Hopefully I'll have on the market before long that I will call a farm truck. Stout 4 X 4 that has spent a good bit of its time in the woods and it shows. Several deer and trees have run into the sides. Been thinking how much and this thread tells me I was undervaluing it.

Truth. You'd make it up in the difference in finance rates between new and used. A $30K loan at 3% will cost you $2300 in interest over 5 years. I haven't paid a dime in interest on a vehicle in many years. 0% on new vehicles is the only way to go.

I won't even consider a used truck nowadays. Way too small of a gap between what you can buy a used one for and what you can buy a new one for...and you don't have to worry about how a new one was treated before you got it.

The obamascam "Cash for Clunkers" can be thanked for this. A ton of pickups and older SUV's got trashed, and will impact the used vehicle market for at least 10 more years.

Find a good auto broker, and let him do the legwork. My last purchase came from an auction in Dallas, and my wife's came from a leasing agent in PA. Deals are available if you know where to look. If you can't find a good one, PM me and I'll get my guy's info to you

I have people all of the time trying to buy my 2006 dodge 2500 diesel. I just tell them there's no way I could afford to go buy a new one just like it and I pretty much gotta have a diesel and it's paid off. A guy I used to work with just went and priced a brand new F350 loaded and he said it was $80,000 out the door. When he told me this I thought to myself "who in the heck can afford a truck for that price" that's more than half of what my house and 6 acres cost me.

My 06 Ford F-150 has 198,000 on it. I'll probably be in the market next year.

I cant afford a new truck....period.....and i cant find a decent used truck thats affordable either...these dang jacked up piece uh chits are drivin me crazy. Yall have probly seen my toyota for sale in the classifieds..its a good truck...but its also the nicest vehicle ive ever had... And for once in my life i could kinda afford to get me somethin nice the market has jumped and im left again..afraid to buy somethin in my price range cause it looks like wore out garbage and cant afford anything newer....thats why i even considered the 6.0 piwerstroke....dang things are nice and reasonable

If I had a dollar for every decent truck that had a set of ugly black rims and led highlights posted on CL I'd prolly have a down payment.

You got that right...i rekin people think jackin a truck up and puttin a big set of stupud lookin wheels on it looks good...far as im concerned it looks like trash..and i aint spendin my money on anything like that...maybe some teenage redneck likes that sortah thing but im a grown man with my own money...an you aint gettin none of it with your blacked out rims and 8in lift.. I wont bone stock...grandpa truck..if i wanna do somethin to it ill put a winch on it and some knobby tires..bout the only necessary complimants a 4x4 truck needs...at the very least the winch.

Far as that goes id put a winch on a bicycle if i thought itd get stuck..a necessary item in my book.

Sorry for my above post..its your truck and your money spend it how you want...remeber tho...you may have to try and resale it one day.

Some ads even show the truck buried in the mud like it is a selling.point.

Yep I've been looking a little and it's crazy,a 3-4 year old z71 with 50k-70k miles is $28-$30,000,I think I'm just gonna spend some money on my 2004 Tacoma and keep driving it,haven't had a payment since 2009

Deals are still out there, not on crew cabs so much. But I found a 2004 F150 Lariat FX4, extended cab, with 165k miles for $7200 in July. Crew cabs have gotten insane

Cash for clunkers helped raise the price. Also, the spanish looking people are hauling a lot of yota's from auctions or somewhere aways west sometimes three towed at a time which could be moving older ones out of market raising prices. Car dealerships like to send higher mileage vehicles to auction to save on repairs and to keep higher priced units on the lofs to limit choices driving up prices, especially in the Birmingham market. Another reason is the South is a truck market who don't want a truck to haul something and if it is a good one it usually won't be sold until owner really no longer wants it or has to sell it for some reason.

Cheap gas, low interest rates, and a burning desire to have a truck, make for an expensive truck market. Rates are going up, and gas is too, so it may ease up some, but probably not.

should be plenty of "used" trucks coming out of north and south Carolina in the coming months...

Here is what happened.

Economy Crash
Auto Manufacturers Go Broke
Taxpayers Bail Them Out
Economy Sluggish - Hard to sell new cars
Financing Terms go from 60 months to 72 months to 84 months to......lowers monthly payments
Economy Improves
Vehicle Prices Rise - because monthly payments have a lot of room to rise due to 84 month financing terms.

You can take a truck that cost $40K financed over 48 months or $65-70k financed over 96 months and roughly you have the same monthly payment

They hosed us as consumers. At one time I don't think banks would even make a car loan over 60 months.

....and everyone is underwater on cars they can't even remotely afford. A $50k truck for a guy that makes $50k would be laughable if it weren't so reckless. I guess we'll all pay for his retirement, because he won't be supporting himself...

You're absolutely right.
But it can be summed up with just two words... Stupid buyers

What's crazy is that top of the line trucks cost more than my condo.
F450 Limited is just above $100,000.
I get it's comparing Apple's and oranges, but still nuts.