- Joined
- Jul 23, 2011
- Messages
- 49,856
First....could have put this in the towing forum, however it more of my observations of buying the vehicle....
So, the Admiral and I have been at odds for about 5 years on the right tow vehicle....
Current tow vehicle is at its capacity, however we bought it at a fantastic price, used it for 5 years, had my daughter drive it for 2 years and now its time to replace it.
I have always been split between a custom 47-55 Chevrolet truck on a late model chassis with a 4-door conversion and Gen 2 Dodge ram turbo diesel, preferably with a 12 valve, 4 wheel drive and an extended cab.....
the 4-door Chevrolet AD / GMC ND truck would cost about $30k to build or about $75k to have built. I have the connections, the ability, etc.....just not the place to work on it.
The Dodge Cummins has always escaped me as there are two types of these trucks.... the ones used and abused, dipped in pig crap and at end of their life, or the ones that someone has the fuel turned up, jacked up suspension and a bunch of other things that I dont want. A few compound turbo conversion 6-speed trucks have come up, however usually when funds were tight. Building the truck takes me back to the "I no longer have a shop" issue.
So for the past 3-4 years, i have been looking for a needle in a haystack. specifically looking for an older K20 4x4 that I could do a cummins swap in and swap over the grill to the 90-91 suburban grill. Something that I could get the motor in over a weekend. Unfortunately the 88-98 trucks were way too ugly to consider, and the 99-07 had that ugly front end. The admiral kept saying every one was "old" or "needs paint", etc.
The truth is the admiral wanted a 4-door crew cab, something nearly brand new with "all the bells and whistles" including heated leather seats. She kept thinking trucks were cheep as she went shopping with here ex in 2008 when the market had dropped and her ex bought a new Dodge Ram Extended cab for $22k. I had to burst her bubble by showing her the price tags
My requirements were much more basic. select-able 4 wheel drive, a minimum of an extended cab, short box, and the ability to tow 8000# or more. The wife wanted at a minimum a backup camera, running boards, dual climate control and heated seats
fast forward to end of '17. the daily driver lost its trans and she brought up buying a new car for my commute thru Tampa / St Pete traffic..... that will kill any value of new car within 4 years, putting 100+ miles per day on and getting rear ended in traffic. I pointed out a used trans is $250 and a new clutch is $150, so for less than a car payment, the PT cruiser was back on the road for daily commute duties. the only two things the car has going for it is that it is a stick and the top goes down.
This fueled the search for the new truck. I would seach cars.com, carsoup.com, autotrader.com, cargurus.com, craigslist, every dealer lot within a 500mile radius. we had eliminated the following
All nissans (except the new Titan with Cummins v8 and only because of the Cummins V8)
All toyotas (wouldnt even consider them knowing how weak the rear diffs are)
All fords (they look great, cant deal with the drivelines, with the exception of the 450 and the Cummins)
All non Cummins diesel dodge trucks (had to put that stake in the ground early. the dealer didnt know what to do when he offered a half ton with the VM diesel and i laughed at him. then I had to explain the short-cummins of the eco-diesel that Fiat thought would be a good idea.)
For the past 3 months we have been looking in earnest at used trucks. everything from new Canyons to 2 year old Silverados to 6 year old Dodge Ram turbo diesels to 8 year old GMC 1500 Denali's with leather, heated seats and a sunroof. (yes, there is a sunroof that opens about 8".....just enough to irritate ones self from its lack of functionality. All denali trucks are club cabs....why not add 12 extra inches of sunroof.
We missed out on about 8 trucks where we had appointments to drive 2-4 hours only to get a call stating the truck sold. call me old fashioned, I want to pop the hood and take the vehicle for a ride before putting money down. we ran from a few trucks that were obviously owned by smokers in their past life as well as a few that were probably about 10k over-priced, especially when I pointed out the collision repair even if the car-fax report didnt list it.
Slowly we weeded it down to two vehicles. either a GMC or Chevrolet as the elusive Dodge Cummins in my price range that wasn't one of the two aforementioned states did not exist. Tammy wanted a GMC over a chevrolet simply for the up-scale options and she said the grill looked better. Color had to be white, or off-white or pewter.....dont ask, I dont know why she limited the colors to those few choices.
I wanted a V8, preferably the 6.0 or 6.2 and at a minimum, the 5.3 if it was 2014 or newer. when asked about paint color, interior trim, options, I simply stated yes...... see my list, V8, 4x4, something that seats 4+ and a tow rating over 8000# for about $26k. we would be putting 25% down and had financing lined up.
the dealers could not comprehend the basic level of my needs and how polar opposite Tammy's desires were. apparently most trucks in florida are ordered as a status symbol with every option dumped on a 2WD or they are work truck 4x4 which had rubber floor mats. found that most dealers would almost look at me with their head cocked to the side like my boxer-shepard mix does.
Many people buying trucks cant afford trucks. I heard of people paying 16 - 18 - 25% interest to get a truck or SUV because their credit score was under 600. yet they had designer clothes. Most dealers do not follow up with their customer. I watched as people tried to negotiate at a car-max. I watched people not negotiate at most dealers. I watched entitled children go stomping out of a dealership because they couldnt afford the vehicle they wanted. that whole debt to income ratio thing....
That takes us to this past week. Sunday, as we were walking one of the many GM lots while running errands, there were 3 brand new 2018 GMC extended cabs sitting together in the Luxo Blue Metalic. Then it hits her, she likes that color. maybe because I like blue, or because it was the color of her recently deceased step-fathers car. either way, she says that the color on the truck looked great....fantastic, I just increased my truck odds by 33% as I now had another color
Had a cream-puff white 2014 GMC double cab on hold 3 hours away... that sold, we also had on deck a pewter 2014 1500 SLT crew cab 40 miles away that the price just dropped. both of these were sold out from under us. last resort was a 2010 pearl white 6.2 denali with just under 70k (owned by an elderly couple) on it when as we are headed out the door, a 2014 Sierra 1500 SLE Extra-Cab in Luxo Blue showed up in a search at a mom-n-pop lot 8 miles away. as I worked from home Wednesday because we had 3 appointments scheduled from 2 hours away to 3 hours away, we leave a bit early and swing by to look before the drive to naples....
So a test ride, climb all over the truck, throw a ridiculous low offer and this little thing followed us around until the paperwork was signed. the truck has only 42K on, it is a lease return that still has the remainder of the powertrain warranty.
2.5% financing and nearly $2k off the price.... not too bad. Wife was ecstatic about the negotiation, and has been getting more and more excited about the vehicle.....a Blue non-leather truck without heated seats. it does have back-up camera and remote start..
we pick it up tomorrow since there were a few minor issues being corrected, specifically the removal of the pinstripe the dealer added.
So, the Admiral and I have been at odds for about 5 years on the right tow vehicle....
Current tow vehicle is at its capacity, however we bought it at a fantastic price, used it for 5 years, had my daughter drive it for 2 years and now its time to replace it.
I have always been split between a custom 47-55 Chevrolet truck on a late model chassis with a 4-door conversion and Gen 2 Dodge ram turbo diesel, preferably with a 12 valve, 4 wheel drive and an extended cab.....
the 4-door Chevrolet AD / GMC ND truck would cost about $30k to build or about $75k to have built. I have the connections, the ability, etc.....just not the place to work on it.
The Dodge Cummins has always escaped me as there are two types of these trucks.... the ones used and abused, dipped in pig crap and at end of their life, or the ones that someone has the fuel turned up, jacked up suspension and a bunch of other things that I dont want. A few compound turbo conversion 6-speed trucks have come up, however usually when funds were tight. Building the truck takes me back to the "I no longer have a shop" issue.
So for the past 3-4 years, i have been looking for a needle in a haystack. specifically looking for an older K20 4x4 that I could do a cummins swap in and swap over the grill to the 90-91 suburban grill. Something that I could get the motor in over a weekend. Unfortunately the 88-98 trucks were way too ugly to consider, and the 99-07 had that ugly front end. The admiral kept saying every one was "old" or "needs paint", etc.
The truth is the admiral wanted a 4-door crew cab, something nearly brand new with "all the bells and whistles" including heated leather seats. She kept thinking trucks were cheep as she went shopping with here ex in 2008 when the market had dropped and her ex bought a new Dodge Ram Extended cab for $22k. I had to burst her bubble by showing her the price tags
My requirements were much more basic. select-able 4 wheel drive, a minimum of an extended cab, short box, and the ability to tow 8000# or more. The wife wanted at a minimum a backup camera, running boards, dual climate control and heated seats
fast forward to end of '17. the daily driver lost its trans and she brought up buying a new car for my commute thru Tampa / St Pete traffic..... that will kill any value of new car within 4 years, putting 100+ miles per day on and getting rear ended in traffic. I pointed out a used trans is $250 and a new clutch is $150, so for less than a car payment, the PT cruiser was back on the road for daily commute duties. the only two things the car has going for it is that it is a stick and the top goes down.
This fueled the search for the new truck. I would seach cars.com, carsoup.com, autotrader.com, cargurus.com, craigslist, every dealer lot within a 500mile radius. we had eliminated the following
All nissans (except the new Titan with Cummins v8 and only because of the Cummins V8)
All toyotas (wouldnt even consider them knowing how weak the rear diffs are)
All fords (they look great, cant deal with the drivelines, with the exception of the 450 and the Cummins)
All non Cummins diesel dodge trucks (had to put that stake in the ground early. the dealer didnt know what to do when he offered a half ton with the VM diesel and i laughed at him. then I had to explain the short-cummins of the eco-diesel that Fiat thought would be a good idea.)
For the past 3 months we have been looking in earnest at used trucks. everything from new Canyons to 2 year old Silverados to 6 year old Dodge Ram turbo diesels to 8 year old GMC 1500 Denali's with leather, heated seats and a sunroof. (yes, there is a sunroof that opens about 8".....just enough to irritate ones self from its lack of functionality. All denali trucks are club cabs....why not add 12 extra inches of sunroof.
We missed out on about 8 trucks where we had appointments to drive 2-4 hours only to get a call stating the truck sold. call me old fashioned, I want to pop the hood and take the vehicle for a ride before putting money down. we ran from a few trucks that were obviously owned by smokers in their past life as well as a few that were probably about 10k over-priced, especially when I pointed out the collision repair even if the car-fax report didnt list it.
Slowly we weeded it down to two vehicles. either a GMC or Chevrolet as the elusive Dodge Cummins in my price range that wasn't one of the two aforementioned states did not exist. Tammy wanted a GMC over a chevrolet simply for the up-scale options and she said the grill looked better. Color had to be white, or off-white or pewter.....dont ask, I dont know why she limited the colors to those few choices.
I wanted a V8, preferably the 6.0 or 6.2 and at a minimum, the 5.3 if it was 2014 or newer. when asked about paint color, interior trim, options, I simply stated yes...... see my list, V8, 4x4, something that seats 4+ and a tow rating over 8000# for about $26k. we would be putting 25% down and had financing lined up.
the dealers could not comprehend the basic level of my needs and how polar opposite Tammy's desires were. apparently most trucks in florida are ordered as a status symbol with every option dumped on a 2WD or they are work truck 4x4 which had rubber floor mats. found that most dealers would almost look at me with their head cocked to the side like my boxer-shepard mix does.
Many people buying trucks cant afford trucks. I heard of people paying 16 - 18 - 25% interest to get a truck or SUV because their credit score was under 600. yet they had designer clothes. Most dealers do not follow up with their customer. I watched as people tried to negotiate at a car-max. I watched people not negotiate at most dealers. I watched entitled children go stomping out of a dealership because they couldnt afford the vehicle they wanted. that whole debt to income ratio thing....
That takes us to this past week. Sunday, as we were walking one of the many GM lots while running errands, there were 3 brand new 2018 GMC extended cabs sitting together in the Luxo Blue Metalic. Then it hits her, she likes that color. maybe because I like blue, or because it was the color of her recently deceased step-fathers car. either way, she says that the color on the truck looked great....fantastic, I just increased my truck odds by 33% as I now had another color
Had a cream-puff white 2014 GMC double cab on hold 3 hours away... that sold, we also had on deck a pewter 2014 1500 SLT crew cab 40 miles away that the price just dropped. both of these were sold out from under us. last resort was a 2010 pearl white 6.2 denali with just under 70k (owned by an elderly couple) on it when as we are headed out the door, a 2014 Sierra 1500 SLE Extra-Cab in Luxo Blue showed up in a search at a mom-n-pop lot 8 miles away. as I worked from home Wednesday because we had 3 appointments scheduled from 2 hours away to 3 hours away, we leave a bit early and swing by to look before the drive to naples....
So a test ride, climb all over the truck, throw a ridiculous low offer and this little thing followed us around until the paperwork was signed. the truck has only 42K on, it is a lease return that still has the remainder of the powertrain warranty.
2.5% financing and nearly $2k off the price.... not too bad. Wife was ecstatic about the negotiation, and has been getting more and more excited about the vehicle.....a Blue non-leather truck without heated seats. it does have back-up camera and remote start..
we pick it up tomorrow since there were a few minor issues being corrected, specifically the removal of the pinstripe the dealer added.
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