I prefer to save ahead of time.
Step 1: Drive paid for vehicle. (my SUV is 15 years old)
Step 2: Pay yourself car payment (avg. new car payment ~500 bucks)(trucks probably more like ~750)
Step 3: When you've saved enough, you can pay cash for your new vehicle
Step 4: Enjoy new vehicle that isn't towing around 40K in debt behind it
Step 5: Continue paying yourself a car payment for your next new vehicle.
We have enough for a new vehicle saved, but since my truck is still doing what we need it to do, and it's holding up great, we'll just continue to save. Which is a good thing as new midlevel trucks are likely to cost near 100 grand by the time we're ready to upgrade.
