New Trucks (2013, red light, buying, sell)

[elias9193]

Originally Posted by ram2

How does that Honda pickup tow a 6500 lb travel trailer?

It Doesn't! Its a soccer moms truck.

[NY_refugee87]

Originally Posted by kapie9969

I read some more of the posts. When I pull up at a light and see a newer truck I bet 9 times out of 10 that truck owner is heavily in debt. Unless all of the posts here are by college grads who make big bucks.I still feel trucks have been priced out of reality for the average person. I believe owning a small car that is decent on gas and a truck is the way to go.Having a spare vehicle comes in mighty handy. I can throw in this monkey wrench.How about folks who buy these very expensive vehicles and where they live they use salt on the roads and basically destroy vehicles in a few years. This was a cost I considered when thinking about moving. I figured out that living in the upper midwest was very expensive. Taxes are very high there also.

Do you need a college degree to budget and prioritize, and pay attention for opportunities as they pop up and apply yourself? I don't think so.

If you make 40-60k per year, have your finances in order, aren't stupid, you can swing a 6/700 per month payment or more. Me I would have loved to have bought a hell cat. I can't justify the 4800 dollar per 6 month insurance policy. Could I have afforded it? Maybe. But I wouldn't have as much spending loot. So. Unless I were to dedicate and go on a hope a prayer that my side business kicked off, hell cat is off the table.

Some of my friends and a few of my cousins however that own Camaros Mustangs found that out the hard way. That's the beauty with pickups. What I pay to have full collision comp glass etc on 2 trucks combined, is less than even what my brother in law pays for his V6 dodge charger. He's paying 335 a month because his company rates that as a sports car. I pay 272.68 per month for 2 trucks. So there's that to take into consideration. Trucks are cheaper to insure. I don't care whether it was in NY or down here in Florida. When I moved down I only had the half ton. To get it registered from out of state was far cheaper than a car. NY it's the other way around with registration trucks are more expensive going by weight. So there's that.

Up until September 2014, I never had a brand new vehicle. Nor am I near close to being in debt.

Road salt in NY. Yet I owned 80s 90s model year vehicles and washed them thoroughly. And did maintenance and repairs to keep them going. The only roached out vehicle I had was an older dodge that I picked up to plow snow with. I didn't care about the body. Could have bounced that thing off of trees I wouldn't have cared. It had heat, 4 wheel drive, A plow, Passed state inspection, put Cooper ATRs on it and the windows worked.

Am I unique? Probably. I didn't put up with employers peeing down my back and telling me it's rain. Proficient productive and know more than the average grease monkey. I simply was observant, and took advantage of opportunities as they popped up. One dealership I worked at for 4 and a half years was a skeleton crew high volume truck dealer. Worked late. Worked Saturdays. Service manager and I were the ones found in the building past 8pm. Until he wanted a break so he taught me how to appeal warranty claims, submit warranty claims, get bounced claims paid, the works.
This benefitted me. As did getting all of the nightmare and come backs from other techs.

All I did was work throughout highschool. Horde money. Stayed relatively on my parents good side so I didnt have to pay them rent.

Then when I turned 20 made 2 withdrawals. Paid cash for college.
Put 15k down on a 50k house that needed work.

I convinced the owners to hold the note with the agreement if I missed 3 payments, consecutively or over the course of the loan (15 years) I was to have 2 weeks to get my stuff and go, and held responsible for any incomplete repairs/renovations or property damages. And pay the taxes and utilities.
It wasn't some big extravagant house. 1,100 sqft bungalow on the side of a lake.

I started out making 9 per hour as an apprentice at a Ford dealer. Spent 2 weeks on quicklane and was thrown to diesels making 12.50 hourly.
Went to college and work full time. School 7am-3pm Work the night shift 4pm-midnight/1am. Worked Saturdays there sometimes, other times in independent shops to get the money needed to get my house paid off, renovated, and a majority of the tools needed from snap on at the student discount. Kept just enough in my savings account to cover 5 "mortgage payments" and property/school taxes just in case. I didn't put all of my eggs into being a mechanic basket. Through out highschool I was wise with who I made friends with and got into various skilled trades. Framing, roofing, plumbing, electrical, masonry, landscaping/tree service, running heavy equipment etc.

Unlike most I went to college with, I wasn't going bar hopping on Friday nights. Partying on the weekends. Planning spring break. Worrying about getting tied down or risking a disease or unwanted pregnancy for a 1 night stand.

Having the house paid off, knowing my worth and proving it. You too can be in a blue collar trade and make white collar pay. The last 2 years I was in NY I made 67k and change 2nd to last year, and the last I made 86k and change. How? Beating the book, taking the worst jobs that paid the most that required patience and tolerance to being cramped smashing hands knuckles etc having no come backs, staying late, coming in on Saturdays. Clearing 50 hours a week for the bonus.

So no. It's not being massively in debt or having a 4-6 year tenure in college with a 6 figure salary to be able to afford this that or the other. Being an opportunist. Never settling for anything. Proving yourself. Knowing your worth and getting properly compensated for it. You just have to pay attention learn from others mistakes and yours as well. Having a backbone and picking your battles wisely helps. Prioritize and budget.

And a 50 60k dollar truck is well within reach IF you work for it.

Since there's no local dirt tracks near me, I don't have a stock car to race on the weekends. Since it doesn't snow in South Florida I don't have a snowmobile. And no place local to ride dirtbikes and quads. I resumed a hobby prince Andy killed in NY.
I spend more on that hobby than I did when I had a payment on the half ton...

That's the thing that cracks me up with people. They only see the material things and either assume gee must be nice to have a silver spoon, or man it must suck to swing a payment like that. My tool bills were more than the monthly payment on that truck LOL.

If my priorities were to get hitched in my 20s I'd have been hitched and probably be living in an apartment or leasing a house with the option to buy. If my priorities were to have kids in my 20s I'd have had kids and not much else and have the same old truck I had before I upgraded to brand new.

Watched alot of my friends and a few of my cousins do that, only to wind up divorced because you work too much! I feel abandoned!
When the first house they bought together was not something they could have paid off in 5 years let alone 10. Plus custody battles over rug rats. Lawyers.
not me.

Again. Not everyone is the same. Not everyone has a crazy expensive apartment. 12-1500 per month 30 year mortgage on a 200-300k dollar house paying savage heating bills to maintain a comfortable temperature in a 2k sqft plus house.

Lucky to touch principal on that for 10 15 years. Not everyone is swimming in ridiculous college loan debt that they can't default on. Not everyone has kids to worry about. Or expensive bad habits (bar tabs, dope addiction, gambling etc)
While most of my friends were complaining woe is me. Life's not fair and quick to judge. I was spending the time they spent on video games Facebook etc working and looking for deals and finding ways to lower the cost of living. Like hunting instead of buying meat. Switching the old inefficient oil burner and baseboards for propane forced hot air and a high efficiency programmable hot water heater. Opposed to the 60s/70s technology with a timer. Doing everything myself. Researching what is required by the towns codes.


Want a 50-60k dollar truck?
Want to be able to build hot rods? Race cars?
Want a house?
Want a Harley or (insert dream bike here)?
Want to build AR15s out of high end components and go through 2k rounds of ammo every weekend? I'm headed to the outdoor range shortly to do just that.

Make those your priority. Trade your blood sweat and hours for dollars and don't worry about the insignificant distractions. It too can be yours. Look for deals. Don't go for the 3k sqft 200k+ house. That can ALWAYS come later.
Granted my house was nothing extravagant. But it was quite the bachelor pad on the inside when I finished it. It's not convienent. It's not simple. But it's far more rewarding than throwing money away for rent or being married to a place for the next 30 years.

Same goes for buying a vehicle. Is that vehicle in an affordable monthly payment range? Or is it something you need to sacrifice this that and the other to swing the payment, fuel, maintenance, repairs, and insurance? That's why I buy trucks. Lower cost of ownership. Why pay all of the money to the insurance company on a "sports car"?, when you can buy a pickup for the same money, fully loaded, and use the extra that would have gone to insurance on the monthly payment to pay it off quicker.

If you work for it, it will be yours. It is possible.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by kapie9969

I read some more of the posts. When I pull up at a light and see a newer truck I bet 9 times out of 10 that truck owner is heavily in debt. Unless all of the posts here are by college grads who make big bucks.I still feel trucks have been priced out of reality for the average person. I believe owning a small car that is decent on gas and a truck is the way to go.Having a spare vehicle comes in mighty handy. I can throw in this monkey wrench.How about folks who buy these very expensive vehicles and where they live they use salt on the roads and basically destroy vehicles in a few years. This was a cost I considered when thinking about moving. I figured out that living in the upper midwest was very expensive. Taxes are very high there also.

Funny, I think the same of people driving Beemers and Benzes.

[rruff]

Originally Posted by ram2

How does that Honda pickup tow a 6500 lb travel trailer?

I said *look* like this, not be identical. Particularly the seating position and front visibility.

It only tows 5,000 lbs, but it does however carry more in the bed (1,584 lbs) than most of the manly full size half tons. It wouldn't be hard to design it to tow 6500 lb if that was a priority.

[gtt99]

Originally Posted by NY_refugee87

Do you need a college degree to budget and prioritize, and pay attention for opportunities as they pop up and apply yourself? I don't think so.

If you make 40-60k per year, have your finances in order, aren't stupid, you can swing a 6/700 per month payment or more. Me I would have loved to have bought a hell cat. I can't justify the 4800 dollar per 6 month insurance policy. Could I have afforded it? Maybe. But I wouldn't have as much spending loot. So. Unless I were to dedicate and go on a hope a prayer that my side business kicked off, hell cat is off the table.

Some of my friends and a few of my cousins however that own Camaros Mustangs found that out the hard way. That's the beauty with pickups. What I pay to have full collision comp glass etc on 2 trucks combined, is less than even what my brother in law pays for his V6 dodge charger. He's paying 335 a month because his company rates that as a sports car. I pay 272.68 per month for 2 trucks. So there's that to take into consideration. Trucks are cheaper to insure. I don't care whether it was in NY or down here in Florida. When I moved down I only had the half ton. To get it registered from out of state was far cheaper than a car. NY it's the other way around with registration trucks are more expensive going by weight. So there's that.

Up until September 2014, I never had a brand new vehicle. Nor am I near close to being in debt.

Road salt in NY. Yet I owned 80s 90s model year vehicles and washed them thoroughly. And did maintenance and repairs to keep them going. The only roached out vehicle I had was an older dodge that I picked up to plow snow with. I didn't care about the body. Could have bounced that thing off of trees I wouldn't have cared. It had heat, 4 wheel drive, A plow, Passed state inspection, put Cooper ATRs on it and the windows worked.

Am I unique? Probably. I didn't put up with employers peeing down my back and telling me it's rain. Proficient productive and know more than the average grease monkey. I simply was observant, and took advantage of opportunities as they popped up. One dealership I worked at for 4 and a half years was a skeleton crew high volume truck dealer. Worked late. Worked Saturdays. Service manager and I were the ones found in the building past 8pm. Until he wanted a break so he taught me how to appeal warranty claims, submit warranty claims, get bounced claims paid, the works.
This benefitted me. As did getting all of the nightmare and come backs from other techs.

All I did was work throughout highschool. Horde money. Stayed relatively on my parents good side so I didnt have to pay them rent.

Then when I turned 20 made 2 withdrawals. Paid cash for college.
Put 15k down on a 50k house that needed work.

I convinced the owners to hold the note with the agreement if I missed 3 payments, consecutively or over the course of the loan (15 years) I was to have 2 weeks to get my stuff and go, and held responsible for any incomplete repairs/renovations or property damages. And pay the taxes and utilities.
It wasn't some big extravagant house. 1,100 sqft bungalow on the side of a lake.

I started out making 9 per hour as an apprentice at a Ford dealer. Spent 2 weeks on quicklane and was thrown to diesels making 12.50 hourly.
Went to college and work full time. School 7am-3pm Work the night shift 4pm-midnight/1am. Worked Saturdays there sometimes, other times in independent shops to get the money needed to get my house paid off, renovated, and a majority of the tools needed from snap on at the student discount. Kept just enough in my savings account to cover 5 "mortgage payments" and property/school taxes just in case. I didn't put all of my eggs into being a mechanic basket. Through out highschool I was wise with who I made friends with and got into various skilled trades. Framing, roofing, plumbing, electrical, masonry, landscaping/tree service, running heavy equipment etc.

Unlike most I went to college with, I wasn't going bar hopping on Friday nights. Partying on the weekends. Planning spring break. Worrying about getting tied down or risking a disease or unwanted pregnancy for a 1 night stand.

Having the house paid off, knowing my worth and proving it. You too can be in a blue collar trade and make white collar pay. The last 2 years I was in NY I made 67k and change 2nd to last year, and the last I made 86k and change. How? Beating the book, taking the worst jobs that paid the most that required patience and tolerance to being cramped smashing hands knuckles etc having no come backs, staying late, coming in on Saturdays. Clearing 50 hours a week for the bonus.

So no. It's not being massively in debt or having a 4-6 year tenure in college with a 6 figure salary to be able to afford this that or the other. Being an opportunist. Never settling for anything. Proving yourself. Knowing your worth and getting properly compensated for it. You just have to pay attention learn from others mistakes and yours as well. Having a backbone and picking your battles wisely helps. Prioritize and budget.

And a 50 60k dollar truck is well within reach IF you work for it.

Since there's no local dirt tracks near me, I don't have a stock car to race on the weekends. Since it doesn't snow in South Florida I don't have a snowmobile. And no place local to ride dirtbikes and quads. I resumed a hobby prince Andy killed in NY.
I spend more on that hobby than I did when I had a payment on the half ton...

That's the thing that cracks me up with people. They only see the material things and either assume gee must be nice to have a silver spoon, or man it must suck to swing a payment like that. My tool bills were more than the monthly payment on that truck LOL.

If my priorities were to get hitched in my 20s I'd have been hitched and probably be living in an apartment or leasing a house with the option to buy. If my priorities were to have kids in my 20s I'd have had kids and not much else and have the same old truck I had before I upgraded to brand new.

Watched alot of my friends and a few of my cousins do that, only to wind up divorced because you work too much! I feel abandoned!
When the first house they bought together was not something they could have paid off in 5 years let alone 10. Plus custody battles over rug rats. Lawyers.
not me.

Again. Not everyone is the same. Not everyone has a crazy expensive apartment. 12-1500 per month 30 year mortgage on a 200-300k dollar house paying savage heating bills to maintain a comfortable temperature in a 2k sqft plus house.

Lucky to touch principal on that for 10 15 years. Not everyone is swimming in ridiculous college loan debt that they can't default on. Not everyone has kids to worry about. Or expensive bad habits (bar tabs, dope addiction, gambling etc)
While most of my friends were complaining woe is me. Life's not fair and quick to judge. I was spending the time they spent on video games Facebook etc working and looking for deals and finding ways to lower the cost of living. Like hunting instead of buying meat. Switching the old inefficient oil burner and baseboards for propane forced hot air and a high efficiency programmable hot water heater. Opposed to the 60s/70s technology with a timer. Doing everything myself. Researching what is required by the towns codes.


Want a 50-60k dollar truck?
Want to be able to build hot rods? Race cars?
Want a house?
Want a Harley or (insert dream bike here)?
Want to build AR15s out of high end components and go through 2k rounds of ammo every weekend? I'm headed to the outdoor range shortly to do just that.

Make those your priority. Trade your blood sweat and hours for dollars and don't worry about the insignificant distractions. It too can be yours. Look for deals. Don't go for the 3k sqft 200k+ house. That can ALWAYS come later.
Granted my house was nothing extravagant. But it was quite the bachelor pad on the inside when I finished it. It's not convienent. It's not simple. But it's far more rewarding than throwing money away for rent or being married to a place for the next 30 years.

Same goes for buying a vehicle. Is that vehicle in an affordable monthly payment range? Or is it something you need to sacrifice this that and the other to swing the payment, fuel, maintenance, repairs, and insurance? That's why I buy trucks. Lower cost of ownership. Why pay all of the money to the insurance company on a "sports car"?, when you can buy a pickup for the same money, fully loaded, and use the extra that would have gone to insurance on the monthly payment to pay it off quicker.

If you work for it, it will be yours. It is possible.

First of all, for a person who went to college, your grammar and the command of language is horrible.

Second of all, your advice to FINANCE a truck that costs $600-700/month on a $40-60K/year salary is ridiculous at best and is what's wrong with the most Americans. You CAN NOT afford a truck if you have to finance it, that's the bottom line.

Cut on your expenses! You don't have to build hot-rods or race cars. You don't have to ride a Harley or (insert your dream bike here). You don't have to build ARs out of high end components and go through 2k rounds of ammo weekly.

If you can cut on your expenses, settle for a truck that doesn't have all the "bells and whistles" then may be you can pay CASH for it and not finance it.

I love your advice concerning hard work and determination, but why waste money on unnecessary expenses and finance things when you could have paid cash for it.

Making a lot of money doesn't mean anything (by the way, making 67-86K/year and driving $50-60K loaded truck is what's called "30k millionaire"). Google it if you don't know what it means. It's how you spend your money.

Waking up in the morning and knowing that you don't owe any bank anything is a great feeling. That's what I call a financial freedom. Having a lot of fancy stuff on credit/financed is foolish.
Wise up and stay humble!

[UpstateJohn]

Well, somebody has to keep making these beaters some of you mentioned, so let the ones who want to pay for it, pay for it.

[Universe93B]

Americans are getting themselves in the hole by taking out loans that are 6-7 years or more for expensive trucks and SUVs. But the sales of expensive trucks keeps going up, so why would companies not build them or charge for them?

It helps people like me who buys sedans instead - easier for me to get a deal!

More American need to listen to Dave Ramsey. If you make more than 120-150k and you aren’t an idiot in finances, then you can buy a 40-50k car probably. Above posters who say you can swing a $700 per month payment with a 40-60k income is insane. Maybe lots of people these days live with their parents

[rruff]

Originally Posted by HouseBuilder328

Above posters who say you can swing a $700 per month payment with a 40-60k income is insane. Maybe lots of people these days live with their parents

I always pay cash for vehicles but you aren't making a lot of sense. It's certainly doable if that is the person's priority, and they don't have to be living with their parents.

The typical household income of a new truck buyer is over $100k/yr, though.

[Universe93B]

Originally Posted by rruff

I always pay cash for vehicles but you aren't making a lot of sense. It's certainly doable if that is the person's priority, and they don't have to be living with their parents.

The typical household income of a new truck buyer is over $100k/yr, though.

Are you kidding, I don’t make a lot of sense? For a person who is making $60k per year and they have to pay for their own housing, and so that means utilities (electricity, water, gas, trash) and then cable, internet, auto insurance, medical insurance or expenses, gas, leisure money, etc. This is assuming you don’t have kids who use a lot of money. What about your wife’s car if you’re married?

Paying $700 a month for a 1 car payment is ridiculous for a 60k income level.

[rruff]

Your moral judgements don't change the fact that a person making $60k could readily do it.

There are *lots* of people earning <$20k who are making life work, so I think someone earning 3x as much could manage an additional $700/mo payment if they wanted.