Changing goals and speed

[AClark]

That's basically what I've owned all of my adult life. None of them being a true POS, but I"ve never owned a brand new vehicle. I can't justify paying that kind of money to drive it off the lost and havei t lose a ton of it's value.
My husbands truck is 7 years old, less than 100k miles, mine is 16 with almost 200k. I expect stuff to go on mine by now, the little things that are worn from all those miles.

Daisy had kits last night. I counted 5, but she was pretty frantic still so I let her be and went to bed. I'll see if I have more sometime today.

 

[Baymule]

DH has a 2004 F250 diesel, bought new when I sold Fords. It was nice to use my employee discount, then Ford ran a no interest sale, so we came out smelling like a rose.

Glad Daisy had her kits. I used to raise rabbits many years ago and I loved the baby bunnies. They are so cute! Until you get too many of them, then they are so delicious!

 

[AClark]

I'm driving a 2000 F350 with the 7.3 diesel motor. Less problems than the 6.0 or subsequent 6.4 but when stuff breaks, it really breaks! It's pretty easy to work on, but the parts costs are prohibitive. This stupid little sensor that's broken is over $100 retail. It's literally the size of a D cell battery. I love that an oil change at home costs me about $80, most of that being in motor oil (got the 5 gallon bucket on sale at Napa last time of the Delo 15w40 for like $65), hubbys truck takes 7 qts of oil (5.7L Hemi) and it's less than half the cost of mine at 15 qts.

They are adorable, but I don't really have many qualms about eating them. There are a couple that might get saved back but they won't be as cute by butchering time so we'll see!

 

[AClark]

Well I have a runt, unfortunately it's my favorite marked one. I'm not sure if it's male or female so it may not matter anyway, but it's considerably smaller than the rest. It's not a peanut, these aren't dwarf rabbits, so I don't know what gives. It's healthy and wiggly, just tiny. We'll see if it survives. Other than that, still running 16 babies with no losses yet. The oldest ones are out of the box and hopping around and being generally cute.

I think getting the (free) replacement sensor worked. I've always had a very minor oil drip, but it also seems to be gone, and it's not pouring oil out like it's going out of style. I don't even think I need to change the oil for an extra month the way it was leaking. There are some good benefits to buying on ebay, the seller I used was awesome and didn't want the leaky one back, just shipped a new one at his cost. Parts are also cheaper on Ebay. I think my starter ran $80 or so with shipping, when Autozone wanted close to $200 for it.
Not to mention, I find that getting parts at autozone are hit or miss, they are notorious for giving me the wrong part. I've learned if I'm going to buy from there, I have to bring it in with me to compare, because a lot of the time the computer is wrong.
Ebay is also my go to place to get replacement parts for the 84 Dodge. They are cheaper and I can always find them, opposed to the local auto parts store which doesn't always stock parts for something that old.

 

[Mike CHS]

There are some good and economical vendors online that I have used. I needed new headlights for my 11 year old Tacoma and the dealer wanted $193 EACH. I got the two headlights online for $78 for both.

 

[AClark]

Same, I replaced the headlights on the F350 earlier this year. The old ones were in bad shape, really foggy and a broken turn signal. I put some cool ones on it for $140 for the pair (all inclusive with the turn signals built in unlike the old ones) - the angel eye halo ones.
Now if I could only find some nice seat covers that actually fit it! All these new ones have holes for head rests, and I don't have any head rests! lol

 

[Bruce]

That's basically what I've owned all of my adult life. None of them being a true POS, but I"ve never owned a brand new vehicle. I can't justify paying that kind of money to drive it off the lost and havei t lose a ton of it's value.
.....

If you are going to drive it until it dies, buying new isn't a bad idea, Yeah, you can buy one several years old, the one someone wants to get rid of BEFORE it starts costing them money, but then YOU pay for those repairs.

 

[AClark]

I try to pick something that is relatively gently used - I can't afford a $45,000 price tag or the payments that go with that, but I need a large pick up. The bright side is if stuff breaks on a new truck it can be under warranty, but again that price tag is hideous (MSRP on a truck like mine, 2016 model is $42,000 - mine is a long bed, super duty crew cab dual rear wheel) whereas I paid $9k for my truck, and for the life of it probably won't put another $30k into it. A new motor for mine is $7k, transmission is about $3k, so for about $10k I can replace the two most expensive parts on it.
So far I've replaced the oil pump, $450
Starter: $80
ICP sensor - $22 on Ebay
Headlights - $140 (but that was an optional upgrade I could have spent less and replace just the broken parts)
Radiator - $160 - because we broke it putting in the ICP sensor but it was crisp and on it's way out - my mom had the same problem on her 1990 F150, the plastic breaks where the hose goes on.
AC harness - $40 from a junkyard

The rest has been general maintenance and replaceable items that I'd have to do no matter what year it was, batteries, oil filter, fuel filters, oil, tires.

That being said, my truck is registered in Arizona. Arizona charges you a percentage based on the value of your vehicle, to be depreciated every year. My plates are now $80 for 2 years, instead of $600+ a year for a newer car. When I had my Mustang, which was used but only a couple of months old and I knew the person who bought it and couldn't hack the payments anymore, the plates cost about twice what a car payment was. I had that car for 10 years (it was a 2004 anniversary edition and traded it in for my truck) and replaced the whole rack and pinion + power steering pump and the alternator in it. The rack and pinion gave out in 2011, so it was a 7 year old car, and when i traded it in (2014) it had 99k miles on it.
My ex husband drove the Mustang and I drove a GMC Yukon XL - but when we divorced he insisted that he take the Yukon, even though he's single with no kids living with him, so I had to trade the car in for something with more seating. Funny thing is that Yukon has around 160k on it now and he recently replaced the water pump to the tune of $800 and the knock sensor threw a code. Why? Because it has had a knock in it since about 140k miles.
I've definitely replaced more on the F350, but it has 191k miles on it, and the motor is great, tranny is in great shape too.

 

[Bruce]

Can't argue with that @AClark!

Why is your truck registered in AZ? TX doesn't tax by value does it?

Anyone else remember when trucks were austere utility vehicles and not priced like luxury cars??

 

[AClark]

I'm an Arizona resident legally (have an AZ drivers license too), and being military we can put whatever plates on our vehicles. I can put TX plates on it, but it is far easier to keep AZ plates which get mailed to my parents house and they just send me the stickers.
The short answer is Arizona doesn't require emissions testing (except 2 counties, neither of which are my home of record), no safety inspection - just pay them, receive sticker for the plate. No stupid stickers on the windshield, no getting it inspected before your plates are up, and if you have a dash light on like I do, it doesn't matter. My "brake" light has been on for over a year since I had a recall fixed at the dealership - they cut into the harness on the master cylinder to put a fusible link in and it never went off again - they also claim is not "their" fault. It would never pass TX inspection with that light on, even though it doesn't mean anything other than my cruise control isn't working and it worked fine before the dealership touched it.
It's also a bit cheaper, our TX registered truck cost $90 + inspection fee this year, Mine is only $80 for 2 years, my 84 Dodge is $31 for 2 years of plates (also registered in AZ). Technically our other truck didn't pass this year due to the tint, which doesn't make sense because mine is legal here in TX and AZ (35%) and darker than his, but his failed on it, but the shop let it slide and said we tell a cop we just had the tint put on so he doesn't get nailed for it.

Trucks used to be for work and not a luxury vehicle, that's for sure! Now you could buy a nice BMW for less than a pickup unless you go really barebones on the truck. I think they do it to keep people from buying gas guzzlers vs cars.