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I am a single man who will be buying my first home this spring 2013. I currently drive a passenger car, but I am wondering if a truck would be more useful as a home owner.
The age of house I plan to purchase will be about 10-15 years old. I will buy a home that requires little or no maintainance at time of sale (not a fixer-upper). I would hire a contractor for major projects (like roof replacement, etc). I will be handling the easier routine maintenance.
Do home owners wish they had a F-250 size truck (or at least a pick-up truck)? Does having a truck make life easier for this routine maintenance?
Thank you in advance for your insights.
Doesn't sound like you're planning to actually USE a truck.
However, if you just want to have one because you want one, get one. It's your choice.
A mini van will hold more than a pickup. A truck is good for hauling dirt or other dirty stuff.
Really, We had mini vans when my kids were younger. I've also had a full size pickup in my driveway for at least the past 25 years. I currently have a F-150 with an 8 foot bed and a cap. I'm thinking there is A LOT more room in the bed of my pickup plus, try putting 20 sheets of 4 X 8 plywood in the back of your mini van. Let me know how that works out for you. I will agree, if I went down to the local electronics store and was picking up a new 60" Plasma T.V. or was transporting breakables than I think I would rather have it in the back of a mini van than the bed of my pickup. Other than that, it's a pickup hands down. I'm still trying to figure out why I have so many friends. Is it because of my charming personality "OR" is it because I own a pickup I'm thinking it's the later
FWIW, Another option to a pickup is. If your current vehicle has a towing capability and you have the room to store one, a small utility trailer is always an option.
FWIW, Another option to a pickup is. If your current vehicle has a towing capability and you have the room to store one, a small utility trailer is always an option.
Yep. Way cheaper/easier to deal with so long as you have room to store it.
In regards to the need for a 3/4-ton truck vs a 1/2-ton.... I fully agree that anything more than a 1/2-ton is WAY overkill for the occasional run to the hardware store. HOWEVER, if you decide to buy a truck, do your homework on the reliability of the powertrain options between the two. My last trucks two trucks have been F-250s, NOT because I need the extra payload capacity, but because the manual transmission (personal preference) offered in the F-150s from the generations I prefer (87-96) were notoriously failure-prone and the cost to get a used F-250 vs an F-150 was almost negligible.
Having had several minivans and pick ups in our family here is what we have found pick ups especially useful for:
1. Hauling dirt, rocks, gravel.
2. Camping with bicycles and/or a kayak.
3. Ski trips.
4. Moving large items of furniture or appliances.
5. Lumber and sheetrock. Although you can get a dozen 4x8 sheets in a minivan.
6. Tow a large boat or trailer.
7. Looking manly while losing races to regular cars.
8. Driving in snow if you have 4x4 and pulling small AWD cars out of ditches.
9. Very large dogs
10. Moving large yard items. Benches, sculpture, etc.
11. Picking up trash during community clean up events, you can just fling it into the back from all sides.
12. Bringing home trees form Home depot.
13. Tailgate parties (and hauling a barbque someplace).
14. picking up broken smartcars.
15. boosting the economy, particularly helping gas station owners increase their disposable income.
16. Hauling tools for a church mission trip to Lousiana.
17. Helping people move.
18. Homecoming parades.
19. Bringing a 1927 Magic Chef stove home from an old resturaunt in Long Island (after buying it on E-bay.).
20. Getting a dead deer out of the road before someone hits it.
21. Hauling my brothers electric jet ski.
22. Setting out and then picking up cones for various running or bicycling events.
23. Hauling cans of gasoline or kerosene.
24. Hauling 55 gallon drums of water to paces where you need water but do not have it.
25. Off road driving.
26. Drive around the yard and pick up brush, rocks or logs.
27. Take lawnmowers, rototiller chain saw and other messy things to the repair shop or to a location for use.
28. Transporting smelly chemicals like commercial grade clock cleaner concentrate.
29. PIck up auction purchases (rototiller, canoe, 200 pairs of army pants for donation to charity) etc. or hauling 40 bags of donations to Salvation Army.
Those are the things I can think of where a minivan or regular car would not have worked well or at all. Things of that nature seem to come up about once a week on average.
Having had several minivans and pick ups in our family here is what we have found pick ups especially useful for:
1. Hauling dirt, rocks, gravel.
2. Camping with bicycles and/or a kayak.
3. Ski trips.
4. Moving large items of furniture or appliances.
5. Lumber and sheetrock. Although you can get a dozen 4x8 sheets in a minivan.
6. Tow a large boat or trailer.
7. Looking manly while losing races to regular cars.
8. Driving in snow if you have 4x4 and pulling small AWD cars out of ditches.
9. Very large dogs
10. Moving large yard items. Benches, sculpture, etc.
11. Picking up trash during community clean up events, you can just fling it into the back from all sides.
12. Bringing home trees form Home depot.
13. Tailgate parties (and hauling a barbque someplace).
14. picking up broken smartcars.
15. boosting the economy, particularly helping gas station owners increase their disposable income.
16. Hauling tools for a church mission trip to Lousiana.
17. Helping people move.
18. Homecoming parades.
19. Bringing a 1927 Magic Chef stove home from an old resturaunt in Long Island (after buying it on E-bay.).
20. Getting a dead deer out of the road before someone hits it.
21. Hauling my brothers electric jet ski.
22. Setting out and then picking up cones for various running or bicycling events.
23. Hauling cans of gasoline or kerosene.
24. Hauling 55 gallon drums of water to paces where you need water but do not have it.
25. Off road driving.
26. Drive around the yard and pick up brush, rocks or logs.
27. Take lawnmowers, rototiller chain saw and other messy things to the repair shop or to a location for use.
28. Transporting smelly chemicals like commercial grade clock cleaner concentrate.
29. PIck up auction purchases (rototiller, canoe, 200 pairs of army pants for donation to charity) etc. or hauling 40 bags of donations to Salvation Army.
Those are the things I can think of where a minivan or regular car would not have worked well or at all. Things of that nature seem to come up about once a week on average.
Been there and done most. Not a big fan of #17 but I guess it goes with the territory. Good post
Unless your home is brand new you will be working on it. Have you priced what contractors charge? Not only will you want a small truck you will want to learn how to repair a lot of this stuff yourself.
Small trucks do just as good as most minivans on fuel. Many share the same engines.
If those things come up just borrow a friend's truck or rent one at the Home Despot.
I am frequently doing those things at night, early morning weekends or on a whim. If you have loads of free time, are extraordinarily well organized and do nto mind renting a truck once a week or so, you could just rent one. Personally I like to be able to decide I will stop and pick up X on the way home because I got off early on Wednesday. If I asked a friend for their truck once a week, they woudl tell me to buy one. IN fact, our current truck was my dads. We borrowed it so often, we just bought it from him. Now he borrows it from us.
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I'm thinking it's the later
On average
