Got a company truck for cheap... keep or upgrade?

[Scouzer]

So I lowballed a company truck with not much thought to it and I won. Cool. It's a 2005 GMC Sierra 2500 HD SLE with only 40k. I got it for $7100. It was really lightly used. I don't know why our company buys such expensive trucks when they are just used for tough tasks such as a box of tools in the bed or mail runs, but whatever.

I'm quite concerned about its tonka toy interior and crazy fuel usage. I'm tempted to simply resell the truck (it's worth about $15k in my area) and use the free cash to get a nicer truck... but then I'd be paying market value for an upgrade. Thoughts?

 

[zerocool84]

If you don't like it then sell it.

 

[OutHouse]

good buy, most trucks that old have 140K miles not just a measly 40K.

i am in colorado and the lots are packed with pickups. the market is really soft so im not sure how it is in Canada.

 

[Rumpltzer]

You can pay market value for something that you like, or you can pay to fuel the truck that you don't like... or you can take the money from the sale and bet it all on black.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

If you don't need it, and you probably don't, then drive it for a few months and sell it. You definitely got a great deal.

 

[lxskllr]

What do you drive now? My ideal combo would be an econobox car, and a truck, though I prefer full size vans. That gives you a cheap commuter, and a truck for hauling when you need to.

 

[Spikesoldier]

flip it

 

[SpatiallyAware]

What do you drive now? My ideal combo would be an econobox car, and a truck, though I prefer full size vans. That gives you a cheap commuter, and a truck for hauling when you need to.

I agree, I couldn't do without a truck, but a 2500 series is huge. +1 on the van, and you could sell the 2500 for ~15k and buy a decent van or regular pickup for $5k.

 

[TallBill]

Flip it, get something that makes sense...

 

[Scouzer]

I have a 2007 Civic 2 door right now, but it's hail damaged so it's worth a lot more to me than it is anyone else I suspect. I was considering the two vehicle thing, but the province I live in makes that pretty difficult... insurance for two vehicles is quite expensive. It'd cost me about $2600 a year to insure both vehicles. I also don't really have sufficient parking to do this.

I'd be more interested in a Ridgeline or Tacoma, something a bit smaller but still useful.

 

[Arkaign]

OP, do you *need* a truck very often? If not, then get something more fuel efficient unless you drive very little. Gas prices are bad, and just likely to get worse (increasing economic recovery + mideast BS = $$$), and resale value of vehicles with poor MPG seemed to drop like a rock last time gas hit much above $4.

That said, are any company politics at play with this? Will your flipping it rub any of your superiors the wrong way? Not really their business to meddle with after the fact imho, but sometimes there are intangibles like that should be at least considered.

 

[ghost recon88]

That's a great price on that truck, is it 4x4? How close are you from the Michigan border :whiste:

 

[Scouzer]

OP, do you *need* a truck very often? If not, then get something more fuel efficient unless you drive very little. Gas prices are bad, and just likely to get worse (increasing economic recovery + mideast BS = $$$), and resale value of vehicles with poor MPG seemed to drop like a rock last time gas hit much above $4.

That said, are any company politics at play with this? Will your flipping it rub any of your superiors the wrong way? Not really their business to meddle with after the fact imho, but sometimes there are intangibles like that should be at least considered.

Flipping it is pretty likely to rub someone the wrong way. It's definitely a factor in keeping it.

OP, do you *need* a truck very often? If not, then get something more fuel efficient unless you drive very little. Gas prices are bad, and just likely to get worse (increasing economic recovery + mideast BS = $$$), and resale value of vehicles with poor MPG seemed to drop like a rock last time gas hit much above $4.

That said, are any company politics at play with this? Will your flipping it rub any of your superiors the wrong way? Not really their business to meddle with after the fact imho, but sometimes there are intangibles like that should be at least considered.

Often, no. But we do camp and we are bloody tired of tenting it. We'd like to get some sort of small camper and that of course needs a truck.

Yes it's a 4x4. I'm *very* far from Michigan.

 

[Exterous]

That's a great price on that truck, is it 4x4? How close are you from the Michigan border :whiste:

Chances are hes closer to metro detroit (me) than lansing if the OP dont feel like driving as far to sell it

Honestly I would drive it for a bit and see how you like it. Seems like you got far enough below value that some time spent driving it wont really affect your resale

 

[ghost recon88]

Assuming it is gas and not diesel, that is a $22-23k vehicle here.

 

[Scouzer]

Assuming it is gas and not diesel, that is a $22-23k vehicle here.

Yeah... I'm wondering if it might be worth a little more than I thought. I haven't picked it up yet so it depends on the condition when I get it. If it's pretty mint (for a work truck) I might have just got a pretty decent bonus (by accident!)

 

[cardiac]

About $16-18k here in the Chicagoland area. Nice buy.....

 

[Alienwho]

Keep it for the summer at least and see how useful it is to you and wait for everybody at work to forget and stop caring about it.

 

[rudeguy]

Do you need a truck?

I would personally sell it and get a nice, used, small car.


And some hookers with a side of blow .

 

[Texashiker]

Trade that GMC in on an older model Toyota Tundra.

 

[phreaqe]

Trade that GMC in on an older model Toyota Tundra.

Why is the heck would you want to step down like that?

 

[Texashiker]

Why is the heck would you want to step down like that?

In the long run, toyota is going to have a lower cost of ownership, and toyota is going to hold its tradein value better then a GMC product.

Go to a used car lot, how many toyotas do you see? Very few. Thats because people hang onto them. Why do people keep their toyotas? Because they are reliable.

 

[MichaelD]

This was probably an impulse buy. I.E. "I better snap this up now before someone else does!" I get that. But it's sort of silly that you bought it when you can't afford the insurance, gas or parking. Also silly that you bought something that you probably knew you couldn't use and couldn't sell b/c the company would get pissed off.

As others have pointed out, this truck is easily worth 2x what you paid for it.

Now, white lies do have their place. :whiste: Sell it for a tidy profit and if anyone asks you sold it to your cousin Steve who lives in the woods of Sastatchewan (sp?) and has 4 kids. His truck got totalled when he hit a deer (you have them up in Canandia-land) and you felt bad b/c he can't run his logging business with no real truck, so you sold it for what you paid for it.

Being that you don't NEED this gas hog that you can't park where you live, I'd sell this and the Civic with the swiss-cheese bodywork and buy a Tacoma or other mid-size truck outright, cash sale. Quad cab. Passenger capacity of a car with half the hauling ability of a full-size pickup.

My two pennies.

 

[rivan]

You can pay market value for something that you like, or you can pay to fuel the truck that you don't like... or you can take the money from the sale and bet it all on black.

I like the way you think, friend. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[phreaqe]

In the long run, toyota is going to have a lower cost of ownership, and toyota is going to hold its tradein value better then a GMC product.

Go to a used car lot, how many toyotas do you see? Very few. Thats because people hang onto them. Why do people keep their toyotas? Because they are reliable.

i would be willing to be that it would cost more to keep up a older toyota truck verses a newer GMC truck. Toyota does not really have a stellar track record in the truck sector and based on the rust buckets i have seen the GMC is by the far the better choice here.