I love that he's investing in land. Another smart move would be a 15 year mortgage vs a 30. While you pay some interest a big chunk of the monthly mortgage payment will go to principal which is putting that money right back in your pocket. A house on a fixed interest mortgage freezes your monthly payment in time, you are no longer subject to rent increases and inflation. Within 5 years you can probably buy the new truck and then in 15 years whammo no monthly rent, no mortgage payment, you will be able to buy any vehicle you want from there on out.


At this point in your life acquire assets not liabilities.

 

thanks I appreciate that. I guess you guys are right but it's so hard to shake the dang bug. I wanted a diesel originally but jumped the gun the moment I had 9k and bought a gasser gmc SLT 1500 it's a 2015. I owe less than is worth. I just am getting a little bit of a raise at work like a 2 dollar raise which will be 26$ an hour. So I figured if I got a new truck and actually got one I wanted not what I settle for it would be only 110 dollars more a month than what I pay now. My current payment is 609 a month. After my current truck payment and land payment I am left with 1550 dollars extra a month. That's why I say I could bare to afford it. If I wanted and the gf and I won't be building till 4 years from now. She's in school getting her bachelors.

theres a place in town selling a 16 SD for 59k it's a lariat ultimate but I feel like I might be missing out not getting current year model if I decided too.

Im sorry for being hard headed guys I really appreciate your help

 

I'd really do more research on the diesel aspect. I know you've asked a few good questions here. I know it's cool. But is it $8k cool?

I have only expensive hobbies that will keep me eternally poor. One of them is salt water aquariums. The general rule of thumb is to buy the most expensive equipment you can afford! Frankly I find it the opposite with trucks. Buy what you need. It'll get worn out before you need the more in most cases and I see lots of folks get the more expensive one just in case, and never use it. You are like me in saying you'll want to keep it a long time, but you'll find out that with a family, keeping a new vehicle makes a fair amount of sense, leasing an F150 might actually be a darn good option. That being said, a well cared for gasser will probably last as long for the dollar as a diesel will. I have gas tractors from the 60s with 5000 hours on them. Do they need rebuilt at some point? sure, but that cost is still less than a diesel would have cost new. Same with cars and trucks. You can do alot of repairs on a gasser for the expense of the diesel, and that's not to mention the higher cost along the way. If I were buying a new truck for myself this year, it's be a decent XL SC F250 gasser. I'd use it for hauling antique cars and tractors and farm equipment around. It'd do everything I want and then some. Problem is, my 1979 F250 and 2000 F550 do the jobs just fine too. So no truck for now, but when the time comes, I would pass on a diesel myself, just because I don't need it, therefore it's a waste of money with little more than a higher maintenance bill to show for it. If you're gonna buy a truck, use TrueCar or similar and take the figures to your local dealer and make em match it. If you have any questions don't hesitate to PM me.

 

I'll chime in here.

First on financing I have used the same local credit union for my last 4 car purchases. The dealers always ask to do financing. I tell them the deal the CU got me and they literally tell me nevermind I can't touch that. It makes my life so much easier to know what I will pay before I buy a car and its takes a lot of the stress out of the process. I use the same loan manager every time. In the last 5 years on 4 cars I have never missed or been late on a payment. This matters a lot in my opinion. The loan manager knows me well enough that now when I call for a car loan. He simply asks me did your job or house payment change since the last time I saw you, I say no he says go buy what you want, I'll write your loan, that's it. You can not get that kind of small town customer service with a big bank or the dealership loan officers. That being said I got the exact same deal every time on the last 4 vehicles. 2.99% for 90 months.

Now as far term length. I realize that 90 months is an eternity for car loans but I like the freedom of a small payment. I usually pay it off faster then that but 2.99% is some of the cheapest money you can borrow for anything. Both me and my wife work and we keep our total car payments under 10% of our gross and our total DTI including mortgage under 36% of gross. We live a little closer to the edge of financial security then some people would recommend but we have good job security and no kids and we are just starting our careers with plenty of growth potential. I do agree that these diesel trucks are expensive to work on but I always buy a warranty long enough to cover me through then entire loan term even if I make minimum payments. I also absolutely recommend and buy GAP insurance through the CU. I disagree with being stuck with a truck forever on a longer term. Diesel trucks depreciate slower then most vehicles and even with min payments on 90 month terms you are breaking even in 3 to 4 years. I did get a good deal on my truck and traded in my last car for another 6k off so I was comfortable with the risk that I will not get tired of this truck in less then 3 years.
I realize that some people recommend only buying cars cash, or financing for 3 years or you can't afford it but I think knowing what you can or can't afford is a very personal decision and no 2 peoples finances are the same. I do agree that you should get a mortgage first and always live within your means, have an emergency fund, be well insured, and save for retirement. Once all that is done then buy whatever car or truck you want. But remember the excitement you get from that brand new car or truck is short lived if you have to worry about making the payment.

 

Just as you negotiate the price of your truck, you need to negotiate the interest rate. If you call the suntrust manager at your bank, he can remove a point or two from the 3.4 That was their list or sticker price.

When you get to the dealer he will probably beat the sunburst quote. And lets say Suntrust offers you 3.2, the you tell the dealer you can got 3.0.

 

A few more things to factor into your budget:

- Diesel fuel is more expensive than gas
- Diesel mpg is likely to be lower than your gasser's mpg.
- Diesels are more expensive to maintain. Over 250k miles, maintenance and repairs on our 2003 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE 4x2 5.3L gasser was 5 cents a mile. We are budgeting 10 cent a mile for our '17 F350 XLT 4x2 Diesel.

 

Ahh to be young again, you are just trading a GMC payment for a Ford payment. The question is then how much of your $9k are you losing on the GMC?

 

I will deff pm you frantz if I have more questions. I really appreciate that.

As as far as 9k goes I have equity in my current truck so that would cover all of the cost of the Diesel engine and then my downpayment to get me where I would be like other poster said trading payment for payment.

 

Very good advice all around here. Before you make your decision, read the books suggested! That will only take a couple of days and will cost you nothing if you can find them at your library (do younger folks know what that is?? ).

Also, go give that GMC a full detail...inside, outside, underneath, engine bay, the whole works...you do the work. Often in the past when I would "get the itch" I would go give my ride a full two-day treatment and after a ton of sweat realized I already had a pretty sweet ride. Guess that's why I still have and enjoy my '04 F150 XLT.

I'll just add this: *IF* you decide to go forward and purchase the SD, do NOT trade in the GMC. Being that it's a 2015, and you said you are not upside down, you should have no problem selling it privately. You should be able to get on average $2K more selling on your own instead of a trade. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. It's more of a hassle and can be inconvenient, but the $$ difference in your situation would be worth it IMO. I've never traded in and always sold privately. Usually only takes a couple of weeks if you advertise it properly. Last vehicle I sold privately, I got $2,200 more than any dealer or Carmax was willing to give.

 

- For most of 2016 diesel was cheaper than gasoline in my area - maybe not the standard, but it happens.
- I have owned multiple gas & diesel trucks over the past 35+ years, I have never had a gas truck that outperformed a diesel truck in the MPG department when doing the same job.
- Can't disagree with your 3rd point - Diesels cost more to maintain.

 

Maybe diesel being more expensive than gasoline is a California thing (counting the time before we can escape California). I'll defer to you on fuel mileage. This is our first diesel and over the first 4 tanks we are averaging the same fuel mileage as our gas truck, but the speed we can cruise at to maximize fuel mileage is 5 mph higher than our gas truck (70 mph vs 65 mph).

 

Not just CA. Diesel always more expensive than gasoline here in OK. Yesterday: Diesel $2.15 Gasoline $1.97. Diesel on the interstate (Love's, Pilot, etc.) is $2.58.

 

Whats the best way to advertise? I am a member of a group on Facebook. And post in there...

NADA on my truck stock is 41875 and I'm asking 43,500

do you think that's fair?

 

1. That's a good looking rig!

2. Advertise: FB, Craigslist, Ebay (local sale only), local auto trader mag, newspaper, put a sign in the window, go to local mechanic shops and show the mechanics your truck and give them a flyer, good ole word of mouth.

3. Unless you have a buyer who is flush with cash, remember that your buyer's loaning institution will only loan based on the book value. They don't care about the upgrades you've done. Now, hopefully your buyer will appreciate them and pay over book value, they will just have to come up with the cash required over what the bank will give them.

4. Dealer will typically not give you a dime for your upgrades. If you trade at the dealer and you have the original equipment, put it back on and sell your upgrades outright.

On Edit...Advertising: If you have the means to another vehicle, take your truck to the "rich" part of town and park it for a weekend with a very bright and noticeable For Sale sign. You'll want to find the 'high-end' shopping district and park it at a Whole Foods or ritzy shopping mall, something like that. It's all about marketing to the right client.

 

Indeed, for a dealer those upgrades make the truck worth much less. While I agree it's a great looking truck, finding someone to pay for it is much much much harder than someone who will buy a stock truck. Too many variables on quality and craftsmanship of the upgrades in the consumers minds, and a smaller market of people who want that to begin with. Getting over NADA is unlikely. That's the same as asking about $2k over sticker price, and people who use NADA know it's not worth more than sticker. As stated above, you'll likely need to find someone who can get that financed, and they will be working off their own values, often wholesale value. While many CUs and banks will do 130%, if it's off NADA sale value you'd be fine. If it's off wholesale, once you add tax and tags you'll be awful close.

I guess my big concern is on numbers. When I write up a deal for someone they never like their trade value. I give them wholesale and sell my trucks cheap (which lets be honest, its about the same as what most dealers advertise online, there is only so much margin to work). There are still some dealers that give great trade numbers, but then don't discount their trucks any or as much. The truth is, your truck has a real value. A dollar over that value is a dollar you could have negotiated off the new truck anyway, because it's the value of moving a new unit. Dealers are the ones taking a risk on trades, you are getting a brand new tuck with factory warranty. They are getting a used truck with modification and compromised warranty. I feel you're making your decisions off of payments, but you haven't actually gotten your old truck appraised and looked at real out the door payments. As we say in the industry, no one has told you that your baby is ugly. And that's always a harder pill to swallow when you've put lots of money into making it look perfect for you, friends, and guys online. The reality is, that makes the baby ugly value wise. So my guess is you'd go in, get a trade value and end up being a solid $5k off what you're expecting. If you're using the online calculator you do need to remember to add sales tax and all the other cost.

In leasing classes they teach us that the avg person wants a new vehicle at 27 months. I believe that. I know its true with a majority of folks who come in the door at a dealership. Sure, that's going to be a bit biased because those that are't interested in such things, don't visit as often. I also think it's normally different for trucks than cars. Seriously, who would want to drive the same sedan with old technology for 10 years? When you got our GMC you likely planned on keeping it together and then justified all the aftermarket stuff. If you get a new Ford you're already setting yourself up for the same. I really doubt you'll want to take care of a diesel outside of warranty. The cost really is double that of gas, and that's the first 100k. Anything to you put into a truck is an automatic loss. So you've lost quite a bit of money with the GMC. If you can afford it and it's what you want to do thats fine! You have more to show for it than the project cars I have dumped thousands into to get running again and havn't gotten around to painting, so now are just running projects.