I've come to a realization.

[Hubscrub]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

I don't agree. The cost of a new vehicle is substantial in lost value and especially if you trade it in. Don't forget all the cash you lay out in payments every month. In seven years my 03 Tahoe has lost over $20,000 in value. It lost half of that in the first three years. Trade in value is much worse.

If you took the money you spend on a new truck payment and put it into a square body every month instead it would be very nice and reliable in a relatively short time period and go up in value rather than down.

Square bodies are about as cheap as they will ever get and are a great investment. As long as the work done is done well and nothing is too off the wall custom wise the money you invest in it will give you a better return than what you would lose on buying a new car and giving it away every few years for trade in value before the warranty runs out.

YOU ARE CORRECT MY FRIEND! owning a older truck is no way more $$$ than going to a car lot and buying a new truck that loses value the second you pull off the lot and all the electronic junk on these new ones is a joke and can cost you when it starts going out. they are great when they run right don't get me wrong but at the end of the day i will alway pick my old american iron they can be just as reliable as anything else if YOU want it to be my father was a mechanic for 30+ year and believe me he will tell you the same thing

[67_C-30]

I put a fuel pump on my Z71 when it was 4 years old at 45,000 miles and the pump cost me $403. I put a fuel pump on my on CUCV Blazer last week that cost me $21.49.

Your option is to buy a new truck every 3 years or so and spend $500/month (not including insurance for a new truck), or do cheap repairs every so often on your old truck. $400-$500 bucks to fix your frontend is 1 new truck payment. When you get the frontend fixed, it will probably be fine for another 25 years.

[dropd80s]

Originally Posted by 67_C-30

I put a fuel pump on my Z71 when it was 4 years old at 45,000 miles and the pump cost me $403. I put a fuel pump on my on CUCV Blazer last week that cost me $21.49.

When I dropped $500 for the driver side wheel bearing on my 02 cummins I had serious thoughts of sticking a for sale sign on it. Now that the pass. side is going out, I see they are down to $200.79. Why doesn't that make me feel better?

[C-10 simplex]

My philosophy is it usually doesn't make financial sense to farm out repairs regardless of what type of car you got new or older.

But cars are just expensive in general new or old.

Now if you make $300,000 a year and literally "have no time" to fix it yourself, then in this case it might make sense to have the dealer or shop fix it for you.


If owning a new vehicle really was more cost effective than owning an older model, i would not be on this site and i would be cruising around in a 3/4 extended cab silverado with duramax/allison combo. That's 56K.