Okay, so here's the deal.... I own and operate a small ( just me ) lawnservice business. Been doing this since 1994. I absolutely have to be able to depend on my truck to be able to tote my trailer ( a big heavy 7x16 enclosed trailer full of mowers and power tools )
In the past I just had my truck. It was my work vehicle and my personal vehicle and daily driver. Back in around 2003- 2004 I got tired of unhitching my truck from the trailer every day just to ride up to the store or go to the movies, so I bought a small car to drive when I didn't need to tow anything such as my boat.
Ive gone through a ton of trucks over the years, but never kept any of them long. Partly because I wanted dependability and partly because I was always changing my mind about what I wanted.... For example, in 1999 I bought a Ram 2500 diesel with 2wd and a stick, then a year later I traded in to get a 2000 2500 Ram diesel but with 4wd and a auto. Then literally a year later I traded in to get a 2001 1500 silverado 2wd with 4.8 v8 because it was all I needed and it saved me like 200$ a month on payments. Then in 2003 I traded in and got a 45 grand full loaded Avalanche, then two years later I sold it for like 2 grand less than payoff and bought a 2005 silverado stripped down work truck because a 300$ a month payment was alot better than the 650$ a month payment on the avalanche!
Anyways in 2008 I was once again in the hunt for a new truck and after looking at the new silverados, I decided to just take a look at the " new " tundras even though I figured they would be too expensive to buy. Ended up loving the truck and got a screaming deal on a new 08 double cab 2wd 5.7 Paid 22,700$ out the door with no trade in no down payment! Payments were a little over 400$ a month and paid on it for about 4 years, then just paid off the balance in a lump sum to be done with it. At that point, 4 years of ownership was a personal record, having never owned a vehicle that long.
Being that I kept the truck in basically " As New " condition ( I am super anal about keeping my truck and cars dent and ding and scratch free and keeping the inside spotless ) And being that at the time the truck maybe only had 60 thousand miles or so, and being that it is a TOYOTA and they are supposed to be super dependable and reliable vehicles, and also because the truck does everything I need it to do, I figured I would hold onto it for a while.
So fast forward to now, and Ive had the truck for 7 years 4 months... and 102,000 miles. Truck still looks like new, inside still looks new, but...... is the truck in my driveway this morning? NO. its at the dealership having the dam ABS system replaced to the tune of 2200$ because something went wrong with it last week and my speedo quit working, abs and brake lights and check engine lights came on.
Now Ive already had to have the starter replaced back around the 65,000 mile mark. Was quoted 1200$ for that! Luckily Toyota did some good will for me since the truck was just out of warranty and the dealer reduced their price some and I got it changed out for 500$ out of pocket. The starter and oil changes, brake rotors, and a back rear wheel bearing on one side was all I've had to deal with till now.
But I also have oil leakage on the engine, its coming from the front cover on the engine. Its not a ton of oil but over time its gotten worse. Dealer quoted 2500$ to fix it. Claims the engine has to be pulled out of the truck to fix this oil leak!
Then there is the concern of hearing of expensive water pump failures, and air injection pump failures, and so on and so forth.
It just seems to me that everything that can go wrong with these trucks costs serious bucks to fix, and I can't afford to be down without a truck for more than a day or two. 1200$ starter swap.... wheel bearing just one side was 4-5 hundred dollars as I recall.... 2200$ abs repair... What the heck is going to be next???
I remember when I was young, a car or truck with 100 thousand miles was more or less wore out. But these days you see so many people with 200, 300, even 4-500 thousand miles on their cars and trucks. Since I only use the truck for work purposes 95 percent of the time, I only put 200-225 miles a week on it. And thats not year around either, maybe 45 weeks a year. Thats only around 10,000 miles a year. Since the truck does everything I need out of a truck, is paid off, and still looks great, I want to keep it for another couple of years. Even 4 more years from now it should still be under 150K... certainly under 200K. But I am afraid of how much this truck is going to cost me to keep repairing it, if things start going downhill.
I know the logical way to look at it is, even if I have to spend 2500$ a year on some kind of repair, say the ABS thing this year, the oil leak next year, a new starter and some other stuff the next, etc.... It would be still much cheaper than 5 years of payments on a new truck and depreciation etc....
But I am still concerned, and have some fear of the truck, that If I keep it much longer I might be taking it hard in the rear so to speak, with expensive repairs. God forbid if the engine blew, that would probably cost more than what the truck is worth.
The flip side is I haven't been pricing new trucks lately but I don't think I could bring myself to spend 40-50 grand on a new truck. I don't need or want leather and all the bells and whistles, but I would want 4 doors, a decent sized back seat, power windows and locks, cloth interior and a engine strong enough to pull my trailer without fuss.
I gave some thought to selling my truck ( I think I might could get 15 grand for it ? ) and buying a Ram with the eco diesel. With the long term fuel savings of the eco diesel helping to offset the purchase ( my tundra gets a rock solid 10-10.5 mpg towing my trailer, I figure the ecodiesel would do more like 15-16mpg, which would be a 772$ savings each year at todays price for gas and diesel ) But the issue I have with the eco diesel, is I believe repairs on it will also be wildly expensive. Same with the Ford ecoboost stuff, I believe they will have many issues as they get to be the age and mileage my tundra has and they too will need expensive repairs.
one thing I do know, is I don't want to get back in a cycle of monthly payments and debt. I am debt free other than my home mortgage. So I don't want to sell my truck, to buy something else and 8 or 10 years from now be on a silverado or ram forum complaining about how my truck is beginning to be a money pit at 100K and I am considering dumping it before all hell breaks lose.
Long post, just wanted to convey my thoughts. Your opinions??? Should I just roll the dice and keep on truckin with the tundra, should I unload it because more expensive crap fails....
In the past I just had my truck. It was my work vehicle and my personal vehicle and daily driver. Back in around 2003- 2004 I got tired of unhitching my truck from the trailer every day just to ride up to the store or go to the movies, so I bought a small car to drive when I didn't need to tow anything such as my boat.
Ive gone through a ton of trucks over the years, but never kept any of them long. Partly because I wanted dependability and partly because I was always changing my mind about what I wanted.... For example, in 1999 I bought a Ram 2500 diesel with 2wd and a stick, then a year later I traded in to get a 2000 2500 Ram diesel but with 4wd and a auto. Then literally a year later I traded in to get a 2001 1500 silverado 2wd with 4.8 v8 because it was all I needed and it saved me like 200$ a month on payments. Then in 2003 I traded in and got a 45 grand full loaded Avalanche, then two years later I sold it for like 2 grand less than payoff and bought a 2005 silverado stripped down work truck because a 300$ a month payment was alot better than the 650$ a month payment on the avalanche!
Anyways in 2008 I was once again in the hunt for a new truck and after looking at the new silverados, I decided to just take a look at the " new " tundras even though I figured they would be too expensive to buy. Ended up loving the truck and got a screaming deal on a new 08 double cab 2wd 5.7 Paid 22,700$ out the door with no trade in no down payment! Payments were a little over 400$ a month and paid on it for about 4 years, then just paid off the balance in a lump sum to be done with it. At that point, 4 years of ownership was a personal record, having never owned a vehicle that long.
Being that I kept the truck in basically " As New " condition ( I am super anal about keeping my truck and cars dent and ding and scratch free and keeping the inside spotless ) And being that at the time the truck maybe only had 60 thousand miles or so, and being that it is a TOYOTA and they are supposed to be super dependable and reliable vehicles, and also because the truck does everything I need it to do, I figured I would hold onto it for a while.
So fast forward to now, and Ive had the truck for 7 years 4 months... and 102,000 miles. Truck still looks like new, inside still looks new, but...... is the truck in my driveway this morning? NO. its at the dealership having the dam ABS system replaced to the tune of 2200$ because something went wrong with it last week and my speedo quit working, abs and brake lights and check engine lights came on.
Now Ive already had to have the starter replaced back around the 65,000 mile mark. Was quoted 1200$ for that! Luckily Toyota did some good will for me since the truck was just out of warranty and the dealer reduced their price some and I got it changed out for 500$ out of pocket. The starter and oil changes, brake rotors, and a back rear wheel bearing on one side was all I've had to deal with till now.
But I also have oil leakage on the engine, its coming from the front cover on the engine. Its not a ton of oil but over time its gotten worse. Dealer quoted 2500$ to fix it. Claims the engine has to be pulled out of the truck to fix this oil leak!
Then there is the concern of hearing of expensive water pump failures, and air injection pump failures, and so on and so forth.
It just seems to me that everything that can go wrong with these trucks costs serious bucks to fix, and I can't afford to be down without a truck for more than a day or two. 1200$ starter swap.... wheel bearing just one side was 4-5 hundred dollars as I recall.... 2200$ abs repair... What the heck is going to be next???
I remember when I was young, a car or truck with 100 thousand miles was more or less wore out. But these days you see so many people with 200, 300, even 4-500 thousand miles on their cars and trucks. Since I only use the truck for work purposes 95 percent of the time, I only put 200-225 miles a week on it. And thats not year around either, maybe 45 weeks a year. Thats only around 10,000 miles a year. Since the truck does everything I need out of a truck, is paid off, and still looks great, I want to keep it for another couple of years. Even 4 more years from now it should still be under 150K... certainly under 200K. But I am afraid of how much this truck is going to cost me to keep repairing it, if things start going downhill.
I know the logical way to look at it is, even if I have to spend 2500$ a year on some kind of repair, say the ABS thing this year, the oil leak next year, a new starter and some other stuff the next, etc.... It would be still much cheaper than 5 years of payments on a new truck and depreciation etc....
But I am still concerned, and have some fear of the truck, that If I keep it much longer I might be taking it hard in the rear so to speak, with expensive repairs. God forbid if the engine blew, that would probably cost more than what the truck is worth.
The flip side is I haven't been pricing new trucks lately but I don't think I could bring myself to spend 40-50 grand on a new truck. I don't need or want leather and all the bells and whistles, but I would want 4 doors, a decent sized back seat, power windows and locks, cloth interior and a engine strong enough to pull my trailer without fuss.
I gave some thought to selling my truck ( I think I might could get 15 grand for it ? ) and buying a Ram with the eco diesel. With the long term fuel savings of the eco diesel helping to offset the purchase ( my tundra gets a rock solid 10-10.5 mpg towing my trailer, I figure the ecodiesel would do more like 15-16mpg, which would be a 772$ savings each year at todays price for gas and diesel ) But the issue I have with the eco diesel, is I believe repairs on it will also be wildly expensive. Same with the Ford ecoboost stuff, I believe they will have many issues as they get to be the age and mileage my tundra has and they too will need expensive repairs.
one thing I do know, is I don't want to get back in a cycle of monthly payments and debt. I am debt free other than my home mortgage. So I don't want to sell my truck, to buy something else and 8 or 10 years from now be on a silverado or ram forum complaining about how my truck is beginning to be a money pit at 100K and I am considering dumping it before all hell breaks lose.
Long post, just wanted to convey my thoughts. Your opinions??? Should I just roll the dice and keep on truckin with the tundra, should I unload it because more expensive crap fails....