truck poll...what is your thoughts on this?

In another post that I have made some people have made some good points and I would like to see what every one else thinks on it as well....a pro and con type deal here.

New truck or old truck and rebuild it?

I say older truck as I have someone who will do a 100% rebuild (most everything would be replaced and the whole underside of truck would be painted and frame worked on) for about 10grand for a truck that I picked up on the cheap.

Pros to this, cheaper insurance rates, No year test on truck (just need a safety inspection), can add or remove parts as I want, cheaper than buying a 60+ grand truck

Some real cons to this tho....fuel mileage is not as good....I could fix that with a newer Cummings motor that I would like to drop into the ford...that will or should give me fuel mileage in the low 20s, this would take more time but would cost about the same if I just had my motor repaired so not a added cost so to say.

Resell value....not there...even tho I spent that much money on a older truck to "fix it up" wont mean I can sell it for that....but then again you cant resell a brand new truck for what you paid...so is this truly a con or just "how it is" type deal?

Thats what I have to say...give your thoughts!

I would say either new truck with warranty and get the benefits of business write offs, financing etc. or Truck older than 2000. I am quite partial to the 5.9 cummins. and definitely get a manual if you go used. I am approaching 300K with original clutch, waterpump, alt. etc. on my 2000' 2500.

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Originally Posted by Reelman65

I would say either new truck with warranty and get the benefits of business write offs, financing etc. or Truck older than 2000. I am quite partial to the 5.9 cummins. and definitely get a manual if you go used. I am approaching 300K with original clutch, waterpump, alt. etc. on my 2000' 2500.

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I like the 5.9 as well. What if your fuel mileage tho? Has to be alot better than the 7.3 in fords

Better fuel milage is great but a substantial saving can offset a little mileage. No payments are the best for me. Mike.

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Originally Posted by easyrecycle

I like the 5.9 as well. What if your fuel mileage tho? Has to be alot better than the 7.3 in fords

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I have a 4X4 and bigger tires so I don't do as good as some the the guys.

unlloaded - 21-22mpg mixed and driving fast (the 5.9 cummins) loves to go slow 60-65ish
unloaded highway only 60-65 - 25-26mpg
Light trailer -17-18mpg
Heavily loaded (weight and wind drag) -14-15mpg

I have heard that the new 6.7 is not as fuel efficient, but I have no first hand knowledge of that.

for more of a consensus go to one of the many diesel truck forums.

I would avoid powerstrokes that aren't 7.3L

good luck

I plowed snow for several years (which is REALLY hard on trucks) with first a four year old 1/2 ton Dodge and then a five year old one ton Chevy 3500 diesel. I was spending a fortune on repairs. It seemed like every time I went out, I spent at least $800 on something. Several times I got towed. Then I bought a brand new Chevy 2500. With the payments, it actually cost less per month. Plus the tax benefits. Plus the dependability. Plus plowing in style.

I have 2007 f150....I want something that starts everytime I hit the switch.....Low maintenance so far and I work it like a dog....JUST MY OPINION

I have only bought one new truck over the years-2000 Chevy 1 ton Crew/LB 4X. Logging about 200+ miles a day checking on crews, moving equipment/material and most important were the 3 kids that always had something going on and needed to be somewhere and hockey practices or games daily...Didn't have time to be breaking down.

But before that and now my preference is to buy something with over 100k miles that may need a little TLC for cheap and then proceed to drive it into the ground. Current victim is a mid 90's Ford E150 van-paid $600 put $200 in tires/brakes and have put over 12k miles on it in the last 10 months and runs great, knock on wood. POS in the snow tho so I will be missing the 4X later today and tomorrow.

Never bought a new truck. Probably never will. Bought a new car once....never again.

Have never spent more than 5500 on a truck, and that was just recently because I got fed up trying to find a clean 4x4 dually (96 gmc)

All my stuff has before this has been early 90's Fords, early 70's Fords, and late 70's chevy/gmc. I only moved up to the newer vehicles because the older ones are becoming collectible, and anything cheaper is now pretty rough. Plus the newer trucks have a little more gvw.

With 99-up trucks, especially diesels, you're in for a big liability for parts and repairs if you don't it yourself, and sometimes the parts are ridiculous even for DIY work. Diesels take a long time to pay for themselves, and I consider 'em a luxury unless you're pulling big loads day in day out. The kind of repairs you guys discuss give me the shakes! I'd rather drive something old but presentable and use the rest of my money to make more!

And the brand new trucks? Sheesh! Fuhgeddaboutit?!

I vote new truck. Buy a ford. Of course I don't know your financials either easy so like i said earlier exhaust all your options and choose the best one but I can't see dumping 10 grand in a truck and have that much downtime makes sense. 10 grand on a new or slightly used truck would make your payments around 300 to 500 a month but I can understand if you buy a really used vehicle money doesn't grow on trees or I would be in my backyard hanging out by that said tree right now. Give yourself time in the scrap industry and the money will come. You either get better or worse you don't stay the same. There's those that make things happen and wonder what happened. You choose which one you are going to be. GOOD LUCK.

Look at it this way - a truck that's survived close to 20 years has proven itself! Its a survivor. With a new truck you're just paying the finance company to find out if it has any bugs or not :)

if i had 10 grand i would get something along these lines, i went with dodge of course :) but you can go with chevy or ford. i think the best of both worlds a truck that should last a long time even scrapping on a daily basis at an affordable price with min maint. ive got two of these of course they are two wheel drive i would like a 4x4 anyway heres the link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1997-...item41620d8aaf

Sound good points in here...and the poll is fun to watch!

Easy, you might be interested in this ad from CL.
http://fortwayne.craigslist.org/pts/2781310538.html

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Easy, you might be interested in this ad from CL.
http://fortwayne.craigslist.org/pts/2781310538.html

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that's not bad! I'm thinking if i want to change the truck to a fummings.

New trucks IMO are not made as well as the old ones, You see allot more new trucks all dented up and twisted cause they are made cheaper, Older trucks are easier to work on, And usually you can rig stuff up to work easier in the old ones. And especially for scrapping there is nothing a new truck can do that the old one cant.

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Originally Posted by matt018

... there is nothing a new truck can do that the old one cant.

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Except start and run. Just kidding - see my post above.

For those of you who say I can use it as a write off, so you're going to use straight line depreciation? And get out of 5 year note, you'll be able to apply 90% of the annual depreciation cost of the vehicle which on a $45,000 truck would be about 8200 a year in tax credits, but that's if the IRS doesn't think you didn't use the vehicle for personal use. If so you could lose up to 75% of that credit. Back to the depreciation. So that year you paid about 9500 in payments, insurance, and taxes on the vehicle.

But if you had bought a $10,000 truck, put 400 a month in the bank every month for maintenance you'd end up spending about 14800 for the year, and 4800 every year there after if you keep up the maintenance deposits. Plus probably only $75 for taxes, and probably lower insurance. But lets look at the mileage tax credit you'd be able to apply to that $10,000 truck. If you keep good records, and where able to prove you used that vehicle for 25,000 miles you'd be able to apply $13,000 towards your taxes.

Doesn't make much sense to me to buy a brand new truck, or heck even one that cost more than $10,000.

I drive a 12 year old durango with 290,000 miles, she paid for herself the first year I bought it in mileage tax credits.

I agree with the above^^^. Mileage deduction is simple and easy and can put legal money in your pocket if you play your cards right.

Money in the truck or money in the pocket?? I say money in the pocket. My best experience has been with 1 ton trucks with top loader 4 speeds and inline 6 cylinder gas engines. 6 in row won't blow if you take it slow...which is the safest way to haul anyway. I have had great service from Chevy 250 and 292, Ford 300 also has done me well. Parts are cheap, mileage is acceptable, and you can get one for $800-1500 even today...if you are in the rust belt buy one from out west and bring it home. I know the Dodge diesels are the best if you have one, but you have to have some decent cash to acquire one that is not half dead. Trucks after 95 are so thin channeled they can not handle even one overload and are best for towing ( and they can do that very well). 60's steel is the very best for trucks since they were still trying to overcome metallurgy issues of previous generations, just watch those drum brakes!!

Some new trucks are too pretty to be considered trucks in my opinion, i would shudder to scratch 'em. Older trucks seem to take a better beating. If I buy an older truck already dented, scratched and broken in, I don't feel so bad if it takes a bit of abuse when I am scrapping. Milage is a big thing for many folks, but my route is pretty short so milage not so important for me.

20 miles a day for a year adds up. If you actually tracked it and took the deduction you'd get a credit of about 2 grand. Just sayin

Kris Kringle did his homework. So did dherik. Glad to see such contributions because lets face it that would have cost all of us using this forum a few bucks learning that from an accountant.