NEW or USED that's is the question ? All welcome to Chime in on this

The good, used preemission trucks that have paperwork on rebuilds are going to cost you more than $15k. Plus being not to handy with a wrench means you'll be paying TA prices or worse to work on it. You have no responsibilities, so you can afford to gamble a bit. With the two companies you're looking at, there would be no problem making the payment on a new truck. I still vote for new for your particular situation.

 

I'll tell you a few things in my opinion.
New trucks cost too much money, what are they about 150k nowadays? What is the going interest rate 10%-15% ? You do the math, what you'll be paying every month for the next 5 years (which is a long time). Sure warranty is great, but it can be a pain getting them to cover the full cost of repairs. They will be quick to lay the blame on you. On top of that you will have to do work at authorized dealerships, anyone will tell you dealerships are sloooow and incompetent . And those truck payments dont stop when the truck is the shop. Plus I know of two guys that had to rebuild engine months after that warranty expired (coincidence?)

Surely you can find a used truck in your area, that will fit the bill. And say something does break immediately, yet you dont have the cash to pay, take out a bank loan. I would rather pay interest on 10k than on 150k.
So you don't know how to fix the truck? Learn or Google or ask here. Dont want to work on your own truck? Find an independent shop, chances are work will be done better and faster.

On the topic of not having bills and working "hard" so you can afford a high monthly payment. I think everyone starts off that way but soon you'll be sick of working 70 hours a week, week after week, sick of truck stops and subway sandwiches, sick of never getting outside of that truck. But those truck payments keep coming every month.

 

$22k isn't enough to buy an old truck in my opinion. If you have that much cash and another 20k in credit, then we're talking. But if you buy a 15k truck you ought to plan on putting at least $5k into it right away. And then you ought to have at least another 20k available to cover a big drivetrain failure & fuel while you get started.

Good $15k trucks are hard to find. I drove up & down the west coast before flying halfway across the country for mine. The process took nearly two months (with no revenue and money going out the door).

So buying an old preemission truck isn't cheap -- it requires more cash, but in the long term I do think it is the best route. It is one of those "have to have money to make money" things.

I also think I could have made a new truck work. The 2015+ stuff doesn't seem as bad as the 2010 and is much better than the 2008... But I wouldn't have had the freedom to sit most of January and all of February -- and I'm not sure I'd have as much confidence on the phone quoting high rates knowing that I'll sit hearing at least 30 no's before I get my yes...

 

When you talk about an "old" truck,is it age,mileage,condition,that makes it old?Just wondering what people consider old.

 

Yes having the confidence ( with out that note in the back of your mind ) and quoting high rates. There is a lot of truth in that statement. IMO

 

If you don't know how to check a used truck, buy New or buy used from someone you trust and know from years.

 

I have the advice that I've used for years but no one seems to listen to it.

SO I will post it again -

1 - don't treat a truck like you would treat a car. It is a tool, and only a tool.

2 - be prepared to spend money on getting it looked at, buying tools sometimes takes money - I spent $1100 on just looking for a truck that cost me under $25 and hasn't failed me yet.

3 - start with the questions -

a - how long have you owned this truck? some people will be the original owners while other trucks are fleet trucks so if they are fleet trucks don't ask the question.
b - when was the last oil change? very important for one reason, if it had its oil changed and then put up for sale the OA will not tell a lot so ...
c - why are you getting rid of it? I started to ask this question because one truck I looked at last year was going into repo and the owner was trying to sell it to get out of the loan.
d - are there any maintenance records? Of course you have to take this with a grain of salt, a lot of companies and owners alike will have what I call receipt records, just enough for the taxes but that's it.
e - who does your PM work? I found out why this is important when one owner said he got his PM work done at any T/A that the truck was near, figure that it meant no consistent service was done.

4 - if the questions are answered to my satisfaction, then I ask for a road test and to be allowed to have a dyno done, a OA done and some sort of inspection from an independent mechanic. I would even do this with fleet trucks.
a - if it passes the dyno, then I have the OA done and off to an inspector to see what problems they can find and I tell them to tell me about everything they find.
b - if it passes the OA and inspection, then I look for repairs that need to be made from the inspection. I figure that into the offer I will make, sometimes people are insulted when I break down the list of things that the truck needs, had one guy get mad at me to even infer his truck was actually junk because of the brake work it needed - about $2000 worth of work which I mentioned in my offer.

5 - I do this for three trucks, picking out the best one and offering to buy that one. I never gave an asking price for a truck, I always offered less than 75% minus the repairs as a general rule.

I hate when I hear that this is too much work but I want to make sure that the truck I own isn't going to break down somewhere like ND or Western Wyoming where there isn't even phone service. The truck I mentioned has done a lot of miles for me, hasn't had one major issue other than a clutch replacement and I don't expect to hear about it breaking down.

 

I prefer old...even for personal vehicles. Then again, wrenching has always been a hobby of mine. If I need to alter the vehicle to make it work better for me and what I want to do with it, I don't want to have to worry about whether or not my modification is going to void the warranty...and I sure don't want to have to wait several years for the warranty to expire before I can make the changes I think are necessary. Speaking of warranties, they don't typically cover your down-time...so if a "new" truck is plagued with problems, you aren't making money but the bank still wants theirs! Older trucks have issues, too, but most of the time I'm better off paying for a stepped up maintenance schedule and whatever happens to wear out/break vs. making that large note attached to that "new" truck. Not only that, but I never have to worry about shutting down to let the DPF regen (ain't got one) or having the truck derate after fuel-stop DEF was sub-standard (ain't got SCR). Heck never have to worry about EGR coolers cracking or plugging up either ('cuz I ain't got it).

Old trucks have their benefits...but if you can't turn a wrench yourself, maintaining and repairing it will get expensive.