Buying a new truck ? Times have changed.

[Jstpssng]

I've seen many people file chapter 13 to lower the interest rate on their high interest car loans and refile a new chapter 13 about the time they needed to get a newer ride.

There was a time when VW was able to sell a lot of VW Beetles because the price was relatively affordable and the Beetle provided basic, dependable transportation relative to the cost of other economy cars of that era. Toyota, Datsun and Honda made serious inroads into the US car market by offering dependable, reliable and affordable cars, too.

There are still affordable options out there. People just choose not to buy them. How many people are buying four door, full sized 4x4s when most of their driving is to work or the grocery store?

 

[ultrarunner]

The last go round had lots of upside down vehicles catching fire or stripped.

Owners of unwanted vehicles would park them in high crime areas hoping something would happen...

Sad but true.

 

[2manyrocks]

Maybe affordability is in the eye of the beholder, but my recollection is that even a Honda subcompact was pushing $20k around middle Tennessee when I was car shopping last year.

 

[Dftodd]

I had to bite my lip when the wife brought a new Hyundai Accent for 14K. She had already told them, "No salesman nonsense, this is a cash purchase." They tried any way, as best as they could to up sell. She was having none of it. "This is the price we negotiated on this Car." After awhile, they got it, and signed the papers. I was biting my lip just expecting that they would get in to an up sale. All of those were immediately fended off. Where is my car? I want my car. And they provided it with a ribbon on top, immediately. You have to be just as brutal as the sales people are.

Ford is right to say the dealership model doesn't work for them any more and the Franchise System in place, doesn't work in an Internet World.

The China Cars will not be through dealerships. And you will buy them because they will be so much cheaper. Kinda like, Harbor Freight sold their stuff, and killed off any domestic production.

We did pretty good on our last two vehicles. Wife's car was brand new end of the year model, so they had it listed $9k below msrp to make room for the next year's models coming in.

The truck, we did really good on our trade in. Late model used with low mileage.

We had a new kid just starting out in car sales. He was trying to find out what we wanted for a payment.

I said nope, we'll negotiate what your gonna give me for my trade in first. Then we'll settle on a price for the truck. The payment will work itself out and will be much lower then what I tell you I can afford

We beat them up on the fact that the former owner was a chain smoker, Jack knifed a trailer denting the bumper, and someone cut a corner damaging the rim and slicing the sidewall of the tire on a test drive. They knocked off about $3k. Plus fixed the rim, put brand new tires on the truck, and had their bumper guy come out to my work and fix the dent in the bumper. Trucks actually all leather and fully loaded.

The next week used vehicle prices skyrocketed. They actually tried to give me $8k over what I paid for the truck to buy it back.

 

[Erik M]

The biggest aggravation with new trucks is that you cannot buy a simple farm truck anywhere today, they are all loaded with comfort features and options to out-compete the neighbour’s new truck and as a result are $50K +. One should be able to buy a bare bones F150 4WD with manual everything and a simple paint and trim package for half of what most are selling for these days. There is a reason they are selling so many trucks with all the custom trim packages, the profit is incredible. Be a cold day down under before I buy a new truck at these inflated prices, in the last couple of years even clapped out 10 yr old trucks are selling for crazy money. I will keep my ‘06 for a while yet.

 

[Egon]

Be aware large inventory stocks are a thing of the past. Inventories cost money!

 

[erikjohn67]

The biggest aggravation with new trucks is that you cannot buy a simple farm truck anywhere today, they are all loaded with comfort features and options to out-compete the neighbour’s new truck and as a result are $50K +.

People used to buy trucks to use them as trucks, those days are gone. The fact of the matter is that if a dealer had a white two door, 3 speed manual, bench seat, plastic mats with an am radio is a special order nowadays and it would sit on the lot so long it becomes counterproductive from a cost perspective for the dealer.

You can get a Ford F-150/250 XL with all the lowest trim levels and plastic mats but it is special order so be ready to wait.

 

[Torvy]

For our needs, a 'new' truck doesn't make much sense. Used prices are ridiculous, too. The biggest problem for me is finding used with the parameters we want. Gave up finding a Tacoma. I want the Ext. Cab with 4x4 and a few other features...important that it has not 'lived' in salt...no coasts, no snowy areas. We see a bunch of those shuffled down here. Some rust is obvious, but sometimes you cannot tell until it is too late. Must view the Carfax. I wish search sites had a filter for states registered in, or something like that.

Trying for a Tundra. Bigger truck and cheaper than the Tacoma. I don't have 5030 money. Cannot buy a Ford and then buy a new one every few years. Toyota has a better reliability history. Every brand has good and bad years and individual units that buck trends both directions, but I always play the better odds.

 

[Hay Dude]

I want a truck. A mid-sized truck with 4WD and an automatic transmission and an iron proof motor and frame. I want NOTHING ELSE that isn't required by law. I want it to be serviceable with common tools, so I CAN FIX IT. I don't even care if it has A/C, or a radio.

This is not how the industry went.

It is obscene to me that the industry went with 30 to 100 thousand dollar trucks filled with options I don't want.

It seems I am a voice in the wind, because the US manufactures just keep adding features no one is asking for.

Ford. Build me a minimal. mid-sized, truck I can work on.
I will buy it.

Good luck finding THAT. The whole business model of anything on tires has moved to proprietary & complexity that the average bird can’t work on without a recent car tech degree.

I see a lot of used vehicle & equipment dealers that are repurposing older vehicles & equipment and selling them at pretty stiff prices to people just like us who want stuff that’s realistic to work on.

 

[Hay Dude]

We did pretty good on our last two vehicles. Wife's car was brand new end of the year model, so they had it listed $9k below msrp to make room for the next year's models coming in.

The truck, we did really good on our trade in. Late model used with low mileage.

We had a new kid just starting out in car sales. He was trying to find out what we wanted for a payment.

I said nope, we'll negotiate what your gonna give me for my trade in first. Then we'll settle on a price for the truck. The payment will work itself out and will be much lower then what I tell you I can afford

We beat them up on the fact that the former owner was a chain smoker, Jack knifed a trailer denting the bumper, and someone cut a corner damaging the rim and slicing the sidewall of the tire on a test drive. They knocked off about $3k. Plus fixed the rim, put brand new tires on the truck, and had their bumper guy come out to my work and fix the dent in the bumper. Trucks actually all leather and fully loaded.

The next week used vehicle prices skyrocketed. They actually tried to give me $8k over what I paid for the truck to buy it back.

We’re you ever able to get rid of the smoke smell? I hear it lasts forever.
Man what a stupid habit. Even affects the value of your cars and your home.