Tell me your horror stories (Diesel)

Lantley wrote:

Groover wrote:

ppine wrote:

Bingo. My 2002 Ford is going up in value.

Lets say that the diesel cost an extra $5k in 2002 and you had invested that money in an S&P 500 index fund. Just on capital appreciation using the highest value of 2002 for the S&P in 2002 that investment would now be worth $11,185. If you allow for 2% dividends over 16 years compounded you would now have $16,178 in your account. I suspect that would have been the better investment from a purely monetary standpoint. I do realize that few trucks are bought as investments though.

That may have been the worst analogy ever!
Big difference between banking the money and buying a truck.
Why not state he should have invested the money in Amazon, Google, Apple or some other high flyer. That way he'd been even farther ahead.
Unfortunately cash won't tow a trailer until you use it to barter for a truck

No one buys a new truck as an investment. Owning one is clearly an expense. It is consumptive spending, not investment spending. Duh.

I get tired of hearing people talk about the high cost of diesel purchase, repairs and fuel costs. It is a load of ****. It cost me $5k extra to buy a diesel. Now my truck has 170k miles on it. It is going up in value because mechanics think it is "still fresh." The same gas truck would be worth very little. It has saved me lots of fuel costs over the years. It has cost very little except maintenance. The first brake job was at 125 k miles. I rebuilt the front end. That is remarkable. The trans is still fine.

My truck cost $35k and it is worth about $17k in this market after 16 years and 170 k miles. It is the best vehicle I have ever owned.
I was talking with my mechanic the other day. His advice was "don't ever sell it."