New Truck: Advice on purchase...

[Storx]

(04-11-2019 )Rawze Wrote:  Take every component you ever purchased for your pickup truck,.. multiply the cost by x10 and you will have a ballpark figure to replace the same component(s) on a worn out class-8 truck to get it somewhat reliable after purchasing it.



You will also need a CDL- Class-A license to drive it across state lines from what I understand. Not been around the RV world, so I would not know for sure. I would suppose it would only pay off if you were constantly on the move with it.

These are the things I'm looking into previously I bought a 2015 Ford F250 and the diesel truck spent most of its life at the dealership being worked on while under warranty. In the short period, I owned it the Head gasket went out on it 2 times while out on assignment towing my RV on the road, also the EGR cooler ended up cracking on it and puked coolant all over the road once, then the fuel pump went out and littered the entire fuel system with metal, then lastly the DPF failed and took out the turbo. Just in the 2.5yrs the amounts in repairs amounted in over 26K in work to the truck that was covered under warranty. So just before the truck was going out of warranty i sold the truck out of frustration and probably lost lots of $$, but i was worried about it continuing to be a money pit.


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In regards to the cost of repairs on the Semi, the reason i am looking into a Class 8 Semi as a vehicle is because of the cost savings that most report yearly. I am looking into it from more than one 1 route.

Cheaper annual cost to own
Cheaper upfront cost to buy

Out of all the people i have spoken to that showed up towing with a Class 8 truck, they spent a fraction of the cost buying the truck vs what it cost to buy modern pickups these days. Example the 2015 Ford i had cost me roughly 68k after taxes and reason i spent that much on a pickup was due to the RV i had at the time being unable to be towed by anything other than a Diesel truck and dual rear wheels due to the RV size i bought at the time. I bought the RV before the truck purchase without fully understanding what i was getting into and learned that the very very heavy RVs typically don't hold their value and sometimes sit on lots and that was how i was able to get such a nice RV for so cheap, because when i was shopping for an RV i saw all these smaller travel trailers for 25k+, then i saw a few 5th wheel trailers for 40K+, but at the dealer i was at they informed me of this New 36ft 5th wheel they had that was heavily discounted down to 25k from 109k that had luxury everything, onboard 10k diesel gen, artic package for up north camping, self leveling, real solid wood interior with full size shower + full size washer/dryer hookup. Just was basically a luxury home on wheels and they reason it was so heavily discounted was mainly because of its dry weight limiting it to dually diesel trucks, so this RV sat unsold for over 2 years new on the lot and in my eyes when i was purchasing i was like man i can pay 25k for this tiny shitbox trailer or 25k for this amazing RV. Then came truck purchase time i quickly found out that i was forced into buying a diesel dually pickup to tow it based on the towing numbers.

Anyways, i have spoken to a few couples and it seems most go 1 of 2 routes on purchasing the semi, they either buy very low miles by shopping for trucks under 200-300k, or they buy used higher mile trucks and have them repaired. I spoke to a few couples who bought trucks with under 300k miles in the under 40k range, but i also have spoken to a few couples who bought higher mile trucks for dirt cheap, but found someone to do an inframe rebuild on them so they had the peace of mind that the truck was mechanically sound.

Most reported very minimal repairs in the years they owned them, because most stated that because your towing so little vs what the truck was designed to tow, they truck barely breaks a sweat while towing, so the wear on the vehicle is pretty much reduced to nothing.

Example of trucks ive come across and the cost they mentioned they paid for them:
2014 International Prostar+ Sleeper w/ 208k Auto, they paid 45k
2013 Mack Pinnacle Sleeper w/165k Auto, they paid 51k
2016 Peterbuilt 579 Sleeper w/78K Auto, they paid 59k
2012 International Prostar Sleeper w/330k Auto, they paid 20k, but did an inframe rebuild
2012 International Prostar Sleeper w/670k Auto, they paid 13k, but did an inframe rebuild