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I put dad's truck in the shop this morning down here in south la. Got him 4 new tires, alignments, new brakes, etc. $1,021 later we drive the truck 15 mi back to the office, four hrs later we're leaving the office.....get 2 mi down the road, transmission hits hard, truck starts shaking, and the damn dash lights up like a christmas tree. Engine loses power, put it to the floor and you're going 40 mph, rpm's won't go over 2. This proves the main reason behind myself and dad's thinking.....rather make payments on a new truck than repair payments.

I got a repair shop that I used to use for my trucks at work. Every time we sent a truck in for a PM or any other unrelated repair it would come back and the A/C would not work. I never figured it out but they no longer repair my trucks and I no longer have that problem.......

dang jeff, when i said use the truck, i didn't mean it like that

Maybe it is cheaper and makes economic sense to drive a "paid for" vehicle??? But, peace of mind and dependability are worth something. For those of us who put 30,000/year on a truck, a ragged out vehicle won't do.

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.

'04 chevy

There's your problem in a nutshell...every Chevy service truck at the company I worked for had a transmission replaced before 100,000 mi. Not that the others are perfect but we really had tranny problems with those bowties....

He likes Chevy's because they have the highest trade-in value, plus he gets 5% back on every purchase he makes with his GM Card. No other dealership has that offer, usually gets about 2 grand to put towards a truck every year. He had a 97 chevy that he put 4 tranny's in, never had a prob out of my 97 though.

Go ahead and get a Dodge with a Cummins and a six speed and join the million mile club!

repair shops make money repairing.

I have taken vehicles in to get service at dealers, and seen them come back fixed.... but, the intake hose clamps have been loosened. Doesn't take much dirt to get a big bill from a mechanic.


Kind of like virus protection on computers, who benefits from the existance of viri. Ever stopped to consider who might be making those things. Do they all come from a pimple faced teen mad at the world and smart as a whip?

$1000 aint but two payments these days and people are financing vehicles for 60-72 months, do the math. I aint had a payment since 99 and i dont want one, but i aint hard on my vehicles no more and i dont drive a $40000 ride neither.

Buy a Toyota, put gas in it, change the oil every 5,000 miles, do the routine maintenance, use the heck out of it, drive it for about 200k+ miles, and don't worry about the dang thing. You will probably pay more up front but will have a lot less hassle and repairs and will also have a great vehicle that has a higher resale value than just about any other vehicle.

This post won't make me very popular with some, but this is just my .02 worth. I evaluated all kinds of suv's a couple of years ago and looked at everybody's offering (domestic and foreign). The American manufacturers can't hold a candle to the foreign ones when it comes to reliability, quality, etc. Tough reality but it is what it is.

Chevy with 205 thousand miles and going, annual maintenance and repair runs less than a month's car note or two. Ragged out, maybe, but comfortably suited to my lifestyle just fine. After 10.5 years, over half of which has been note free, I guess I'll drive it till it starts burning oil.

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!!!!!

I agree with brake man. I bought 10 GM trucks over the last 25 years and EVERY one had a tranny put in it before 100k miles. Bought a Land Cruiser 4 years ago and have 150k miles on it - put brake pads on it... THAT IS ALL!!! I will never buy another American made vehicle as long as the quality remains like it is...

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