Oh, I soooo agree with that.
And whatever I spend on my long paid for 2nd Gen is less than paying for a new one.

 

well since iv had this truck (I bought it in September of 2014) iv replaced the plugs, wires, cap and rotor,and the distributer the coil, radiator, passenger side wheel bearing, tires, blower motor resister, I just had the transmission and transfer case rebuilt and I cleaned the throttle body and IAC and saw that my intake gasket is blown. It still needs the intake done and the passenger side ball joints and I want to service the front and rear differential. Paid $1200 for it and iv put well over that into it lol. My wife HATES this truck at the moment lol

 

I fooled around on the Ram web site a week or two ago and found that it'd cost me about $40,000 to bring home the 2016 nearest equivalent of my as-produced 1998 truck. I just can't find the equation proving that the nothing special 2016 is worth two of my truck.

To explain "two of my truck": I've finally convinced life to go pick on someone else for a while, so I'll be finishing out my truck in the coming months, ending with a roll through the spray booth. That'll take care of my planned $20k spend that got stalled at around $12k about four years ago. I might go a bit over budget at the body shop, but not by much.

Now for the fun part: Most folks my age and of similar financial standing have paid more, and some of them a lot more, than $20k in debt on non-mortgage interest since I retired my last debt, a car loan, back in 1985. I got a truck instead. Hell yes, paid-for rocks!

 

Totally thought someone had dug pics of my truck back when it was stock for a second. Had to do a double take .... Lol.



Paid for is great. Luckily my truck was paid for when my dad gave it to me. He simply said it was mine if I could afford to put gas in the thing.... Lol. And keep it running.



My buddies dad just bought a 90,000 cabin and a couple acres...... In flat out cash......


When my buddy went to go buy a new car his dad couldn't even qualify as a cosigner on the loan cuz he hadn't had a loan for longer than I've been walking the earth.

 

A $40k truck is going to cost ~$600/mnth in payments, after ~$6k down.
$6k and $600/mnth will soon see a sad 2nd Gen come good.

 

In my life, using credit to buy a depreciating asset that's only useful when put at uncontrollable risk of complete destruction is the pinnacle of financial irresponsibility.

My approach, using that $6k/$600: Put the $6k into buying a well maintained truck (I got out the door for $6220), then put the $600/month aside until it replenishes the six grand -- that's your vehicle replacement insurance. If it happens that loss of the truck can cause loss of lifestyle, then keep the thing insured for comprehensive and collision until you've got your $6k saved and then immediately drop that coverage because you're self-insured for vehicle replacement. From that point forward, you gots options because you aren't whoring for a monthly truck payment.

I'm proud of my credit score. It's zero. All they've got on me is past addresses.

 

I like your thinking, Unregistered! I've paid cash for everything I've ever bought, I'd like to do the same with a home purchase some day.

 

I agree with that.

We chose to buy a vehicle in full rather than buying from a dealer and having to make payments.

 

Just did the plenum with a eBay 1/4 aluminum that when's dandy. However now I have a coolant leak . The thermo is seated correctly and the bypass is snuggle but the coolant is pulling in the bypass and the thermo area . Oh

 

Check the metal snout thing that screws into the intake for the heater core by pass.