2007 Chevy Silverado HD Duramax,Diesel Allison Transmission

200K miles is certainly where things will start to fail from age. If you put back enough money you could cover those repairs, but the next question is what kind of downtime can you deal with if the truck fails on one of those long trips?

There's a dealership near me that specializes in diesel trucks. They get all their inventory from auctions, clean them, slap on bumpers and a couple of extras, then sell them for a premium. They don't keep trucks in inventory for very long so folks are still buying them as fast as they show up. A truck like your '07 will sell for anywhere between $15,000 to $18,000 on their lot.

So, let's assume you sell your truck outright for $15,000 which should be pretty easy to get if the body is in pretty good shape. You can start shopping on AutoTrader, Craigslist, or other places and find a pretty good truck for well under the price of new. I did a quick search for Chevy 2500HD, Duramax, 4X4 and found several that were 2012 and newer for under 100,000 miles priced at $33K or less.

So, if you shop in the $35,000 price range or less you should be able to find a good truck at least 5 years newer than yours with 1/2 the mileage or less. And......you'd only have to finance $20,000. That should help with your fixed income.

KJ

If your truck is an 07 classic with the LBZ/Duramax like mine, keep it. Over the next 200k miles I expect to spend 5-10 k on repairs as injectors and other stuff wears out, but I do not expect the main driveline to wear out. If it did breakdown on the road, we do have our house right behind, so we can wait for repairs or trade then.
There are thousands of these trucks out there with many more miles than that with that experience.
The 07 classic has a higher resale value than trucks up to 3 years newer.

For the cost of a new one, and especially if you have to get a loan, you could tuck away $400 a month (as a truck payment) and keep that for repairs. As long as the truck is not costing anything except normal maintenance, why change? Put that $400 aside every month. In 2 months you'll have $800, in 4 months you'll have $1600. Every month that goes by trouble free, is money you can save (and save to apply to a new-to-you vehicle). If it's working well right now, why change? But do start saving.

GM does not lease HD vehicles, so there are ZERO 2500HD/3500HD pickup trucks "coming off a two or three year lease that are well maintained and have significant life left with a 40% discount from new."

There is no such thing.

Good used 2500HD/3500HD GM pickups are far and few between, and you will pay almost new price for a 2-year-old used truck with average miles. I've been helping my Dad shop for the last two years to replace is REALLY long-in-the-tooth 2000 Chevy 2500, and this is what we've been finding.

Every once in a while you'll come across one that for no apparent reason is priced about $5000 less than anything comparable, but by the time you get on the phone to the dealership, it's gone, or there's some lame excuse why it's not on the lot when you get there.

If you're going to buy and you don't want to spend months on a wild goose chase, spend the little extra and buy new.

If you are planning to keep it for some years, as you seem to be, you do not incur depreciation losses, except on paper. You get to skip all that.

Instead of buying new and having to suffer a great loss of initial depreciation, you really should consider buying used. There are many fine vehicles that come off a two or three year lease that are well maintained and have significant life left with a 40% discount from new. The advantage you have is you can watch the market closely until the right off lease or used vehicle is available.

Your existing vehicle, as already posted, is getting "long in the tooth" and you can expect to replace some items along the way. What can happen, however, is that you can face a failure that disables the vehicle and repair cost approaches the vehicle's value. Without the repair, the vehicle is worth its scrap value, and with the repair, you have invested a lot of money without any return. That is a difficult position to be in.

If I were in your position, I would buy the right used vehicle.

At 200K miles stuff is going to start failing. Fuel pumps, water pumps, alternators, injectors are all approaching end of life cycle. They may go another 100K but they all could just as easily all fail tomorrow. Trans is likely getting close to rebuild. The basic motor could go another 100K miles before rebuild time. So its a toss up. Once things start failing, it will be a never ending cycle.
You might start shopping for a two year old low miles truck and see what it would cost you. Another considerstion, if it were to fail you on the road are, or would you be prepared to buy so you could get back on the road. Or would you be better off doing it now when you have some bargaining power?