Sweet spot for used HD pickups.

Not so much the age of the truck but the best deals on HD trucks happen when fuels prices spike. When diesel hit close to $5/gal here prices on used HD trucks dropped significantly.

After reading your querrie, I opened our greater area ( No. CA) Craigslist to see what is currently what. No surprise, HD, diesel/4x4 pickups from ANY mfgr. with ANY amount of miles on them are demanding much higher prices than their petrol powered sisters. The only soft area seemed to be any Ford/International diesel p.u. in the 2003-2005 span. The prices there were many thousands lower than GM or Dodge of the same vintage. There seems to be a wide disparity between 4x2 and 4x4's in the asking price. A 4x2 is many thousands lower.
The price decline between a oil burner and a gasser seems to have two different trajectories. A gasser drops faster than a diesel. Even though I bought mine brand new, I still can't believe the crazed attitude of folks selling their seemingly 'solid gold' diesel pickups.
Which brings me to a querrie of my own: How many miles do you plan on driving said mystery truck? If it is a low number, I would advise looking at some large cube V8 engines and even a Ford or Dodge V10 gasser. Plenty of power if not mpg's. Some V10 jockeys have really learned how to drive these beasts to get the most out of them.
If you plan on driving A LOT of miles, like more than 25K per year, I would look for a 8 to 10 year old Diesel with everything you want already on it. Just as a yardstick, my neighbor has a 2001.5 CTD 2500/camper package/tow package with an original 378 thousand miles on the original engine. He bought it two years ago for $7000. It runs like a top and looks brand new.
As has been said, "case by case" and know what you are looking at. There are a few 'buys' to be had in any age or condition trucks out there. Your job is to find just one of them.
In looking on Craigslist I found a 2007 Ford V10 Crew Cab 4x4 long bed with 220K miles/10K on rebuilt engine and transmission: $9500. Here are a couple I found just now:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/4292660528.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/4295547786.html
I have no connection with any of these.
happy hunting,
regards, as always, jefe

hedgehopper wrote:
How old an HD pickup gives the best value in terms of reliability vs cost?

As others have mentioned… It depends. Maintenance is huge factor.

Since you asked for opinions; I think that the 04.5' to '07 5.9L Cummins Turbo Diesel is the reliability/cost sweet spot. These engines are extremely durable, easy to maintain, powerful, economical (WRT fuel consumption), and have minimal emissions equipment… Of course this means you'd need to be ok with the Dodge Ram trucks, which have their own unique issues :R

Cheers,
-Mark

I agree with tragusa3s post. With some of the incentives it makes sense to buy new. Another thing to think about if you are going to finance the vehicle is the difference in interest rates between new and used. We normally pay cash for my vehicles and if we can't we don't buy. We just bought a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and we were going to pay it off but they offered us 3 year 0% financing. So to me that was a no brainer. I would rather use their money and let mine continue making money and interest.

We look at used vehicles thus:

-treat every potential on its own merit;
-every year, every model has its own foibles, so know them in advance;
-have your truck pre-buy inspected and tested in every way possible;
-account for large replacement items (rebuilt tranny, etc) as after-buy expense

...if you find a gem at the right price, count yourself very lucky :B In all our years of hunting for the above in a truck, we've never found the "gem" I describe above :( We always live in hope!

Same just happened to me with the high value of used vehicles. The incentives on the new ones brought the price way too close to the used market. 5k was about the savings for an equivalent 3 year old. Seemed a better value to me to go new. I'm sure some find deals better, but I couldn't.

Diesel repairs are very very expensive so much safer to go with a gas powered truck. Different model years by make have different levels of repair frequency and type of problem and Consumer Reports does an annual survey of vehicle owners and their findings involve thousands of vehicles. It is an excellent way to determine which trucks in which years had problems with the engine, the drivetrain,electrical components, cooling system, etc. and you can tell from the report when the problems were addressed by the manufacturers.

Any vehicle that is more than 5 years old or has more than 100,000 miles on the odometer is going to have a greater chance of needing repairs to head gaskets, water pump, transmission, air conditioner, tie-rods, wheel bearings, brake rotors, etc.

If I were looking for a used truck it would be one with under 60K and less than 5 years of age and where I was buying from the original owner who could provide me complete records of maintenance and repairs done. I would never buy a used vehicle of any kind from a dealer.

Overall for a pickup my first choice would be a Toyota as they have been the most trouble free and I have had several that I drove for more than 170k miles. They are not going to handle a full size camper though with their payload capacity but that still leaves other camper choices.

When I bought my then new 06' it was cheaper to buy new than used. Finance rates played a major role.

Great question. I bought mine when it was around 5 years old (gasser), was a used work truck that was in good shape (unusual), higher mileage but I knew that I would not be adding on the mileage very much. For what it cost me I was able to have a number of upgrades done and it was ready to go, over the years I have done more upgrades and preventative maintenance and I know that I am way ahead than if I would have bought new.

There can be some REALLY good deals in the 3 - 5 year models as some people have traded in for a new vehicle and all that was wrong with the old one was it was not smelling new any more. Some times life changes and someone has changed jobs and now does not need the 3/4 ton, other times a kid or marriage comes along and out goes the truck.

My brother bought a $80,000 plus truck with all the toys from a young oil worker that realized that the payments that he had on the lease were nuts. The guy took a huge loss (over $40,000 counting what he had paid in down payment, payments, after market upgrades and the buyout penalty) just to get out of the lease, my brother bought a top of the line truck with all the toys and only a couple of years old for less than half price.

Don't rush and keep your eyes open.

I guess it depends on the truck, the times, and where you live in the country.

In 2010 when I was shopping for a half ton, 4 to 6 year old F-150's with more than 50,000 miles were selling (at least asking any way) $20-22,000.

New truck incentives were such that I got a new one for not much more. Used trucks seem to hold their value in the NW.