Is it feasible to find a decent daycab 10,000-15,000 range

$15k trucks are not for people that can't do most if not all of there own wrenching. $20 to $50k trucks are no better in my opinion. you might get away with it if your local and your lucky with a inexpensive mechanic. Cheap Trucks can get expensive real quick!

 

In my experience the cheap ones are always the most expensive. They cost more then just money, any old school driver will know what I mean.

 

That's what I did and do but I do all my own wrenching. If I had to pay someone else AND wait for them to fix it I'd be broke. I bought a $13k truck but spent about $35k in repairs and upgrades in the last 18 months though. I'm glad I did!

But these shops are just something else!! Repair bills get out of hand in a hury.

 

I think there are decent 15K trucks out there. I'd stay away from the early emissions trucks as people have pointed out however. Look for whole fleets getting liquidated and get on it early. See what the worst ones have wrong with them and then go try and find the best one of the fleet. The bad ones will give you an idea of what your near future probably looks like, or what might be hidden by some pressure washing.

 

good luck!
if you have a warranty, there's where really inspecting the beat ones will help a lot. If the rest of them have, say, a weeping oil-cooler, keep a super keen eye on yours and see if you can get it warrantied. I bought a daycab (a 2012, much newer, more expensive) but had looked at another unit in the same fleet and got a bunch of stuff fixed (head gasket, oil cooler, etc) before i bought it and it's been excellent since.