The price of new trucks is beyond comprehension!

[BobsYourUncle]

It was 42 years ago today, seems so long ago, yet still a strong memory in my head, a milestone I reached in my humble beginnings into the home renovation industry building solariums and such.

Yes, it was on this day, October ten, nineteen seventy eight when I had been only 4 years into my lifetime career when I worked my way to being able to purchase my first brand new truck!

Yup, 10-10-78 I drove off the lot of Phillips Chev - Olds in Penticton BC driving my nice shiny new 78 Chev 3/4 Ton Camper Special.

As I pulled out of the lot and turned left on to Westminster Ave and headed east towards home, I though I had lost my marbles, that I am a total idiot.

Who in their right mind would pay $7714. For a new truck. All taxes, fees, dealer prep and all the rest of the junk in came to $8,109.70 out the door...... Bob, you are out of your mind! I kept saying to myself. Financed it on the never never plan I did. How will I ever pay for it? I was barely 24 years old.

It was a great truck, I had it for 26 years and about 527,000K on the odometer when I retired it, still in decent shape.

Hmmmmm......

42 years later, my 2007 truck in sig is getting worn out. 408,800K on the clock and I am eyeing the shiny new trucks on the lot.

92 grand $$$$$$$ for something similar with a few more bells and whistles.

No, just no! That's what, about a dozen times the price I paid back then?
Gosh how can they justify that?

Wow! Just wow. Amazing how expensive pickups have become. All these fancy gizzmobops they have, someone has to pay for all that I guess..

Guess I'll just keep fixing what I have. It was $1423.77 yesterday for a water pump and a U-joint. Expensive!

Oh well, that's life! 🙂

My story of the day.

[ShinerBock]

time2roll wrote:

BobsYourUncle wrote:

ShinerBock wrote:

For instance, I paid $60k cash for a five acre plot about 5 years ago as an investment, and just sold it for $85k. Total interest on a $60k truck at 1.9%(the rate of my last loan) is $3k. So pay cash for a $60k vehicle to avoid paying $3k in interest over 5 years or invest it and make $25k in 5 years. I think I will choose to invest it and make $25k.

That there is excellent advice and good thinking.
So true.

Yes as long as that $60k does not become $45k. Vehicle loan interest is virtually guaranteed, investments are not. Don't kid yourself that you know the future. Still happy to hear the land turned out well.

Land value generally always increases, not decreases. Also, just as with investment managers, there are good ones and bad ones. You have to do your homework and stack the odds in your favor increasing your chances of making a profit.

I have been doing this for the past 15-20 years as a "side hustle" and I have made a profit on every land I have sold except a few in the beginning due to taxes. I will search out new mid to high end subdivisions that just opened up and pick out a few tracks of land that I know will be sought after when the neighborhood is developed. Then I wait 4-6 years(maybe longer), while the neighborhood builds more houses increasing the value of my land. The plots I pick out are generally some of the last ones sold in these neighborhoods and 7 times out of 10 a home builder buys my plots to build a house on it so he can sell it for even more money.

My area is very good for this type of investing because New Braunfels, about 40 miles north of me, is one of the fastest growing cities in the US and has been for a while. The chances of land value increasing there is pretty much guaranteed and I have several plots in the area that I will sell in the coming years. However, his is not the only way to turn $60k into more money either. Heck, just putting that money into maxing out your 401k would likely gain you more money over 5 years than would you would pay on vehicle loan under 3% interest.

[time2roll]

BobsYourUncle wrote:

ShinerBock wrote:

For instance, I paid $60k cash for a five acre plot about 5 years ago as an investment, and just sold it for $85k. Total interest on a $60k truck at 1.9%(the rate of my last loan) is $3k. So pay cash for a $60k vehicle to avoid paying $3k in interest over 5 years or invest it and make $25k in 5 years. I think I will choose to invest it and make $25k.

That there is excellent advice and good thinking.
So true.

Yes as long as that $60k does not become $45k. Vehicle loan interest is virtually guaranteed, investments are not. Don't kid yourself that you know the future. Still happy to hear the land turned out well.

[4x4ord]

blt2ski wrote:

wowens79 wrote:
I bought my first new vehicle in 2002, I was 33, and we found out we had a second child on the way, so I needed a crew cab. Bought a 2002 1500HD LT, which was top of the line back then for $31,000, sticker was $38k.
I'm still driving it, and it has 245K miles on it, and has left me on the side of the road one time. It's been a great truck.

Luckily I've still been making the same $400 car payment into a savings account for the last 14 years. I'm gonna try to get another year of 2 out of it, and buy another. That will hopefully get me to retirement.

I won't be going top of the line, probably will be in the middle of the line with an LT, Bighorn, or XLT gasser and be in the $45-47k range out the door.

I hope you realize that is a 2500 in 1500 badging! You have an equal of a C6P gvwr option, that is the old 8600 gvwr 2500 like my 2000 or 1981 before it. Altho that gvwr is not available any more. You still want a 2500 if you want an equal truck to your 1500HD! You will NOT find a GM anywhere close to that setup any more. Nor will you find a FOrd or Dodge. Nissan last I saw had something approaching it, but still have close!

Marty

Edit: oops I had meant to quote Shiner, not Marty. I was referring to Shiner’s remark about not paying cash for a vehicle because he can hopefully make more than the interest by investing the money:

I realize what you’re saying could be true. The point is that spending a lot of money on the purchase of a new vehicle is not considered to be a financially wise thing to do. Obviously none of us need a $90,000 truck. If however we manage our money well there may come a time when we will have a high net worth. When that time comes this particular advisor is suggesting that spending up to 5% of a person’s net worth on a new vehicle could be considered justifiable. Whether you pay cash or not is a separate decision.

[BobsYourUncle]

ShinerBock wrote:

For instance, I paid $60k cash for a five acre plot about 5 years ago as an investment, and just sold it for $85k. Total interest on a $60k truck at 1.9%(the rate of my last loan) is $3k. So pay cash for a $60k vehicle to avoid paying $3k in interest over 5 years or invest it and make $25k in 5 years. I think I will choose to invest it and make $25k.

That there is excellent advice and good thinking.
So true.

[blt2ski]

wowens79 wrote:
I bought my first new vehicle in 2002, I was 33, and we found out we had a second child on the way, so I needed a crew cab. Bought a 2002 1500HD LT, which was top of the line back then for $31,000, sticker was $38k.
I'm still driving it, and it has 245K miles on it, and has left me on the side of the road one time. It's been a great truck.

Luckily I've still been making the same $400 car payment into a savings account for the last 14 years. I'm gonna try to get another year of 2 out of it, and buy another. That will hopefully get me to retirement.

I won't be going top of the line, probably will be in the middle of the line with an LT, Bighorn, or XLT gasser and be in the $45-47k range out the door.

I hope you realize that is a 2500 in 1500 badging! You have an equal of a C6P gvwr option, that is the old 8600 gvwr 2500 like my 2000 or 1981 before it. Altho that gvwr is not available any more. You still want a 2500 if you want an equal truck to your 1500HD! You will NOT find a GM anywhere close to that setup any more. Nor will you find a FOrd or Dodge. Nissan last I saw had something approaching it, but still have close!

Marty

[ShinerBock]

4x4ord wrote:

time2roll wrote:
10%?? So a person making $50,000 should buy a $5,000 vehicle? Need to be making close to a million to get a new top line truck? Wow is that guru out of touch.

Or is that the payment? guru recommends payments?

I recommend the vehicle price should be less than 50% of your annual income.

The recommendation I read was to spend no more than 10% of your annual income on the vehicle purchase price. So someone making $120k per year would look for a $12k vehicle. (so they would buy a used vehicle most likely if they were going to follow his advice) The thing about it is if you’re building up a higher net worth by saving money you can afford a 50k vehicle when you have a net worth of $1 million if you spend 5% of net worth. It’s probably not bad advice .... the problem is most people aren’t willing to save and wait.

Even if I had enough money to pay cash for a $50k or more vehicle, I still would not do it if I was able to get a loan for less than 4% which is easily done with great credit. I can make a lot more investing that money than what I would pay on the loan over a 5 year period.

For instance, I paid $60k cash for a five acre plot about 5 years ago as an investment, and just sold it for $85k. Total interest on a $60k truck at 1.9%(the rate of my last loan) is $3k. So pay cash for a $60k vehicle to avoid paying $3k in interest over 5 years or invest it and make $25k in 5 years. I think I will choose to invest it and make $25k.

[blt2ski]

Bob,
I have gone out of quarry or three over 10000 even 11,000 once with my 20 Reg cab. Not sure what the heaviest we had the 81 up to.

As noted by someone else, while my door sticker per say, 8600 less the 4800 empty wt says 3800, In reality, being as how it is set up etc, it has a HEAVY rack, sits there around 5300 lbs, an 8000 lbs registration, so in reality, a whopping 2600 lbs of payload. For $15 or so, I can get a 10K plate, and have 4600 lbs of legal payload. At the end of the day, at least here in Wa St, as long as I am not over the Federal Bridge laws for tire width, ie 500 lbs per inch width of tire, to 20K per axel. I'm legal. So around 20K lbs total in a typical SW pickup truck of any nature. Assuming 4 10" width tires, 10K per axel. How many of us are over or near that amount?!?!?!? Did not think so!

marty

[4x4ord]

time2roll wrote:
10%?? So a person making $50,000 should buy a $5,000 vehicle? Need to be making close to a million to get a new top line truck? Wow is that guru out of touch.

Or is that the payment? guru recommends payments?

I recommend the vehicle price should be less than 50% of your annual income.

The recommendation I read was to spend no more than 10% of your annual income on the vehicle purchase price. So someone making $120k per year would look for a $12k vehicle. (so they would buy a used vehicle most likely if they were going to follow his advice) The thing about it is if you’re building up a higher net worth by saving money you can afford a 50k vehicle when you have a net worth of $1 million if you spend 5% of net worth. It’s probably not bad advice .... the problem is most people aren’t willing to save and wait.

[noteven]

The old trucks have decent payload because they don't weigh 8000lbs empty but have the same tire on the road.

My SRW Dodge 3500 won ton has the same payload as the family bought new in 1951 Dodge 1 ton grain truck over in the shed. Only difference the 1951 grosses 8000lbs and the 2006 pickup weighs 8000lbs empty 🙂

[Me_Again]

BobsYourUncle wrote:

noteven wrote:

BobsYourUncle wrote:
My 78 .... snip
That isn't the only time I grossly overloaded it.

Good truck, it just kept on going.

Can you imagine going to the coffee shop in Turner Valley in 1978 and lecturing someone about strictly not exceeding the door sticker GVW of their pickup truck .... ahahahahaha!

LOL! Back then nobody concerned themselves with overloading. If you could pile it in and make it run down the road, good to go!!
Could likely still get away with it in Turner Valley...

\

Clue for you! No Pickup trucks is going to be over the Federal Bridge weight limits! Maybe over registration limits in states that license tonnage, but not what is enforced at weigh stations across the country.

[BobsYourUncle]

noteven wrote:

BobsYourUncle wrote:
My 78 .... snip
That isn't the only time I grossly overloaded it.

Good truck, it just kept on going.

Can you imagine going to the coffee shop in Turner Valley in 1978 and lecturing someone about strictly not exceeding the door sticker GVW of their pickup truck .... ahahahahaha!

LOL! Back then nobody concerned themselves with overloading. If you could pile it in and make it run down the road, good to go!!
Could likely still get away with it in Turner Valley...

[noteven]

BobsYourUncle wrote:
My 78 may have only had the 3800 payload, but back then I didn't even know what the ratings were, much less adhere to them.

I used to strip stucco off houses and install aluminum siding.
I remember one time I piled a house full of stucco in the back, a piece of plywood front and back inside my rack, and I heaped it in there until it was over the top of my toolboxes.
Poor old truck was severely sagging in the back, down to the snubbers. Steering was super light.

Went to the dump, weigh in and weigh out, I will never forget that load. I had 3 1/3 tons in the the back of a 3/4 ton truck, 6,680 pounds!
I thought nothing of it, it became a challenge to see how much I could carry. That was the biggest load ever.
That isn't the only time I grossly overloaded it.

Good truck, it just kept on going.

Can you imagine going to the coffee shop in Turner Valley in 1978 and lecturing someone about strictly not exceeding the door sticker GVW of their pickup truck .... ahahahahaha!

[Me_Again]

Floridastorm wrote:

Lwiddis wrote:
Flyer, 1965 GTO was the best of the series...I had a LeMans.

1965 to 1967 GTOs. Best cars ever built IMO. 1967 had fuel injection where 1965/66 had Tri Power 4 bbl carburetors. Had a 1967 in 1967 and it was like a fighter plane.

Funny how times have changed. Our new Ford Edge ST with the twin turbo 2.7L V6 with 335HP and 380 lb/ft has the same 5.7 sec 0-60 number as the GTO and the ST weighs a half a ton more. The ST is 2 MPH fasted in the quarter mile also. The Edge ST would probably run away and hid from the GTO in the twisties. I had a 1967 SS/RS 350 Camaro in 67 and the Edge ST beats that by a lot in the 0-60 and is 8 MPH fasted in the quarter mile. Like I said times have changed.

[JAC1982]

Another thing to consider is in some areas, trucks hold their value better than cars. In our area, diesel trucks especially. Case in point, our tow vehicle, a 2017 F350 dually King Ranch, we got a screaming deal on. It only has around 10,000 miles on it as we only use it for towing the camper for vacations. It's still worth $60k at least... we didn't pay much more for it than that. Sticker was near $80.

My husband's "daily" truck (which is just to run errands since we both work at home), is a 2019 RAM 1500. It's already lost about 15k in value. He has a new truck on order, another Ford Super Duty (so yes, we will have 2). We are youngish (approaching 40) with no kids, no credit card debt, lots of home equity, save for retirement and have good incomes. Might as well enjoy it while we can, there's no promising a future.

[time2roll]

BobsYourUncle wrote:
I would think that 10% figure is based on the annual payments rather than the overall price.
10% times however many years of payments to pay off 5he whole thing.

Yes that is often what gets people in trouble by shopping payments instead of price. Especially with leases and long 72+ month loans.