Who can afford a new truck anymore?

[Parkanzky]

Undercoating, plus it wouldn't spend much time on the road in winter. I may put a plow on it, but there is little or no salt used on my road.

It's a two day drive just to get out of the rust belt; aside from the hassles of licensing and insuring a vehicle that that far away, the expense of even a minor breakdown halfway is why I would pay to have truck hauled if I go that route. It'll be another year anyways, and I'll crunch the numbers then to see if it's feasible.

I kmow of one guy up the road who bought an F150 this spring on EBay, then flew down to drive it home. Someplace in Massachusetts it caught fire, he said he grabbed his laptop, phone, and Tom-Tom, then watched it burn.

When I was shopping for trucks I found a guy that goes on trips out west to buy heavy duty Ford trucks. He'll spend a couple weeks out west buying salt-free super-duties and come back when he has a hauler full. Then he refurbishes them (he said he replaces all the front-end suspension components on just about every one and then does whatever else they need) and sell them here in MI.

I test drove a couple of them, but a nice 2001 F-250 with ~200k miles on it would be ~$18k and I just had a hard time spending that on a nearly 15 year old truck.

Maybe there's a dealer near you with a similar niche?

 

[Jstpssng]

Yup, that's way too much money. Does he sell many?

 

[Parkanzky]

Yup, that's way too much money. Does he sell many?

There were a lot of people around when I was there, but I don't really know how many sales he made. He's not exactly local to me, so I've never been back.

 

[MossRoad]

Yes. They finish HS this year and plan to start fall 2016 to college.

We have home schooled so it has been a lot of hard work but they have made me want to stay alive and active when my health was failing so. I am down over 50 pounds and in better health than 20 years ago taking no meds and eating <50 grams of carbs daily. I cut out food with natural or added sugar and all grains. That addressed my arthritis pain, IBS of 40 years and 52 other health issues.

The son should have his Eagle Scout project finished this weekend. Both have their Black Belts in Taekwondo, were on the swim team and are very active in projects helping others. The daughter is working 10 - 12 hours a week at Culver's in her spare time and enjoying that.

This next week the son will be on the road with me doing a property insurance adjuster event in Peoria IL on Monday. The daughter last year helped me with the one in WI.

I do not advise going the home school route due to the time and money but I am glad we did it. Both can wrench OK too. Some worried about their social skills but that was a non issue in our case.

I was about 30 when we got married and the kids came 17 years later. It was not planned that way but that was the way it happened. I can not think of life without them now.

I have told them if something happens to me now they are good to go. They really are good kids and should be able to bounce back from most future mistakes I think. No question their mom and I will miss them when they do leave.

My dad was 8 years older than my mom and I was the last of a bunch of kids. My folks were always the oldest couple at any event. Didn't make no difference to us kids! :thumbsup:

My father-in-law is almost 13 years older than my mother-in-law. Didn't make any difference to their kids either.

There's really no right or wrong age to have kids and both have benefits and drawbacks that pretty much cancel each other out. Ask the kids how they feel about having older parents. They never thought about it and really don't care. :laughing: Its the relationship that counts, not the age.

 

[sd455dan]

When I was shopping for trucks I found a guy that goes on trips out west to buy heavy duty Ford trucks. He'll spend a couple weeks out west buying salt-free super-duties and come back when he has a hauler full. Then he refurbishes them (he said he replaces all the front-end suspension components on just about every one and then does whatever else they need) and sell them here in MI.

I test drove a couple of them, but a nice 2001 F-250 with ~200k miles on it would be ~$18k and I just had a hard time spending that on a nearly 15 year old truck.

Maybe there's a dealer near you with a similar niche?

Ouch- that's more than I paid for my 03 ram 3500 Laramie SRW 4x4 cummins HO Quad cab with 98 k miles...

 

[Gale Hawkins]

My dad was 8 years older than my mom and I was the last of a bunch of kids. My folks were always the oldest couple at any event. Didn't make no difference to us kids! :thumbsup:

My father-in-law is almost 13 years older than my mother-in-law. Didn't make any difference to their kids either.

There's really no right or wrong age to have kids and both have benefits and drawbacks that pretty much cancel each other out. Ask the kids how they feel about having older parents. They never thought about it and really don't care. :laughing: Its the relationship that counts, not the age.

Naturally we would have preferred to have kids 10 years sooner but we were not going to the right doctor it seems in hindsight.

Perhaps the timing was ideal. I was ready to take the time and effort to pass on what I had learned from my father and others in life. Homeschooling forced me to spend a lot of time with the kids which was a good thing. The wife was working and not into traveling much so the kids and I took a 8000 mile 31 day motorhome trip in 2011 to the Pacific Ocean by way of Yellowstone going and Grand Canyon on the return trip. They learned to surf enough to stand and ride the board a bit on their 14th birthday. That was a long field trip.

On the subject of trucks I am sure a rust free truck in MI could fetch a premium from some buyers with the prices of trucks today, rebuilding the front ends and other stuff they would have to go for a premium to cover cost.

The 2002 Ram 1500 quad cab in leather with 110K local miles and locally sold was $5700. It was so so but we went ahead and replaced the upper/lower loaded control arms with a step above OE quality, outer tie rod ends. The shocks were shot so I went with a $400 set installed. We replaced a set of 17" steel wheels someone up on it from a 2012 with 20" factory wheels from a 2002 Ram and new 20" tires. A new grille and set of headlights total was $150 which gave the nose a new look. Had to fix the airbag system to make the red light go off ($77 for new clock spring under the steering wheel), did a bucket flush on transmission was $55 using WalMart ATF 4+. All that added $2000 to the price of the truck with us doing all but $400 of the labor. A new Laramie Ram 1500 is $50K so the son has one sharp truck that is straight without rust for $42K less than a new one. He is happy and I am happy and so are his mother and sister. Being age 18 is another reason to by used when it comes to insurance because with $500 deductible the coverage was only $32 more per month on our total home/farm/vehicles policy. Having 9 licenced vehicles may give us a volume discount too.

As I stated both kids picked out trucks vs cars. Cars would have been cheaper for sure and got better MPG. On the up side they both have real frames and a very long noses being Dodges so they may be a bit safer in a crash but who know.

A used truck in top shape is functionally the same as a new truck and I expect that is one reason the premium price. A lady at the office husband just got a F150 King Ranch and the sticker was $61K. It is very nice but more money than I have for passenger vehicle use. I want a Nissan Frontier SL quad cab but late model used they are running $25K or 10K under new. 10 year old with 100K+ miles they are asking $12K+. I would also be interested in a 1996 or older Ford F250 with manual transmission and 6 cylinder inline engine with 4WD to have around the placed to tow, etc from time to time.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Double post.

 

[3930dave]

When I was shopping for trucks I found a guy that goes on trips out west to buy heavy duty Ford trucks. He'll spend a couple weeks out west buying salt-free super-duties and come back when he has a hauler full. Then he refurbishes them (he said he replaces all the front-end suspension components on just about every one and then does whatever else they need) and sell them here in MI.

I test drove a couple of them, but a nice 2001 F-250 with ~200k miles on it would be ~$18k and I just had a hard time spending that on a nearly 15 year old truck.

Maybe there's a dealer near you with a similar niche?

That is big money.

But, if those are 7.3s and the guy is the real deal (does good work) then those old salt-free trucks will appeal to somebody who wants a turn-key older diesel - prices started going back up on those historically early. Plenty of guys that hang out on here want to do their own wrenching - but more people prefer to drive than wrench, so I can see a limited market for those trucks.

A guy around here who has done excellent work restoring two 12v Cummins could just about name his price, if he was interested in selling them (he's not).

Rgds, D.

 

[Parkanzky]

That is big money.

But, if those are 7.3s and the guy is the real deal (does good work) then those old salt-free trucks will appeal to somebody who wants an older diesel - prices started going back up on those historically early.

A guy around here who has done excellent work restoring two 12v Cummins could just about name his price, if he was interested in selling them (he's not).

Rgds, D.

Almost everything he had was a 7.3, which is why I think so many people were there looking at trucks the day I was.

 

[kenmac]

sounds like alot of $$ for that mod with that many miles.
.I paid 23K for my 07 rust free ram 2500 crew with 80k on the meter..
I thought I spent too much, but I wanted the 5.9 cummins without smog vs 6.7 with smog