Looking for opinions about vehicles

Help Support CattleToday:

Craig Miller

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
Messages
2,241
Reaction score
9
Location
Nw Alabama
I have a 2013 ram 1500. I have been driving it to and from work since I bought it new. I put about 25-30000 miles a year on it. I'm at about 95000 right now. The warranty on the power train expires at 100000 as you probably know. Well this week I had to put a WCM in it to the tune of $650. Not covered under warranty. I also need to have new plugs and such put it. Normal 100000 mile maintenance at around 400 bucks. My mechanic buddy says some of these hemis are having valve seat failures just beyond warranty. Rebuilt motors are about $7000. I have about 39 payments on this one left. Im thinking about trading for a used car with extended Gm warranty. and buying an old truck for work here. What do you think?
 
Sounds like a good idea. You should get better gas mileage on the car. If you stay with what you have, you will not only have a monthly payment but also major maintenance/repairs.
 
The less you spend on vehicles, the better. Best ever for me was a used 6 cylinder chevy with a 3 on the tree. Bought it for $2,000 Drove it 130 thousand and it was totaled out. Not my fault. Insurance paid me $1930

I've bought several new trucks thru the years. Other than driving something "nice", cars are a losing expense.

My GMC 1/2 ton is averaging 23 miles to the gallon to and from work. It has a V8 that somehow runs as a V4 part time.

I have had dodge. I have had ford. I have GMC now. I am against them all but drive one out of necessity.
 
backhoeboogie":1tag5yl6 said:
The less you spend on vehicles, the better. Best ever for me was a used 6 cylinder chevy with a 3 on the tree. Bought it for $2,000 Drove it 130 thousand and it was totaled out. Not my fault. Insurance paid me $1930

I've bought several new trucks thru the years. Other than driving something "nice", cars are a losing expense.

My GMC 1/2 ton is averaging 23 miles to the gallon to and from work. It has a V8 that somehow runs as a V4 part time.

I have had dodge. I have had ford. I have GMC now. I am against them all but drive one out of necessity.

Amen, Brother. A necessary evil. I do not identify with those who glorify a horrible investment.
 
I think you're on the right path Craig.
My next one will be used for sure and I don't want any kind of monthly payments either.
 
backhoeboogie":22e031z9 said:
The less you spend on vehicles, the better. Best ever for me was a used 6 cylinder chevy with a 3 on the tree. Bought it for $2,000 Drove it 130 thousand and it was totaled out. Not my fault. Insurance paid me $1930

I've bought several new trucks thru the years. Other than driving something "nice", cars are a losing expense.

My GMC 1/2 ton is averaging 23 miles to the gallon to and from work. It has a V8 that somehow runs as a V4 part time.

I have had dodge. I have had ford. I have GMC now. I am against them all but drive one out of necessity.

I like what your saying but the last truck I bought for 3500 left me standing on the side of i20 500 miles from home. I just can't trust something like that to get me there.
 
We used to run a fleet of old paid for junk. I'm not a fan of debt, by any stretch of the imagination, but I can tell you that a payment on a couple of new ones costs the same as the parts for a few old ones. The scale of justice tilts in favor of the new ones with the elimination of down time. We put big down payments on them, and took out short term loans on the balance. Our personal vehicles are still old junkers, BTW.
 
Craig Miller":569zczvy said:
backhoeboogie":569zczvy said:
The less you spend on vehicles, the better. Best ever for me was a used 6 cylinder chevy with a 3 on the tree. Bought it for $2,000 Drove it 130 thousand and it was totaled out. Not my fault. Insurance paid me $1930

I've bought several new trucks thru the years. Other than driving something "nice", cars are a losing expense.

My GMC 1/2 ton is averaging 23 miles to the gallon to and from work. It has a V8 that somehow runs as a V4 part time.

I have had dodge. I have had ford. I have GMC now. I am against them all but drive one out of necessity.

I like what your saying but the last truck I bought for 3500 left me standing on the side of i20 500 miles from home. I just can't trust something like that to get me there.

There's nothing worse than being broken down on the side of the road a few hundred miles from home. Folks that don't travel much can get by with driving older vehicles. Those who drive 30k+ miles a year need a good vehicle.
 
Your actually in a predicament that most of us aren't. You need something dependable. Very dependable. A small car can always be ran more economically than a truck. I wouldn't enjoy driving one, but in your situation, I believe I would.
 
True Grit Farms":1izfswud said:
Craig Miller":1izfswud said:
backhoeboogie":1izfswud said:
The less you spend on vehicles, the better. Best ever for me was a used 6 cylinder chevy with a 3 on the tree. Bought it for $2,000 Drove it 130 thousand and it was totaled out. Not my fault. Insurance paid me $1930

I've bought several new trucks thru the years. Other than driving something "nice", cars are a losing expense.

My GMC 1/2 ton is averaging 23 miles to the gallon to and from work. It has a V8 that somehow runs as a V4 part time.

I have had dodge. I have had ford. I have GMC now. I am against them all but drive one out of necessity.

I like what your saying but the last truck I bought for 3500 left me standing on the side of i20 500 miles from home. I just can't trust something like that to get me there.

There's nothing worse than being broken down on the side of the road a few hundred miles from home. Folks that don't travel much can get by with driving older vehicles. Those who drive 30k+ miles a year need a good vehicle.

You can't even hitch hike. Nobody will pick you up
 
What's the consensus opinions of buying extended OEM warranties on new vehicles? A waste of $$ or good insurance?

My experience:
I've always thought it an un-neccessary expense, as I worked most of my life as a mechanic and did my own repairs. Vehicles have simply gotten too complicated now and I wouldn't be able to fix much any more on one.
I've never bought extended warranty on a vehicle until I bought wife a new car in 2013. I'm older, and have of late tried to make things easier on her if the worst should happen to me.
Have had it in the dealership 3 times this year for serious transmission problems, and the warranty has paid for itself, but for most of my life and my other vehicles from the past, that would have not been true.
Do most folks pass on the extended warranties?
 
I always pass, the few times I've bought new. Doesn;t matter if it's a car or a toaster. Anymore it;s gotten to the point that crap can;t be fixed to work like it did new anyway. If I have much problems with something, I put up with it till I'm totally fed up then junk it and replace it.
 
I've got 2 cars for my 25k mile annual work commute. An 06 cobalt and 06 grand am that I gave a combined $2k for at auction. Knock on wood they haven't left me stranded and GM parts are readily available. My 96 f350 was $3500, just bought it because I knew it was well maintained and have kept the wheels hot on it also with 30k miles in the last 12 months. Preventive maintenance goes a long ways on anything. It'll be hard not to be a little upside down if you sell your pickup outright, may still be worth it though :2cents:
 
Just keep in mind running two vehicles is not cheap. There are benefits to having two, but it is a luxury. The amount you save in fuel economy or what ever else on one will not make up for the 2 sets of tires, two insurance payments, etc. If you want to drive new vehicles drive new vehicles. If you want to drive used, drive used. At the end of the day they all cost the same... its just a matter of how and when you can tolerate to pay it.
 
I've never bought an extended warranty. On anything. If a salesman gets pushy I'll tell him that if his product is so bad that it's likely to need enough repairs to cover the cost of the insurance then maybe I don't want it after all.
 
Craig Miller":1u6g1wrg said:
I have a 2013 ram 1500. I have been driving it to and from work since I bought it new. I put about 25-30000 miles a year on it. I'm at about 95000 right now. The warranty on the power train expires at 100000 as you probably know. Well this week I had to put a WCM in it to the tune of $650. Not covered under warranty. I also need to have new plugs and such put it. Normal 100000 mile maintenance at around 400 bucks. My mechanic buddy says some of these hemis are having valve seat failures just beyond warranty. Rebuilt motors are about $7000. I have about 39 payments on this one left. Im thinking about trading for a used car with extended Gm warranty. and buying an old truck for work here. What do you think?

How much is the total pay out for the 39 payments that are left. Any thing you buy will have to have parts replaced. I have a 2005 2500 hd Chevrolet. Been pretty good 181000 miles so far. One transfer case for the 4wd $1400 dollars. One water pump installed by mechanic I furnished the pump labor and pump was $250 dollars. One set of shocks all around $375. Wear and tear on the interior but still usable. I bought it in 2006 for a little over $18000. Really doubt that you can get enough for the pay off on your truck with 39 payments left.
 
I have a truck ('15 Ram 1500) and a car ('08 Elantra). The wife drives the car the majority of the time, and I don't like it when I have to. That being said the car gets about 40 MPG on the highway and the truck will get close to 20. The car also cost 1/2 of what the truck did new. I only buy new and always buy the warranty. I would have no idea where to start on 90% of the stuff, plus the parts are so expensive at this point it's cheaper to buy the warranty. On the truck it was $1,700 for bumper-to-bumper 100K miles. I've had it in three times for electronics issues that I have no idea what they would have cost to repair, but I know one was close to $300. Anything else decides to have an issue I just make a call and bring it in and they fix it, no questions asked.
 
Rafter S":8ikiqvnl said:
I've never bought an extended warranty. On anything. If a salesman gets pushy I'll tell him that if his product is so bad that it's likely to need enough repairs to cover the cost of the insurance then maybe I don't want it after all.

That's a good comeback!
 
hurleyjd":2eynd9ya said:
Craig Miller":2eynd9ya said:
I have a 2013 ram 1500. I have been driving it to and from work since I bought it new. I put about 25-30000 miles a year on it. I'm at about 95000 right now. The warranty on the power train expires at 100000 as you probably know. Well this week I had to put a WCM in it to the tune of $650. Not covered under warranty. I also need to have new plugs and such put it. Normal 100000 mile maintenance at around 400 bucks. My mechanic buddy says some of these hemis are having valve seat failures just beyond warranty. Rebuilt motors are about $7000. I have about 39 payments on this one left. Im thinking about trading for a used car with extended Gm warranty. and buying an old truck for work here. What do you think?

How much is the total pay out for the 39 payments that are left. Any thing you buy will have to have parts replaced. I have a 2005 2500 hd Chevrolet. Been pretty good 181000 miles so far. One transfer case for the 4wd $1400 dollars. One water pump installed by mechanic I furnished the pump labor and pump was $250 dollars. One set of shocks all around $375. Wear and tear on the interior but still usable. I bought it in 2006 for a little over $18000. Really doubt that you can get enough for the pay off on your truck with 39 payments left.


Sorry that should say 30 payments. Right at 15000 left on it. I was looking this morning on nada and I owe a little less than I can get for trade in. So not upside down at all on it right now.
 
Craig Miller":org6q0ew said:
hurleyjd":org6q0ew said:
Craig Miller":org6q0ew said:
I have a 2013 ram 1500. I have been driving it to and from work since I bought it new. I put about 25-30000 miles a year on it. I'm at about 95000 right now. The warranty on the power train expires at 100000 as you probably know. Well this week I had to put a WCM in it to the tune of $650. Not covered under warranty. I also need to have new plugs and such put it. Normal 100000 mile maintenance at around 400 bucks. My mechanic buddy says some of these hemis are having valve seat failures just beyond warranty. Rebuilt motors are about $7000. I have about 39 payments on this one left. Im thinking about trading for a used car with extended Gm warranty. and buying an old truck for work here. What do you think?

How much is the total pay out for the 39 payments that are left. Any thing you buy will have to have parts replaced. I have a 2005 2500 hd Chevrolet. Been pretty good 181000 miles so far. One transfer case for the 4wd $1400 dollars. One water pump installed by mechanic I furnished the pump labor and pump was $250 dollars. One set of shocks all around $375. Wear and tear on the interior but still usable. I bought it in 2006 for a little over $18000. Really doubt that you can get enough for the pay off on your truck with 39 payments left.


Sorry that should say 30 payments. Right at 15000 left on it. I was looking this morning on nada and I owe a little less than I can get for trade in. So not upside down at all on it right now.

You will get 20% more on a private sale than NADA says. I spent 8 months looking for my F-250. Bought it used. Everything within 300 miles of here will beat NADA.
 

Latest posts

Top