I just love auto repair shops....

[Greenhead22]

[RedEyed Duck]

[RebelYelp]

[go24]

[Greenhead22]

After it will be all said and done tomorrow, dad could've easily made 3-4 payments on a new truck. We put 50K miles on a truck every year, this '04 chevy just turned 50K exactly one yr from the date we bought it. Plus you cannot come out ahead keeping a vehicle over 2 yrs. I might venture to say more than one year. Even if you pay ahead you'll still be barely ahead come time to trade. Repair bills are Dad's pet peeve, s them more than anything because once they start, they never end.

[GordonGekko]

[Greenhead22]

[Bully]

[Dog's Eye]

[crowder critter]

[brake man]

[Double R 2]

[lilwhitelie]

I agree with ya brake man!!!! Toyota's rule in the longevity department! They may not be #1 in the looks dept. but you can sure ride the hell out of em!! Friends with several foresters who put there trucks to the ultimate test and SWEAR by anything toyota makes!!!!!

[Sasha and Abby]

[Hammer]

Like most big ticket items, you win or lose when you buy...Pay too much on the front end and you will never win...I havent bought a new vehicle since 1985...Instead I buy 2-3 year old used vehicles with 20-30k miles from dealers with at least a dealer warranty and somebody to sue if the truck has a forklift transmission in it (swear to God that happened to me on a Nissan pickup)...I normally use the vehicles up to about 90K and sell them myself to individuals...I've done this a bunch and my average cost is less than $200 per month...

I'm in a 2001 Expedition that is up to 135K miles and I cant make myself sell it...It's just too perfect for me...The ideal cross between a work truck and a car...I figure to keep it a long time as my work/hunting vehicle and buy a car once it starts giving me trouble...Unless a good deal comes along on a F150 or F250 and I sell the Expedition, buy the truck and buy the car in one fell swoop...

Incidentally, I've owned one Chevy truck in my life...Bought it from a guy in Flora (before I learned to buy from dealers only)...Turns out he put sawdust in the tranny...I threatened to sue him and he met me half way on the $3000 repair bill, giving me $10,500 in it which was still below trade value...I kept it 6 more months and sold it for $11,000...

If dealers can make money trading vehicles, so can you but you got to get some experience and be willing to lose sometimes...BTW, I always spend $200-$300 having a vehicle checked out before I buy it...Obviously the mechanics miss somethings but I have walked away from more than one when the compression didnt check out or some other major problem wsa discovered...Good luck!

HAMMER