Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Brand new hunting truck, good idea or bad idea?

my hunting camp is 100 miles from my home and on the other side of mountains that get snowy and nasty. when my POS dodge started having problems it went away and was replaced with a new f250. piece of mind going over snowy mountains at 11pm with my boys and guns in the truck more than makes up for a couple little scratches. like i always say, its a truck. i will never buy another used one. fuggen dodge cured me of that.

I have a 14 ram. It has dents in it and somone hit it in a parking lot. I pull a wheeler or a boat all over the damn place. If I could find a cheap hunting truck I would and save the beating on my rig.

If your truck runs good and is reliable, I'd keep it and use it until it is worst nothing. They cost too much these days to trade off all the time like we used to.

If it's not getting scratched and dinged up at least a little, you don't need a truck. Buy one of those crossover things.

The first scratch or dent on a new to you truck always stinks, I think, whether the truck is new or used but it happens. Had some idiot back into my bumper in the lot at the mall last week when I took my daughter Christmas shopping. Of course, they didn't leave a note! Truck is less than 6 months old.

Do yourself a favor
and take my advice
Buy a new Tundra

Solid advice. I use them till I can't trust them and buy another new one. 7-10 years is my expectation and I do around 22,000 miles a year.

They also retain a much higher percentage of their original value than they used to.

His truck would sell to a private party here for $16K-19K. It would be over $20K on a dealers lot. That is probably 60-70% of what it cost new.

The longer he keeps it the value drops and the cost of a new truck goes up. He can trade it today and put $15K-$20K with it and buy a new truck. Or wait 5 years and get $5K for it and expect new trucks to increase in price by another $5K. And hope he doesn't spend $5-8K on a new engine and transmission.

Everything is a gamble, pay your money and take your chances. If the truck were 2-3 years newer I'd say keep it. Two-3 years older and closer to 150,000 miles and it'd be better to just keep it. This one could go either way, but I'd make a decision before you hit 100,000 miles. It is a lot easier to sell one with 99,000 on it than 101,000.

This is a good point. Plus, right now, he can get something like 0% financing. The feds have already begun to increase interest rates.

I buy new trucks and new Jeeps for hunting. I kept my 89 Dodge diesel for 306,000 miles. My current one is a 2006 and going strong. My old Jeep I had for 14 yrs. before I bought a new one in 2014. So I buy them new and keep them a long time. The secret is make sure they get anything they need or going to need soon. I never run tires until the tread is gone. I never fool with worn belts, hoses or filters. I change oil more often, not less often than I need. Never been stranded in the boonies. Yes, I carry spare parts on my hunting trips.
The other thing is I never buy cheap parts, especially tires. If you are going to have problems off road, most of the time it's a tire problem. That's why the major tire makers make extra tough, off road tires. E

IMO with the cost of new ones you're better off getting rid of it while it's still worth enough to let you afford the new (or newer) one. I run'em as long as I can, usually 6-7 yrs, which is a year or 2 after they're paid off before I reach that tipping point.
As far as driving the new one my friend always says "Drive it like you stole it!"

This^^^

My 2007 Tundra has about 87k on it and aside from a few Michigan pinstripes that need to be buffed out, it's in very clean shape. Even to the point where I get compliments on it. Even though it's now 9 years old, I try to keep it out of places that are just going to damage it. It still has a pretty decent resale value and to abuse it is like cutting the bottom out of my pockets and losing money.

Just a little Dakota pin-striping is all. (In Ohio we call it Buckeye pin-striping)

I tend to save money, pay cash, and then drive the truck until it is worth nothing. Typically the longer you drive something the more it pays you back.....Nothing new for me, ever!


X-VERMINATOR

Backed into a tree today turning on a dead end forest road. Pretty nice dent n the bumper but I got out in the snow to change my trail cam SD cards. Dents can't hold you back from getting out.

Well as an update, I pulled the trigger on a 2016 Silverado crew cab. Nothing fancy as it's an LT but it has the all star package so its got quite a few creature comforts. I got a good deal on the truck and they gave me reasonable trade, so the time was right.

I looked over my last truck and really, I don't think I have any "extra" damage to it from running it hard in the fall.

I'll give an update this fall and let you guys know of any battle damage, I'm worried the Wal Mart parking lot will be more hazardous!

Jeremy

I think you made the right choice. I have no problem with driving a truck that is 15-20 years old or even older. But every time I do the math it comes out cheaper to buy new and keep it 15-20 years rather than buying used and driving it until it is 15-20 years old.

Years ago vehicles lost a lot of their value and buying used made a lot more sense. With cars and many SUV's that is still true. But a 10 year old truck with 170,000 miles on it will still bring 60-65% of what it sold for new. If I bought that truck new I probably wouldn't have a problem keeping it. But I wouldn't pay that much for a used one where I didn't know the history.

Gas or diesel?

I think the all star package is on 1/2 tons only. If so...gas.

Sometimes you can find a dealership that has a hail damage sale. Brand new vehicles with enough dents to lower the price. That way you won't have a stroke when you get the first scratch.