bdog

I have had my truck about 2 years. I bought it with 50k and now it has 140k. I checked the Kelly Blue book values and the trade in value is about $1500 more than I owe. I still have 3 years of payments left before it is paid off. What scares me is at the rate I am going I will have 275k miles when it is paid off. I am sure the cummins can take it but I am not sure about the rest of the truck. Yes it will be nice to have it paid off but it will be pretty much wore out and probbly not have much value. I like my truck but I am worried it is going to start nickel and dimeing me to death. That brings me to my question. I am thinking about trading my truck for something new or at least newer. Something that is under warranty.

I am new to these higher end trucks. This is the first truck I have ever had that cost more than $5000 and I am not really sure when is the best time to trade it in. Can anyone offer some advice?

djp9747

"This is the first truck I've ever had that cost more than $1500"

Be prepared for some sticker shock!! Dodge, Ford, and Chevy sure are proud of their new trucks

Mostwanted

I would sell it and get the new or newer one. The value is going to start decreasing rapidly and those of us that cannot afford a new one would like to have another one to pick from.

Tfeore

bdog, if you think your rig ain't gonna be worth much in three years, buy a new one and then you can be upside down for the next five years. If you can bear with it stick it out another year or so.

Remember this is an opinion, I am the worst finacial guy. I buy now and worry later. But I can guarantee that the value of a new truck will fall way faster than that of which you have. Based on the milage you have driven your "new" rig will have 90K on it in two years, long past the basic warranty and just out of the 7/70 drivetrain. You can buy a lot of parts for that kind of payment.

Dodgezilla

What Tfeore said. If you get a new one you won't have a warranty long with the number of miles you put on your trucks. I'd say wait until the nickle & dimeing starts and then trade it in. Who knows, it may never start......

Geico266

You'll never get your hands on my truck. I'm going to keep it forever!

As for time to trade in? It all depends on the size of your wallet.

Copenhagenjunkie

Just keep it, I just paid mine off with 307k on the ticker.

bdog

Thanks for the replies. I see what you guys are saying in that the warranty won't last long on a new one at the miles I drive. I guess it just kind of bums me out that after I get through paying on my truck for 5 years it won't be worth that much and will be wore out. I hear about these people that buy anew truck every couple of years and I wonder if there is a sense behind it or if they just have a lot of $$.

katoiler

I Traded my 02 in for the 03 and regret it every day!There are some nice things on the 03 but over all the 02 was a better truck in my opinion.I say Keep It!(or trade me!!

Dodgezilla

I used to buy a new truck every year or two. Not because I wanted to, but because I was tired of driving the piece of junk and making payments on it. I'm trying to keep this one but everyone I know is messing with me about how it's time to trade it in again and it's got me thinking... You lose a couple grand when you trade them in that soon so you better be prepared to be upside down for a long time.
My current truck's paid for so I am trying real hard to hang on to it...... I really like this truck but I still have some irritating trans issues that I just can't seem to get fixed. Who knows what I'll be driving next week...........

Whitmore

It all depends on you and the truck,

As far as with you, when the truck needs repairs are you capable of doing it yerself and do you enjoy that kinda thing, if yes than the truck has many more miles to go, maintenance costs are a small thing when you dont have monthly payments.

Do you like the truck and am willing to put up with it even when you see a new shiney one going down the road?

As far as the truck..........Has it been good to you so far?? Is the truck capable of doing what you need out of a truck??

I look at it this way, Ya pay 5k extra to get the Cummins option and they will run for a long long time!

I am 44 yrs old and plan to run my truck for the rest of my life, now this is different with me cuz the most miles I do in a year is 24k and now my wife just bought a new 04.5 Cummins 600 so my miles per year will go down down down. I would really like to see 1 million miles on my truck before I die but I really dont think the truck will be as good to me as the motor has.

Cheers, Kevin

Hoss

I'm concerned. You said in your first post that you've never bought a truck for more than $5000 (or at least that's the way I understood it). In the post above it sounds like you have a 5 year note...with three years left.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if it takes you 5 years to pay off a $5000 truck then it's going to take a LONG time to pay off a new $34K truck.

Hoss

There's no sense in it, but some people (me included) do it anyway because we like new trucks.

Straight out of college I bought a 2000 Ford F-250 4x4 Lariat w/V-10....fully loaded....VERY nice truck. I really couldn't afford this $33K truck on a 5 year note, but I thought I HAD to have it and the slick salesman was more than happy to hook me up with a "Smart Buy" (dumbest thing I ever did). After having it for a little over a year I realized what a bad deal it was. I got lucky and managed to pick up a new 2002 Ford F-250 4x2 XLT w/V-8 on the Ford "X-Plan". The X-Plan was such a great deal that despite losing about $5K on my trade in I still ended up with a true 5 year note and about $100 less per month in payment. In that case it worked out great for me. I got out of a really bad deal on the 2000 Ford that would have ended up costing me about $52K had I kept the truck long enough to pay it off.

About 26K miles later (May '03) I decided that I just could not stand getting 12 mpg any more. I traded that Ford in for my current truck. My payment went up about $50 a month but I figured I would more than make up for that in fuel savings...which I have.

Bottom line....if you want a new truck and can afford it then get it....but try to work it in a way that it ends up saving you money. I've managed to lower my operating costs (payment + maintenance + fuel) each time I traded in...and ultimately ended up with a more valuable truck.

So...while most of the folks I know probably think I'm irresponsible for having three trucks in the past 4 years...what they don't realize is that each time I have traded in I have lowered my operating costs and saved myself money. I now enjoy a great truck that also gets 18 mpg.

My wife says I'm keeping this truck until I die. I guess we'll see...

bdog

Sorry for the confusion in my post. When I said I have never bought a truck over 5k before I meant before my current truck. I have had about 5 trucks in my life and before the Dodge(which was 25k) I had never spent more than 5k on one. With the cheaper trucks you could usually sell them for close to what you paid for them if you took good care of them. Sometimes I even fixed them up a bit and made a profit when I sold them.

Anyway what I was trying to say is having a 25k truck is something completely new to me and while I really like my truck I realize that I am going to have to get a new or at least newer one at some point.

I am just trying to figure out when is the best time to trade my truck from a financial standpoint. If I keep it until it wears out I may only get 2-3k for something I paid 25k for which hurts, but I need to consider all the use I got out of it. Then I think if I sell it now I will get 15k for it which is more than I owe and I can use the money for a down payment on a newer one.

After doing some thinking I have come to realize that if you drive as much as I do, by the time you pay off a truck it is time for a new one so that means I will always have a truck payment. So this makes me think along the lines of who cares what the price of the truck is, just worry about the payments. I do not think my payment is that bad, but as my truck gets older I start thinking that for what I am paying per month I could be driving something newer.

Dodgezilla

I don't mind the payments so much as paying for repairs while I'm still making payments. That's when i decide it's time to get a new one..