Help me buy a truck

So I'm embarassed to say that I'm 55 years old and have never owned a truck. I also live in the south which makes it even worse. I'm constantly finding great things that I would love to bring home and a truck would make it so much easier. Pallets, free wood deals, cinder blocks, barrels, broken tools, anything free that would junk up the yard.......My wife is totally against this but she'll never know....

Since I began hoarding fire wood I have found a new love for pallets. I'm currently driving a 2000 Honda Accord which I use like a truck. I've brought home 12'- 4 x 4 pressure treated posts for a garden fence thanks to the ability to lay down the back seat and run them up to the dashboard. Pallets just don't fit because the trunk is not wide enough.

I've always said that I don't need a truck but something has changed and I want one. So here's the deal: I'm cheap and not a mechanic. I just want something dependable enough to drive around town and pick up my treasures. I'm not planning on towing anything large or loading it down with tons of wood. (I'll make 10 trips if I need to)

So finally to the question.........what would you guys with trucks (especially older trucks) buy again if you found them used and in decent running condition? What would you avoid? I'm seeing lots of trucks in my area for under $5,000 which is probably my top limit.

Thanks for any advice!!

 

Watch out for some of the older 5.7 hemi's. (like 2010-2013) they had serious (expensive) cam and lifter problems.

 

Maybe find an old square body chevy since you're not in the salt belt.
Ford rangers are still pretty popular.

 

Sad to say, you may have picked the worst time to buy a truck....Prices are crazy high right now, although they seem to have come down a little.

Good luck, hope you find what best suits your needs!

 

Thanks.......don't want those problems.

 

Exactly!! We just bought a used CRV for my daughter and paid about 2K too much.......it was a neighbor though and we knew the car had a good history. Darned Putin inflation

 

You may want to check out any Grain/Fertilizer Co-ops for used pickups. I have had 3 were high mileage (140,000 plus ) & got along great with them. My current one is a 97 F-250 that I paid $1500 for 4 years ago, unfortunately similar rigs are around $3-$5k now.

They will have dents/dings but generally they are mechanically sound, at least around here anyway.

 

If you can't fix anything and depending on your money I don't know if I would get into anything old and cheap especially a truck? But if you ignore this, I would get a Toyota, they last forever and rarely need fixing. That said I love Chevrolet and had ford's. I own two Toyotas now. The older stuff if more reliable and simple than the new stuff. I personally wouldn't touch much made in the last 20 years

 

Square bodies now are blown up in price. Your paying a few grand premium on them.

 

I have bought several used vehicles (cars and trucks), some with up to 200k miles when I bought. I've bought from both dealers and individuals. Since I'm not really mechanically inclined (well, I can take stuff apart, it is getting it back together that is the issue), I look for years that have the least complaints, or less major complaints. First I try to winnow down what I consider to be a vehicle I'm interested in depending on my needs and budget (and sometimes distance from my house), and dealership (you know that some of those have worse reps than others).

Then, I go to CarComplaints.com. You can pick the brand, then the model and compare different years. When you click on a year it will give you a list of complaints and how many (obviously popular models like Ford Explorers will have more overall complaints. They also give you at a glance, what they consider the best year by "ranking" complaints. So, I look at the amount of complaints, but mostly the type of complaints. Some of them are minor or evenridiculous, and others are serious, like transmissions failing in the first 30k miles. I think this gives a pretty good snapshot of what years I'm willing to look at.

 

Great idea, thanks! I'm not really worried about dents and such or even the interior cosmetics.......just need a ride to haul crap.

 

Thanks for that resource.....I like reading about peoples experiences and making a decision. I analyze everything that we buy.....at least big ticket items. I have already noticed a lot of these low priced trucks say they have transmission trouble and that's exactly what I want to avoid.

 

We have been buying Honda vehicles with this same strategy. I'm driving a 2000 accord with just over 200,000 miles and my wife has a 2008 crv with close to 176,000 miles. Just bought my daughter a 2007 crv with 165,000 miles in Feb of this year and are happy with the purchase.

 

I also own a square body. And had a Ford ranger that I sold running perfect with over 300k on it. But I fix everything myself and am pretty tough on a PM regime.

 

Price is right.......any thoughts?

 

I had one of those. Gutless. Reliable.

95% chance the leaf spring shackle hangers are gone or on their way out. Same for upper shock mounts. Bed under that bedliner may be a rotted out mess too. The problems are common on those trucks, even in the south.

 

Go check it out

 

Check it out especially with lukem suggestions
Here 10 years old vehicles won’t pass inspection/road worthy certs

 

A friend had one of the square 4cyl Rangers and it had about the same power as a 1st gen Prius.
Probably not going to find a Tacoma for 5k, but that’s what I’d recommend. Maybe an older 2wd Tacoma can be found at your price point. Try govdeals to find a dot, city, or school system truck.

 

Best of luck it's always a crapshoot.
Do your homework and plan on a bit of repairs.
Sometimes you can get enough of a good deal to warrant a engine or transmission replacement expense.
Just make sure you carefully add it all up.