Who can afford a new truck anymore?

[Jstpssng]

Here's a discussion about what I was thinking of.
Paint peeling off Dodge truck

 

[KennyG]

With the cost of painting cars today, it's frustrating to have paint problems. However, I'm very impressed with the quality and durability of the new clear coat systems. I've bought 8 new vehicles in the last 30 years and haven't had a paint problem on any of them. When I bought my 2004 Dakota I was a little concerned about the durability of red paint but I went ahead with it because I thought it would be kept inside most of the time. Things change and it's spent more time parked outside than inside. However, if I wash it now it looks almost like it did out of the factory. In 11 years I've clay barred it once, polished it a couple of times and waxed it 4 or 5 times.

 

[mjw]

A few things I haven't seen discussed-
New Truck Prices- Options on the truck
78 Suburban, loaded meant that it had an AM/FM radio and floor mats basically, carbureted 10 mpg.
91 Suburban, loaded meant power windows, locks, AM/FM cassette, rear ABS and a few other things I forget, TBI FI 15-17mpg
2001 Suburban- leather, moon roof, power mirrors, cd player, 4 wheel abs, air bags, power/heated seats, temp/compass and more, multi port FI
2015 Suburban- the above with flashers in mirrors, nav systems, tv's and all sorts of toys, besides all the gov mandated accessories.

So part of the price increase is just all the goodies on a truck and the fact that no one makes stripped trucks represents the majority of the buying publics wants, yes a few people want a stripped vehicle, just like a few of us still want a stick shift, but we are anomalies.
In my area even finding a stick shift in a vette has been a rarity for years.

Used vs New- The group is an anomoliy, many of us do our own repairs and then factor cost of ownership on those prices.
Take the normal car/truck buyer and figure in shop rates.
My brake job $100 vs $400 at a shop
Replace a timing belt- $20 vs $4-500 at a shop.

Maintaining a used vehicle, if you have to pay someone else to do it gets pricey very quickly, even for scheduled maintenance like a timing belt.

Every time I research repairing something, I am always astounded what others are getting quoted for shop rates.
It wouldn't pay to keep a used car at the prices that other people have to pay.

And then add in the fact of down time. My last New vehicle purchase (2009 Toyota Corolla) came about because I was working 7 days a week and my daily driver was having issues. I wanted the Corolla, priced it out and decided I just did not want one that badly.
Then had a few vehicle issues, nothing big but bad thermostat, electrical gremlins (bad ground), etc, all while trying to drive to work.
I figured that one day of lost work was a car payment.
Bought the new car, took the business write off and for me it made sense.

As has been stated before it also matters what you are looking to buy and the local market.
When I bought my 95 Mustang I had been saving for a few years and planned on buying a used Fox body, cash.
Couldn't find anything buy over priced beat down junk.
Bought new and knew that I was going to be the young punk beating on the car, not repairing someone elses damage.
This was also purchased because of too many Sundays trying to get my old car running to make it work on Monday.

Had I wanted a Crown Vic, it would have made more sense to purchase a used Grandma special.

It all depends.

 

[kenmac]

With the cost of painting cars today, it's frustrating to have paint problems. However, I'm very impressed with the quality and durability of the new clear coat systems. I've bought 8 new vehicles in the last 30 years and haven't had a paint problem on any of them. When I bought my 2004 Dakota I was a little concerned about the durability of red paint but I went ahead with it because I thought it would be kept inside most of the time. Things change and it's spent more time parked outside than inside. However, if I wash it now it looks almost like it did out of the factory. In 11 years I've clay barred it once, polished it a couple of times and waxed it 4 or 5 times.

I had a 1995 dodge truck that had paint problems,, I had a 1996 chevy astro van that had paint problems, I had 2 1995,1997 chevy pick ups that had paint problems, I currently have a 2000 mazda with paint problems ..I would say u have had better luck than I..

 

[sd455dan]

I have watched and helped reassemble a few older GM trucks. It took forever to align panel gaps. The new stuff just seems to "fit" better.

Yeah- especially when the chev trucks built in the mid 1970s through 80s had about 24 bolts in each fender IIRC.
then go and do something stupid- like buy an off shore replacement fender. (me):laughing:
now the alignment fun really begins


Not sure the Fords of that vintage were any better...


We used both in the oil field doing seismographic oil research for a geophysical company back in the early 1980s.

We had several Ford 1 tons crack or break their frames also rip out the chains from unprotected aluminum transfer cases Then there were those whiny short lived Ford power steering boxes and pumps. Some of the Chevs with small blocks blew up or burned oil... the M block fords fared better.
And the chev hoods Did crack right in the middle at the front extending to the bottom edge.
Pick your poison

 

[Turbys_1700]

My son's father-in-law just purchased his retirement truck. His last new truck was a 92 which he still drives as a daily driver. He ordered exactly what he wanted. I don't know what he paid as it is none of my business but he had done a lot of business with the local dealership many years. According to him they sold it to him at invoice and gave him all the rebates and hold backs. I am sure that they made a decent profit just not as much as normal.

As far as painting, they quoted him $4500 to paint his old 92. No dice. He's gonna take it to MAACO.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

After driving the son's 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 for a month while he was off on summer trips as I was fixing issues that it just a larger truck than I want for a daily driver. I have decided on a 2005 or newer Dodge Dakota or Nissan Frontier when the time comes based on what I know today. $12K for 10 year old trucks boggles my mind but so do the new prices. The price gap between new and 2-3 years old is VERY narrow I find.

 

[Jstpssng]

After driving the son's 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 for a month while he was off on summer trips as I was fixing issues that it just a larger truck than I want for a daily driver. I have decided on a 2005 or newer Dodge Dakota or Nissan Frontier when the time comes based on what I know today. $12K for 10 year old trucks boggles my mind but so do the new prices. The price gap between new and 2-3 years old is VERY narrow I find.

That's what I'm finding, also. I wouldn't mind so much if those 10YO trucks didn't have 150k - 200k+
miles on them. Plus rust...one thing which seems to rust faster on newer trucks is the frames.
Come to think of it though,frames on the early '80s F150 used to break around the rear shock mounts.

 

[kenmac]

That's what I'm finding, also. I wouldn't mind so much if those 10YO trucks didn't have 150k - 200k+
miles on them. Plus rust...one thing which seems to rust faster on newer trucks is the frames.
Come to think of it though,frames on the early '80s F150 used to break around the rear shock mounts.

I guess ,we don't get much rust on the frames down here.. I have several ,and have owned several older trucks.. No rusted frames here.. I have never had a problem with rust, body ,or frame

 

[Parkanzky]

I was looking for a truck to tow my (small) tractor around last fall. I was looking for 3/4-ton options, but new heavy-duty trucks optioned the way I wanted them were in the $60k's and even lightly-used examples still seemed ridiculously expensive to me.

I figured that I could get away with a ~10k# towing capacity. I ended up finding a 2003 1500 HD. It's the fully-loaded 'LT' model with 180k miles I got it for a bit under $10k.

I love it, but now I've ordered a new 14k# GVWR trailer. My current truck is rated to tow my tractor on it, however I'd like to pick up a bigger truck to be able to fully utilize it. But how do I justify that expense for a truck that will sit for weeks at a time?

Well, I just ran into the other drawback of going cheap.

My wife and I were in town Saturday afternoon running some errands. We were on our way to the pet spa to pick our dog up from a grooming session and the instruments on the truck jumped around for a couple seconds and then it died. I just managed to coast into the entrance of a church parking lot before I ran out of momentum. The problem is clearly electrical (some things that should work with the key out only work when the key is turned on and some stuff just doesn't work at all).

So a $100 tow (I couldn't tow it myself because my trailer is useless without my truck...). And since we're in the middle of a remodel and I have to get some things done before the next crew of subs come to do their bit, I had it towed to a shop instead of working on it myself.

I had a service scheduled at the dealer for the tractor and was supposed to tow it in this morning. I had to cancel that appointment, which pushes back the whole series of events that I have planned that eventually lead to me having a grapple.

These are all just inconveniences for me, but if I had to count on my truck it would be a major issue. So I completely understand why someone with critical needs and no backups would want to keep something new around.