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CarGurus recently conducted a survey of 1,067 current and former pickup owners. The general consensus? Trucks aren’t a good value and have begun to suffer in terms of overall quality. In fact, 68 percent of surveyed owners said their own vehicle was overpriced. While this certainly hasn’t destroyed the segment (the very notion is laughable), 17 percent of respondents claimed they probably wouldn’t buy another pickup.
While 24 percent cited overly ambitious pricing as their main reason for ditching trucks, 42 percent claimed fuel efficiency was the main reason for the promised swap. Among former pickup owners who have already moved onto another type of vehicle, 37 percent now drive an SUV or crossover, with 35 percent selecting the tried-and-true sedan.
The Detroit Free Press reached out to Madison Gross, director of consumer insights at CarGurus, to see if more could be gleaned from the metrics. “What an interesting finding in that study,” Gross said. “What we see as the top reasons people are switching categories is that trucks have poor fuel efficiency and they’re high cost. Switching into a large SUV might not make as much sense as a sedan.”
Gross also said shoppers are less inclined to stick with their current brand, though the data provided wasn’t enough for us to agree without a caveat. The study showed that 70 percent of truck buyers would consider swapping brands if their preferred make “increased prices by $10,000.” It’s a fairly modest increase over last year’s 64 percent and could potentially be attributed to a reasonable margin of error. But it’s also phrased in a way that makes it difficult to disagree with. Gross elaborated further.
“Year-over-year, there wasn’t much of a change at the $5,000 threshold, but at $10,000 it got really interesting,” she said. “We’ve seen truck makers widen the audience they’re seeking for the truck. In the past it was mostly for a working or commercial buyer. Now people drive it in daily life. So the change in loyalty to a brand also is impacted by that.”
Toyota owners stood out as having the most loyal customers, with 40 percent saying they would not buy another brand’s pickup. Domestic nameplates were closer together, with about a quarter of their existing clientele saying they’d at least consider switching brands. Ford was the most common choice, edging out its rivals by a few percentage points. Meanwhile, Ford owners were slightly more likely to choose Ram in the event of a nameplate swap.
No surprised. Most full-size trucks these days already crossed over the $40k mark.
Hmm, as a Ford owner I'd be more likely to switch to Chevy than Ram (Dodge). In fact, when I looked, and bought, trucks I never even bothered to look at Ram (Dodge) but did look at Chevy as well as Ford.
As far as "mileage" goes, you know trucks don't sip gas when you buy them. Complaining about that is, Hell I don't know what to call it except stupid. Which I didn't want to do just so I could be polite.
After no help from GM on my NEW 2014 Viberado and waiting
for them to acknowledge that there was no repair for the vibration
five months in total I bought an older Ford.
If your looking for a Super deal on a late model pickup wait about
24 to 36 months as the repo's will be dropping in rather quickly.
HMMM...
As with many such studies, it is meaningless to me, except for the price of new vehicles.
I have been a Dodge fan for well over 40 years. I have no intent to change that at this late date. However, all my Dodge Ram trucks (half, three quarter, and one ton dually) have been mid-'70s through 2002, both gas and diesel.
My current truck is a Dodge Ram 2500 CTD quad cab long bed with 410,000 miles on it.
Years ago I did have a Datsun (Nissan) King Cab 4X4. I traded it for a Dodge Ram 3500 CTD dually. I had Dodges before that, and have never had any other make since.
Buying a new vehicle is absolutely out of the question. I am not even willing to spend the money for a good used vehicle less than 10 years old.
In fact, my last vehicle purchase was a 1966 Chevelle 4 door sedan. I would rather spend the money to restore it to show-room condition than buy any NEW vehicle. The restoration would cost a lot fewer dollars, and I would have a vehicle with no computers (the last computer problem I had cost me 1800 dollars!).
It will also be more fun to drive, even though it has a 230 CID engine and a Powerglide tranny.
No surprised. Most full-size trucks these days already crossed over the $40k mark.
Most of the people are the types who bought a truck for cool factor. Then the reality of moving from a 4/6 cyl whatever to a gas guzzling beast or the higher amount of m8 year it costs to maintain a pick up set in and they realized they couldn’t afford it.
The tires for any of my trucks start at about $160 a tire plus tax mounting and balance. So let’s call it $200 a tire. X4 or x6. So I’m spendign $800 to 1200 minimum. If I get a road hazard throw another 160 bucks on top of that. My last set of tires for my dually was 1700 bucks. My little commuter I can get 4 tires for about $300/350 bucks. I don’t need performance tires.
Oil changes on my trucks run $60 diy 200 minimum at shop.
Lots of people don’t understand the higher maintenance of a pick up compared to a Chevy Malibu or Honda Accord.
A friend bought a brand new Ford 4x4 he didn’t have to stir his coffee the thing vibrated so badly. Seems like the dealer can’t even find the problem. Lemon Law.....
Most of the people are the types who bought a truck for cool factor. Then the reality of moving from a 4/6 cyl whatever to a gas guzzling beast or the higher amount of m8 year it costs to maintain a pick up set in and they realized they couldn’t afford it.
The tires for any of my trucks start at about $160 a tire plus tax mounting and balance. So let’s call it $200 a tire. X4 or x6. So I’m spendign $800 to 1200 minimum. If I get a road hazard throw another 160 bucks on top of that. My last set of tires for my dually was 1700 bucks. My little commuter I can get 4 tires for about $300/350 bucks. I don’t need performance tires.
Oil changes on my trucks run $60 diy 200 minimum at shop.
Lots of people don’t understand the higher maintenance of a pick up compared to a Chevy Malibu or Honda Accord.
Most of the people are the types who bought a truck for cool factor. Then the reality of moving from a 4/6 cyl whatever to a gas guzzling beast or the higher amount of m8 year it costs to maintain a pick up set in and they realized they couldn’t afford it.
The tires for any of my trucks start at about $160 a tire plus tax mounting and balance. So let’s call it $200 a tire. X4 or x6. So I’m spendign $800 to 1200 minimum. If I get a road hazard throw another 160 bucks on top of that. My last set of tires for my dually was 1700 bucks. My little commuter I can get 4 tires for about $300/350 bucks. I don’t need performance tires. Oil changes on my trucks run $60 diy 200 minimum at shop.
Lots of people don’t understand the higher maintenance of a pick up compared to a Chevy Malibu or Honda Accord.
$200 for a shop to change oil is nuts. $60 is about right for 5 quarts of first-class oil, and a good filter like a Wix or Pure-1 or Boss. Cheaping out on oil, filters, or oil change interval on a Diesel particularly is just nuts. Will cost you a lot more down the road.
Yeah, heavy-duty trucks are crippled without heavy-duty tires, I put Load Range E on my old F-350 single rear wheel, it's not that much more money per mile, and it preserves the ability of the truck to go to work at up to 10,000 lb GVW, if I want to haul that much.
Of course the "non-serious" truck user is much better served by a half-ton, which is still overkill for 99.9% of what he wants to do with it, gets better mileage, parts and tires are cheaper. Actually a pseudo-truck like a Ridgeline is good enough for these guys, they can rent a "real" truck for the maybe one time a year they actually need one.
Too big, too many electronics, too expensive. I don't like them looking like mini-Mack trucks. The new Chevy/GMC pickups are hideous.
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