Pickup Philosophy Question

[Bird]

Some cost you more than others. Our car is averaging about 30 cents a mile while our Suburban is much higher.

Back in 2008 Bird and I had this discussion and at that time our van was costing us $1.10 per mile because of how little we were driving it. The 2nd car is the one that costs the most, it seems. Even if it is sitting, it is costing you money.

Here's part of that conversation:
The reason our van costs so much per mile is that we rarely drive it. One day a week my wife goes to work early, so I have to drive the van. Most other days we ride together. So, the van sits there, with insurance a few hundred bucks a year and plates another fifty or so, plus an annual oil change. So even if I never drive it, it costs us about 4-5 hundred a year. 10m per week X 50 weeks a year = 500 miles per year. Divide that by $500 dollars a year in costs = a dollar a mile. Yikes!

With the location of our current home, and maybe our age, we don't put a lot of miles on vehicles. Besides the Ranger, we've only put an average of 7410 miles a year on our 2002 Crown Vic that we've only had for 43 months, and with an overall average of 20.394 mpg, it's cost us $0.46 or $0.61 a mile depending on whether I count any salvage value.

Many years ago, the police sedans in Dallas were costing us $0.50 a mile to operate and some young officers thought that was way too high. So I had to do some checking into the possibility of leasing cars for the police department. Yep, some small towns actually do that. And at that time, the cheapest lease I could find was $1.50 mile.

 

[WilliamBos]

Not always true, inserts get stolen, mine stays at hume. No bumper stickers, do not like them. Keep the truck cleaned regularly, as it was realllly expensive, and is a source of pride for me. It is more than just a vehicle, take care of it, and it takes care of us. Bad enough the road salt is killer, but it will be getting rust checked soon, and ready for another winter.

 

[Bird]

For some they are a necessity. Unless I can write it off, I do not track the costs.

And I've not always tracked such costs. On 9/20/96, I bought an '81 F250 to use on the farm, including in the pasture; gave $2,800 plus tax, title, & license for it and put a new set of tires on it. I drove it so few miles that I changed oil and filter once a year whether it needed it or not.:laughing: Then on 4/9/2002, I traded it in on a '99 F150. I had not tracked costs on the F250, but then I only kept the '99 F150 a year and a half, and sold it to a dealer for cash, so it cost me $0.90 a mile.

 

[dmccarty]

The only time I wash the truck is after salt is put on the road. My first car I babied. I washed it. Waxed it with really good quality marine wax. Paint job was scat. My cousin had a car from the same year, same company, same paint. Both paint jobs went to heck after 2-3 years. Rust started too....

I don't waste my time washing vehicles anymore. The Ford does not have a spec of rust on the body. Looks brand new except for the dirt. :laughing: I call it character.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Pocket change?? Then you've got a lot bigger pocket than I have.:laughing: Of course, I know I'm one of the few that actually keeps track of everything a vehicle costs, and most people would be greatly surprised (in fact, probably wouldn't even believe it) if they knew what a vehicle actually costs.

I'm currently driving a 2001 Ford Ranger pickup, 4-dr SuperCab, loaded with all the options. It was 3 years old with 36k miles on it when I bought it for $13,503.79 including tax, title, & license. And I have a spreadsheet with everything I've spent on it, gasoline, oil & filters, tires, insurance, even wash jobs ($5 today). It now has just over 90k miles on it and if I scrapped it today with zero salvage, it would have cost m $353.05 a month or $0.55 a mile. If I could get Kelly Blue Book "good condition" trade-in value for it, then it would only have cost me $252.53 a month or $0.43 a mile.

I'd be surprised myself if many people are doing any better than that, but for me that ain't pocket change.:laughing: And I actually expect the little truck to last the rest of my lifetime.

The wifey thinks I am a bit nuts about spreadsheets. I end up using spreadsheets for the strangest things sometimes. But I don't have the car expenses in a spreadsheet. I DO log all of the expenses with the exception of taxes, registration and insurance.

My back of the Post It note calculation says I have spent $444 a month, or 36 cents a mile, if I could get $10k for the truck. Those are low numbers though since I am guessing on insurance costs, did not include licenses and registration, and I guestimated fuel costs. Spending over $400 a months is a major expense and my truck is 11 years old with 165,000 miles. Hope to keep it another decade so the cost drops.

What is so crazy is that the average new car cost is $30k and trucks are more to a heck of a lot more the average. :shocked:

Later,
Dan

 

[s219]

You can tell if it's a necessity or a lifestyle:

• shine vs. dirt
• smooth body vs. dents
• neat vs. cluttered
• sparkly clean windows vs. doggie nose-prints on the windows
• well-groomed driver vs. scruffy-looking driver
• nice carpet vs. worn-out floor mats
• same color on all exterior parts vs. mismatched panels, doors, etc.
• bumper stickers ?
• beverage stains ?
• tools tossed in the cab ?
• dings in windshield, fog lamps, taillights
• amount of dirt, dust, grass, etc. that blows out of bed when driving
• actual, well-used gun - or tools - in rifle rack
• too new to be antique, but not by much (truck, not driver) (OK, both)
• size of ball on hitch

By the way - I may have the ultimate mismatched body parts (on one of my trucks, not me): Ford Ranger seats and Ford Ranger tailgate on a Mazda ... or as my better half calls it, a hybrid.

I could go on, but I'll bet other readers have better clues than I do.

I saw a guy putting down plastic sheet in the bed of his Toyota pickup the other day at Home Depot, before loading in some plants. And this truck already had a bed liner. I couldn't believe it. Meantime, I was throwing bags of cement into the back of my Acura SUV.

I don't know why, but it bugs me when I see clean pickups that are treated like princess cars. I couldn't live with myself if I did that.

 

[Pete Judd]

The only time my pickups get washed is when the local high school cheer leaders are having a car wash.:laughing:

 

[4shorts]

Haven't been to many times in my life where I didn't own a pick up. Although the one I own now don't get used every day it's kind of special to me. I bought it way back in 1993. My two sons were very young and now they are grown up and on their own and I still have the old truck and it still has its original paint and no rust. It's pillowed our 500 foot driveway and plowed snow commercially for 13 years until I retired it back in 2008 and bought the tractor but the truck although pampered still gets used a few times a week.

 

[Soundguy]

Yes, any vehicle will need those, but I haven't calculated exactly what you're asking. And I'll admit I may spend a little more on my vehicles than some people because I do believe in "preventive" maintenance, and now that I'm back in town, I let a Ford dealer do all the service, including a fairly long list every 30k miles. In fact, the 28th of last month I spent $675.97 on the Ranger at the Ford dealer; oil change, oil filter, air filter, flush the coolant system, flush the transmission, pack front wheel bearings when they replaced the front brake pads, turned the rotors, cleaned and adjusted the rear brakes, and fixed the driver's power window (some loose parts in the door). I don't wait until it has a problem before having it serviced.

yep.. for every user it will be a different cost.

I'm into preventative maint as well..

however onthat list, for sure all the oil/filter/bearing packing would have been in house.

the brake work, in house ont he 350 if rotors ok.. at shop if not ok.. on 450.. i tend to let the shop do the brakes as the darn 19.5" rims and tires weight a ton.. and dealing with 2 at a time on the rear is less fun.

power windows.. shop for sure.. i hate taking the door panels off..

 

[Soundguy]

I saw a guy putting down plastic sheet in the bed of his Toyota pickup the other day at Home Depot, before loading in some plants. And this truck already had a bed liner. I couldn't believe it. Meantime, I was throwing bags of cement into the back of my Acura SUV.

I don't know why, but it bugs me when I see clean pickups that are treated like princess cars. I couldn't live with myself if I did that.

I hear ya.. my 350 has tools setting int he passager seat floor board right now, and the bed usually is either toting some sort of animal feed, fuel cans.. etc..