my drive way that I dont want to drive unless I have to because I only get 10mpg.. When I can drive my car that gets 30+mpg... Its a obvious choice why I drive it.. I realize that trucks are not designed for MPG but ANYTHING would be better than this, 20MPG would be awesome in my opinion and I be comfortable driving a truck that got 20mpg..

If I owned it outright, I would just leave it parked and use it when I need to but the way I am looking at it is that I still owe 12k on it so how bad do I really want it?? Right now I can just about give it away and be done with it and take no loss on it.. I dont my money out of it already just for the home repair project.. I have only paid $2700 in payments since I have owned it and it has been worth more than $2700 in my opinion for what I did with it..

When I bought it a year ago I said to myself I am going to keep it forever because its exactly what I want.. Now my home remodel is done and the truck feels like its a massive overkill, I doubt I will even need a HD truck again.. And if I do it might be just once every couple years..

 

Well, I don't do car/truck payments so I can tell you what I would do. I'd sell it myself as to get every last dollar I could for it then if I still needed a truck, I would buy a $2,000-$4,000 Ranger or whatever else I could buy WITH CASH!

 

I'm with Scott. Sell it for all that you can squeeze out of it. Then buy something that you can pay cash for.

 

This is a tough one and to be honest, I've thought about this in the past myself, and here's why I didn't feel it was worth it to sell or trade. Like you, I found my F250 crew cab with a V10 is probably not the best commuter. It's perfect for me when hauling, towing or anything else a truck is used for (surprise!) but even things like finding a parking spot for a big truck make it less than practical sometimes, so like yours, mine sits in the garage (at least it'll fit!) and I drive it very little, maybe once a week, maybe not even that much. So like you I thought about selling it and buying an F150 that gets better mileage and is smaller so I can drive it more often, becaue I really do like driving my truck. But once I started crunching the numbers for real, I felt it was not going to be a good move. One of the reasons is that like you, I owe about $9K on the truck, so assuming a can sell it, how much will I really get out of a V10 truck with 110K miles on it in today's $4-$5 a gallon gas? Hey, I love the truck myself but all I hear is "..that would be a nice truck if it had a diesel...". Never mind that in real world use, those get maybe 3-5 mpgs better, which is hardly worth mentioning. Buyers now, just like always would rather have a diesel, which makes mine an orphan of sorts. WE have to accept the fact we might love the V10, but the first thing the prospective buyer sees is a gas hog, right or wrong, first impressions are important. Anyway, so the bottome line is "how much are you really gonna get in your pocket once the truck is gone." For me, it was maybe a small down payment on the F150 I mentioned. So now lets look at the F150, a nice truck to be sure. The problem is, everyone knows they are great trucks and they cost about as much used as I paid for my F250 with the same options! So now I just flushed 3 years of $300/month payments down the toilet to get a smaller truck. I need a crew cab, so that leaves me with half a bed that won't fit a full sheet of plywood or sheetrock or my quad with the tailgate up. Sweet. Also, better like the look of a stock truck, because even with a Ranger, if you lift it or put bigger tires on it, you're gonna kill the mileage and be right back where you are now, with a truck you can't afford to drive. So for me, I'll stick with what I have, keep driving my 171K mile '88 Mustang 5.0 GT on a daily basis and save the truck for stuff I need a truck for, plus maybe one day a week to work, just to treat myself. Gas ain't that expensive, and I knew when I bought it that it was more want than need.

 

Although we often discuss what to buy as though it is a logic based decision, I think more often we look for arguments to reinforce our intentions and discard the ones that don't.

Steve

 

Unless you have ridiculously low miles I don't see that truck bringing what KBB says, even the 11K. You can rent a SD from Home Depot and I am betting other box stores for all the hauling you want to do for a weekend. Not sure how a regular cab fits into what a family needs, that along with a sports car go out the window when it comes time for a family. The truck will lose value whether you drive it or not every year and will bottom probably around $5K-$7K depending on miles and condition in the near future.

 

I always say if you need a truck, get a one ton, you want a truck, get a 3/4 ton, you like the idea of owning a truck, get 1/2 ton. My thoughts are do it; if you get a 150 and are comfortable driving it everyday with mpg's in the high teens to replace two seperate vehicles you can come out even-2nd vehicle cost, insurance and maintence buys a lot of gas. Sometimes too as Steve eluded to you have to factor what you want into your desision as well.

 

It seems kinda simple to me. If you have future need for a truck, don't sell. If you have no future need for a truck, sell, and don't buy another truck. Trading down to a smaller truck seems to be the worst of all options - poor milage, new/unkown problems, continued finance payments. I don't put high milage on my trucks - a few thousand miles a year - but I can't live without 'em. And they run long after they are pald off.