But with the continued payment he will renew his warranty. If things are starting to break now, what else is going? Sometimes people can afford a monthly payment rather then a large sum. He might even come out ahead with a lower payment that will reduce his stress on bills

 

You're looking at month to month, which is exactly how car dealers screw over consumers when they're shopping.

/car salesman

I can get you this brand new Lariat for $300/mon. What a great deal!

(at a high *** interest rate and for a loan term so long that you're underwater on the vehicle instead of at market value)

/car salesman

You ALWAYS come out ahead keeping a car long term vs. selling and buying a new one.

 

We are kind of going through a similar situation on buying my wife a new car due to a second child needing to be crammed in the backseat of her very small 4d sedan. Her car is paid off this month and I told her to wait 2 years for my truck and boat to be paid off before we get her anything. I feel that keeping what you have and, this is a big one, taking care of it is what will get you ahead. For what it's worth you can do the shocks yourself in the rear, maybe not the front, depends on how handy you are. As for the tires did you look into the used or retread market? I bought a set of 33" BFG All Terrain clones for 450 shipped to my door from treadwright. Not saying you need 33's but you can find stock sized tires for under a 100$ there. Plenty of ways to save but buying a new truck now with only one working person IMO is not the way to go.

 

Obviously nobody taught you personal finance and the time-value of money. There is very little that can happen to the truck that would result in an amount of repairs which would make purchasing a newer vehicle a good option. He would likely have to have the engine throw a rod and tranny take a dump simultaneously in order to outweight the financing costs and taxes of a new vehicle. The chances of that are so high that it would be silly to even consider it. Chances are, he makes the repairs for a grand or so, then goes on his merry way for the next few years without another hiccup.

 

Well as I drove to work today she talked to me. Asked me why would you get rid of me. I brought you to 100,000k+ miles with no problems.

Some of your posts made sence, reason for asking and thank you !!

Talked to my salesman friend and yes I could easily move over to a new truck at my current payment. I said ok let me think about it.

For the critics of getting back in debt, sell all your stuff and all that stuff. Well whatever. Highly educated but right. Super hard times, maybe you dont know. I've sold all MY stuff to let my kids have fun. I am not even going on that debate.

She can go another year, Hell yea lets hit 200,000.00 miles

BTW, the MX stuff isnt for me, its for my kids. 1 is about to leave I hope.

Thanks for the replies, I think I will figure something out.

 

You've got bigger problems than truck repairs.

 

Thats an instant raise right there, assuming you're not paying for college that is...

 

OK, I can relate to this.

I freaked out 2.5 years ago when gas was headed for $4.00 a gallon. I just KNEW that it would NEVER come back down. I got stupid and traded in my beloved '04 scab for a more fuel efficient sedan. I loved the car, but I'm a truck guy. The entire time that I had the car, I missed the truck. Especially when I had to make a home depot run.

Well, I just could not take it anymore and just traded back to a '10 Lariat screw. Talk about pi$$ing away a lot of cash.

Lesson learned on my part. IMHO, keep your truck for at least another two years. Longer if it is holding up well.

FWIW, the gas savings on the sedan was a wash. It HAD to burn premium unleaded. I got better MPG, but the cost was the same as the fuel is higher per gallon. I was dumb, and learned the hard way.

I imagine that your monthly MX expense to keep your '05 on the road, will be a lot less than a new payment.

KEEP THE TRUCK.

 

^I did almost exactly the same thing back in 05. I love my new truck but I do miss my yellow 04 that I traded for the car. What made it even worse was I switched jobs about 6 months after I traded to a job where I wasn't making a 30 mile commute every day so it really wouldn't have been an issue at all had I waited.