Truck Shopping

We've been wanting to buy a new pick-up since 2006.  That's when DH's Sonoma hit 200,000 miles and we realized that while it still ran like a scalded dog, it wasn't going to last forever. It was our third General Motors product that we'd driven over 200,000 miles, and from experience we knew that when it finally broke, it would be something difficult to repair on our own without the specialized tools of a shop. We needed to seriously think about getting a new truck in the near future.


However, we had our first child due to graduate high school in 2007, and things were getting wonky with the economy, so we decided to wait a bit.  In 2007, things were really wonky with the economy, things were shaky with the auto industry (in which DH is employed) and we decided to wait a bit longer.  In 2008, we were on bated breath, day by day, to see if DH would continue to have a job; no way were we spending money on anything that wasn't absolutely necessary.

We made it to 2009 with DH still employed (hallelujah!  But it was heartbreaking to see co-workers who weren't so lucky).  However, by then we needed a vehicle for DS2 to drive himself to community college two days a week as he began dual-enrollment classes; the class time did not coordinate with either my or DH's work schedule to have one of us provide transportation, and there are no public bus routes any where close to this little place here.  So DH's new truck we'd been waiting three years to buy became a small, fuel-efficient 'teenager car' to aide in DS2's education.  A new pick-up was pushed down the priority list yet again as the savings fund for a truck went down to zero.

In November 2010, I wrecked the teenager car on the way home from a Christian middle school basketball tournament DD2 played in 30 miles away.  Why was I driving the teenager car instead of my Suburban?  Better gas mileage!  Why did we still own the Suburban?  It was paid off, it was the only vehicle all five of us could fit in with luggage for a trip up north to Mother-in-Law's or anywhere else, and it was the only vehicle we owned that could tow trailers. 

The wrecking of the teenager car was not totally my fault: the expressway was bumper to bumper, the person in front of me got cut off and slammed on their brakes, I slammed on my brakes, and the person behind me sandwiched me.  Busted radiator and a trifolded hood, and the teenager car was undriveable.  Because the person behind me left the scene, and because we did not have collision coverage on the teenager car, our insurance company would not be involved in funding a repair (they probably would have considered it totaled anyway based on how much a repair shop would charge versus the $3000 value of the car).

So we did a hurry-up car search with the small amount of cash we'd managed to save up for the future purchase of DH's next truck. (Back in August of 2010, his Sonoma had suffered a locked up rear axle at 238,000 miles and he was driving a company car Monday through Friday, with me transporting him to work on Monday morning and home again on Friday evening.)  We purchased a replacement teenager car on a Monday evening, about 48 hours after the accident, and about 14 hours before DS2 had to be at his Honors Calc 2 class. . .  The replacement car was the same year, the same model, but a different color than the previous teenager car.  Meanwhile, teenager car #1 was towed to the home of a buddy who is a mechanic to see how much he'd charge to get it running again.  Which turned out to be not much at all compared to a body shop.

In January 2011, teenager car #1 was repaired for $500 in parts, and $300 cash to the buddy who fixed it (who tried to refuse the money, so I gave it to his wife--mechanics aren't cheap and he put probably a full work-week's worth of hours into repairing our car).  So then DS2 reclaimed the teenager car, and DH began to drive teenager car #2 (which came with a fancy stick-on chrome design under the keyhole for the trunk--I called it a tramp stamp, lol) to work on Monday and home again on Friday.

Early this month (March 2012), DH and I decided we had finally saved enough money, again, that if we were to sell the tramp stamp car and the Sonoma (which had been residing next to the barn for nearly two years, undriveable without a new rear axle, but DH not emotionally ready to part with), we could finally go shopping for a full-sized pick-up truck.  But, only with cash, no taking out a loan.  So that meant the under $6000 price range.  Which isn't very glamorous when you're looking for a particular brand of truck (*ahem*, DH is employed in the auto industry. . .) that is 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton, 4WD required (and operable), with an extended or crew cab, and under 200,000 miles. (Yes, we've seen more ads for trucks over 200,000 in our required price range, brand and options than with lower miles.  Which goes to show how durable a brand of truck it is.)  A truck that size isn't great on fuel, but it is a necessity for the homesteading life: hauling wood, hauling hay, hauling trailers, plowing a 500' long driveway. . . most of which the Suburban is unable to do (it hauls a fairly heavy trailer, but without a bed it's not a true truck in my book. . .)

We sold the tramp stamp car two weeks ago.  We sold the Sonoma a few days after that. It was purchased by a mechanic who is going to put a new axle in it and run it til the engine dies.  Which made DH very happy to hear; he hadn't wanted to sell it for scrap.

We've been actively truck shopping for over a week now.

Boy, have we seen some interesting trucks!  The truck that 'runs great' according to it's owner, but has something wrong with the transfer case, the brakes are always spongy, and it leaks coolant 'a little'.  The truck that is rust on wheels, but fairly low miles on the odometer (making DH suspicious of the accuracy of the odometer reading).  The truck that has a 'custom rim'--the factory one broke when the owner hit a curb(???) and he put a rusty one from the junk yard on to replace it, then painted the replacement with silver Rustoleum so it would look like the other three. . .from a distance.  The truck with the newly broken driver's side window ($20 at the junk yard) from where after the local state university's basketball team lost last week "someone" threw a beer bottle through it--but the truck has a great "system" (yes, it does have an awesome sound system.  My sons would be envious if their father drove a truck with bass like that!).  The truck with the big mud tires, the noise of which (not to mention the reduction in gas mileage) drives DH nuts.

And then the one we thought was a winner; the one we thought we would be going to the bank to withdraw our carefully managed cash to purchase.  Until we went to see it in person and hopefully test drive it, and right after we arrived not only did it get stuck between high and low 4WD, the transfer case totally locked and the truck wouldn't move at all.  We were so disappointed!  (And felt really bad for the seller, who was genuinely surprised that his truck wasn't working right.)


After waiting nearly six years to even shop for a new truck, it is getting frustrating to not be able to find one now that we have the funds.  And truth be told, I'm not fond of getting up at 5:00 a.m. to drive DH to work on Monday before coming home to start my own work day, nor of driving through Friday afternoon traffic to pick him up again.  I'm praying God sends us the right truck to purchase, and soon!