Hacker News Reader

Comment by mbfg | Hacker News Reader

i bought a 2005 Ram 2500 for $25,000, today it would cost minimally $75,000. I actually need a truck to haul hay every week. i dread when the thing rots apart. I will have no answer.

View on HN

Even if we assume your truck is now worthless, that's only $1,300 per year. More realistically, assuming you have kept it in reasonable condition, it is probably worth around $8k now, or $900 per year. That's nothing in the grand scheme of things. In your case, that's only $17 per load of hay. Approximately one small bale per load pays for it. That still leaves a lot of meat for the truck to haul – especially a 2500. It is not surprising that the price of new trucks has skyrocketed.

I too bought a truck for my farm in the same era for around the same price and I'm glad I did, because in hindsight it was an absolute steal. The ROI it has provided has been off the charts. Again, it is not surprising that new trucks have gone up in price to close the gap. Fantastic investment opportunities never last.

I bought my F350 15 years ago for $10k, if is worth 7k now. (1999, 7.8 diesel engine). However I have also paid $1000/year to ensure it, which for as little as I use it works out to nearly $.50/mile. It hasn't been a great investment (as a diesel it doesn't like to start in winter), but I can never find anyone to rent me a truck when I need one so it stays (I can rent a truck shaped vehicle with fine print that doesn't let me use it for what I want a truck for)

I think that's a special case, because large pickup trucks have moved from being work focused to being luxury vehicles. Trucks people bought in 2005 don't really exist any more new, even if the same model is still technically around.

That said though, I'm pretty sure they do still make basic work focused trucks, although they might be hard to buy outside of fleet type sales.

i really don't believe people buy 3/4 and Full ton trucks as luxury vehicles, at least not to a large degree. I certainly agree with you that a huge majority of 1/2 ton pickups are luxury vehicles. Just look at all the short beds that are sold.

Not sure how much hay we are talking, but why not buy a smaller used car with a tow hitch and a trailer? Trailers cost a fraction of what you pay in markup on a pickup over a small car and most cars are more than capable of towing a small to mid-sized trailer. Bonus: you can unhitch the trailer and have a way easier time fitting into parking spaces ;-)

Because trailers are no fun to park, or run through drive thru for lunch.

Trailers are for "occasional" loads, rather than daily loads (unless you're a semi-truck).

The parent was talking about a weekly task, not daily. For me that would fit the description of "occasional". And a trailer the size of a pick-up truck bed would be quite easy to fit through a drive thru made for giant pickups and SUVs. Parking (especially reverse) is something you have to pick up, for sure, but once you do it is actually not that challenging and on many parking lots you can actually just pull through a double parking space without reversing at all.

I agree, I wouldn't do it for everyday jobs (for that I'd probably use a large Van or something like it) but in my experience, having a decent trailer gives you tons of flexibility for very little money.

pulling a US ton of hay with a smaller used car isn't going to be fun. That car's transmission is going to get wiped out.

Get a Maverick and a lightweight trailer.

The great thing is that today you can still buy a 2005 Ram 2500 for $25,000!

(I exaggerate, but my brother recently bought a ~2011 Ram 1500 for $21k!)

the problem is, unless you buy a southern truck, the frames are pretty much done for... rotted thru.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com