How do you justify a new truck every 2-3 years?

[6_2LTZ]

23 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

That's an easy one. I don't. Only owned two new cars in my life. Even Pepper was used. 1300 very sweetly treated miles without a single defect priced around 55 cents on the dollar.

 

You do realize new ones go for for "75 cents on the dollar." 

[6_2LTZ]

I'm about the same age and in the same situation as you. I just paid off a 2014 and always said I'd keep it for years. Well, four months later I traded it in for a new one. How could I justify it? After a couple thousand dollars out of warranty repairs, tires that needed replacing, drivers side A/C that quit, and a torn seat I had enough. Going from a '14 5.3 double cab to an '18 crew cab 6.2 didn't require much convincing. With 60k miles I got 2/3rds what I paid for the '14 on trade.  The small refinements from the '14 to the '18 make the truck significantly nicer to drive. The 5.3 was a dog while the 6.2 feels like a sports car and gets better mileage. In my experience I wouldn't get a first year model truck again. I think I'd wait until a mid cycle refresh or last model year before I traded again. 

[JimCost2014]

28 minutes ago, DirtyMarcus said:

Lol sorry dude.  Its tough to interpret peoples meaning sometimes.

No worries, I did kind of jump to the middle of my comment without letting you know I was on your side first.

Edited January 15, 2019 by JimCost2014

[Chris walker]

11 hours ago, JimCost2014 said:

No worries, I did kind of jump to the middle of my comment without letting you know I was on your side first.

Civil dialog in 2019 - Im stunned. Now if we can just get the rest of society to take note.

[L86 All Terrain]

I usually pay about 40-50% in cash down payment, keep them in immaculate shape, and trade them in 4-5 years. This way my payments are only about $500CAD per month at 2-3% interest which leaves lots of cash in my pockets for investments and other business and life dealings. I always seem to get my down payment + 10-15% back when I trade them, I recycle this money into the next down payment. I paid $39,000 for my 2010 SLT and traded it 4.5 years later with 70,000 miles for $24,000. It costed me $3,333.33 per year to drive a brand new loaded truck for 4.5 years, which really isn't bad at all if you think about it. You buy a $5,000 junker and you spend your time and car-payment money keeping it going, costs you about the same at the end of the day.  The only hard thing is scraping up that intial down payment. The less money you leave subjected to interest, the more money you will have available to make money. 

 

 

[JimCost2014]

4 hours ago, Chris walker said:

Civil dialog in 2019 - Im stunned. Now if we can just get the rest of society to take note.

We can all hope. I remember the days before "cyber tough guys", where you interacted with each other and did not want the punch the person in the head because of the way they were talking to you. If I could only get someone to buy off on my computer program, you get out of line, you receive a shock powerful enough to make you piss your pants, different levels of course.

[protovack]

I don't know about other people, but I'll only trade up if I'm not happy with my current truck in some specific way. 

For example, I have a 2016 K2 double cab in silver. I love the truck, but I have a growing family and I want a crew cab. I also want a truck that's an actual color (not black, silver or white). Therefore, at some point I'm going to upgrade, likely when the T1 gets a refresh, and I'll get the truck I want/need and I'll probably keep that one forever, unless I discover that it has some fatal flaw that I can't live with. That said, there is no perfect vehicle so I figure if I own a truck in the right configuration for me, and it has no game breaking mechanical issues then I'm going to keep that truck for a long time.  

 

I actually tried to find a leftover 2018 in a crew cab, deep ocean metallic thinking I could get the things I wanted for a nice price. Except all the trucks leftover in a 500 mile radius around me are either "e-assist" models (no interest in that) or don't have a factory bed liner (a must for me). Literally not a single truck left that I would buy. So, I"m kind of forced into waiting for 2019's to come down in price and get kinks worked out. I'm kind of pissed because I really love my K2 truck and I also like that it DOESN'T have stop/start and has a real key ignition! In my opinion, the K2 is the last "old school" truck.  But the T1 is cool and I'd be happy to drive one. 

 

Owning a full size truck is a privilege most in the world do not have, if you find one you like hold on to it. It's fun to have a relationship with a truck that ages with you and becomes truly "yours". Upgrading every 2-3 years, I think you lose out on that...

[outrag1]

8 hours ago, protovack said:

I actually tried to find a leftover 2018 in a crew cab, deep ocean metallic thinking I could get the things I wanted for a nice price. Except all the trucks leftover in a 500 mile radius around me are either "e-assist" models (no interest in that) or don't have a factory bed liner (a must for me).

The factory bed liner comes with the bowtie or (GMC) stamped on the front wall of the bed, otherwise it's no different than the after market Linex, etc. spray in liners you can get at many locations.  The current 18 I just got I had the spray in liner done by the dealer ( they own their own liner shop) and the 16 I had, that dealer farmed it out to a local Linex place and had it done.  You should be able to get it done between $450 and $550. 

[OnTheReel]

Well, we were able to make a very agreeable deal. LTZ 6.2 maxtow, premium and tech packages.

 

I can’t imagine myself getting tired of this one anytime soon.

 

 

[O Town Denali]

Congrats.  Nice truck. The smile justifies everything.

[outrag1]

Wow...6.2 and all, nice going and good luck!

[mistergmc]

I traded my one year old Canyon on the AT4 and did not look back. I was not in the market (was very happy with the Canyon). I blame GMC for this; I was at the dealership having scheduled maintenance done when I saw the AT4 on their showroom floor. Two months later of searching and I was in the AT4 - found one elsewhere that had all the features I wanted. 

[L86 All Terrain]

You wont be disappointed with that motor, or 3.42 gears in the NHT. Congratulations, nice truck. 

[Wintersun]

I only replace a vehicle when it is no longer needed or useful or safe or reliable. Plan to sell my 2011 heavy duty diesel pickup this year and buy a gas powered 1/2 ton as I am no longer doing heavy towing or hauling. Every truck I have owned has been replaced at around 170,000 miles but it was to get a better engine, airbags, more towing capacity, and all those trucks were at least 10 years old.

 

With lead free gas an engine is good for 300,000 miles. There may be problems with a head gasket or fuel pump or water pump or alternator or air conditioning but those are relatively cheap repairs as compared to buying a new truck. My next gas powered 1/2 ton is going to cost me over $40,000 and the state sales tax and DMV fees will be over $5,000. I can do a lot of repairs for $5,000.

 

Reliability is a concern and I would be most concerned with a work truck that affected my income when it was in the shop or if it might break down thousands of miles from my house. I have had breakdowns and there was the cost to get the parts expedited to the town and the cost for a hotel and restaurant meals until I could get back  on the road. With an RV in tow or a boat trailer it would be even more of a problem and so I pay more to have vehicles that hopefully I can rely on. That has not been the case with my Duramax diesel that has had numerous emissions controls problems that have stopped it in its tracks and caused us to cut short three vacation trips. I now only use it in the local area and close to home.

[Fuelie]

I buy a new truck every year at end of year sales event.

My truck is my office, I retired from the company I worked for as a field service tech after 30 years. I got bored and started my own service business doing the same thing, just a one man operation.

I put 50K miles on a year and charge my customers .57 cents per mile, that comes out to $28,500 per year on mileage. I spend approx 6K/year on gas and $960/yr for insurance. I can easily trade every year and still make a profit on mileage.

My wife car we trade about every 7 years or so.

Tom