What makes more sense...driving a long paid for old truck, or making huge payments??

[tractorshopper]

So where does one make the choice between mileage and reliability? Is it age of the vehicle or the number of miles it has been used? Did I mention that my brother had a two year old Ford F-150 that went in for repairs at 70,000 miles? Yet my Y2K GMC with about 46K has never been in the shop but for new tires?

For me, generally when the pattern of spending money on maintenance costs begins to increase (and what those items are) and I begin to become worried about excessive or more costly repairs. My currently oldest vehicle, the Durango, has the most miles of all and has not cost me anything but an exhaust header gasket change about 100,000 miles ago on one side (became noisy) and routine oil changes. There's no matrix for me between age and/or mileage, it's more about how confident I am in it based on its own history. My F-150 has given me the most problems out of my current vehicles throughout its life but most of my problems with it are in the later miles.

Your 2000 GMC has very few miles, so I wouldn't expect you to have any issues yet. Maybe in another 17 years it will begin showing it's wear and tear factor to you. You'll probably experience dry rot issues and rusting/sticking parts before then with lower miles than the average vehicle would have due to age. If I had your 2000 GMC with only 47k miles, I would not trade it either. Would do exactly what you're doing and keep it for the long haul. Our situations are not the same though.

 

[fidowanttobe]

Pretty simple guideline for me: when the price of a new transmission equals the value of the vehicle, let it go.

Last 3 auto trans cars had issues. Last 2 drivers purchased new have sticks.

X1000! Absolutely true!
I flip vehicles now and then and am appalled at how many good vehicles are totaled because of the cost to rebuild an auto. Give me a clutch ANY day.

 

[moriboy]

My family drives newer cars. We can afford them, and one thing that I take into consideration is the safety factor. I loved my 96 Powerstroke but I feel much safer in my 15 Ram. Perception or reality? I don't know for sure but I believe that if I was in a terrible accident my chances of surviving is better in the new rig. To each his own though...

 

[tcartwri]

Used trucks in my area go for what I paid new. The last truck cost me $5500/yr in payments, which I figure compares very well with depreciation and repairs to an older truck. I also put allot of miles on each year and am not interested in spending my weekends underneath an older rusty vehicle anymore.

 

[polkwrangler]

have a 2004 gmc 2500hd with gas engine 220,000 miles not really any issues with it great body condition,have a 2015 Nissan Altima almost paid off.id rather dump my money into a retirement account instead of spending 600.00 plus a month for new truck,im only 39 years old id rather retire nice off instead of trying to impress people with a new truck every couple of years

 

[Oaktree]

I flip vehicles now and then and am appalled at how many good vehicles are totaled because of the cost to rebuild an auto. Give me a clutch ANY day.

I will admit to having become spoiled with automatics over the past 10 yr or so, but most of my life I've preferred manual ("standard") too. Lotsa luck finding anything other than a cheapo econobox with one nowadays though.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

In OP's case with his low mileage usage his vehicle makes sense.

I drive close to 30k mikes a year. My vehicles are used for business purposes and a day of downtime can cost me thousands. I have found I am money ahead trading for new vehicles every two years. We do so with cash. We once bought three trucks brand new and tried to get six years out of them. The downtime and constant nagging repairs were not worth it. We put about as many miles in 18 months as OP does in 16 years though.

Ditto here, new truck every 25 to 30,000 miles for me. Pay cash, write off mileage, and hardly loose a dollar in the process. When I'm blowing across country, I never worry about breakdowns or repairs. That piece of mind is priceless. Oh, and an old clunker is what I bought in 1973, a 48 Chevy... I always had my head stuck under the hood.

 

[Steve1300]

A vehicle that makes frequent trips to the shop has little value for me. I have better things to do with my time. My old F150 lasted 16 years and I got rid of it only because it could not tow the weight I needed to pull. If you have a good trustworthy truck that does what you need, it makes little sense to replace it. However, because I used to travel a great deal, my wife always had a car under warranty and covered for towing and road service.

If I were retired and had little to do with my time; things might be different.

 

[Gary Fowler]

No, not on any of these vehicles.

Our 2013 Ford Edge has 117,000 miles. 2 sets of tires, a set of brakes, a battery, and a set of head light bulbs last week.

Our 2012 F150 has 103,000 miles. 3 sets of tires, new spark plugs, a battery, and a $80 heater fan controller. Still original brakes.

It's not about blowing money. We have kids in sports. My wife works 35 miles from home. I worked 68 miles from home for 3 years. Thanks economy and Obama.... We live 7 miles from the nearest gas station. It is what it is.

YOU ARE NOT THE NORM. Either am I. Kelly Blue Book and NADA both base depreciation schedules on 15,000 miles a year, the NORM!

I don't think 15K miles per year is the norm any more for 90% of the folks. I consider me and the wife to be a way below average drivers and we still have a lifetime average of about 11K per year on our 3 cars (2003, 2007 and 2013). Our driving has slowed way down since I retired in 2013. I bought the 2013 as a retirement car but wife prefers to drive her 2003 so the 2013 only has 11K on it now which is mostly from 1000 mile trips to Houston to visit the kids.
We now live 20 miles from either of the 3 small towns near us and 70 miles from the nearest airport. If we were working around here it would add at least 11K per year for each of us (21K) which I think is more of a realistic average for modern living. Many folks drive much further to work each day which is why there are many fairly new used cars on the market with 150-200K on them. It is a good thing that cars do last much longer than they did 40 years ago, with exception to rust belt cars I suppose that still rust out rather than wear out.

 

[aczlan]

I don't think 15K miles per year is the norm any more for 90% of the folks. I consider me and the wife to be a way below average drivers and we still have a lifetime average of about 11K per year on our 3 cars (2003, 2007 and 2013). Our driving has slowed way down since I retired in 2013. I bought the 2013 as a retirement car but wife prefers to drive her 2003 so the 2013 only has 11K on it now which is mostly from 1000 mile trips to Houston to visit the kids.
We now live 20 miles from either of the 3 small towns near us and 70 miles from the nearest airport. If we were working around here it would add at least 11K per year for each of us (21K) which I think is more of a realistic average for modern living. Many folks drive much further to work each day which is why there are many fairly new used cars on the market with 150-200K on them. It is a good thing that cars do last much longer than they did 40 years ago, with exception to rust belt cars I suppose that still rust out rather than wear out.

We average 10-12k miles per year on our vehicles, one of the guys at work has a child on a traveling ball team and IIRC, he and his wife is average 30-40k miles per year between their two cars, but she has a 45 minute drive to work on top of all the running around for the ball team.

Aaron Z