Is this a job you foresee keeping long enough to pay off or pay down a significant part of the loan? If so, buying the 09 is a no brainer. Work will eventually pay it off, monthly will be around $400 for the loan. If you stick around long enough to have it paid off, you are left with a free truck. Keep your current company vehicle, you are left with nothing. That and no restriction on usage of the truck. I've thought about this with my work car, would love to give it up at the first available opportunity.
Thoughts on a Cummins Mega Cab
- Thread starter RU55ELL
- Start date
4671 Hybrid
Adventurer
If you're looking at it purely from a dollars and cents perspective, is the Megacab worth $13K more than the examples that Redthies, myself, and others posted?
Don't let the $900 stipend fool you into thinking that it's free money, You WILL be paying the $13K difference out of pocket, which should be enough to cover fixing the Ramcharger, buying a gooseneck and camper, and probably funding a weekend of wheeling/camping.
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RU55ELL
Explorer
If I'm purely looking from a dollars and cents perspective, it is in no way worth getting into a loan for. I just can't justify it. I would be better off getting the RC in better long-trip shape and save money for another year or so and get something else for my wife instead. The biggest thing I'm looking at is repairs out of warranty. Stuff for diesels are expensive, plain and simple. A ton of electronics to go bad as well. The RC is just so much cheaper to repair and maintain. If the fuel pump goes out, no worry, it's not in the tank, it's on the side of the engine and it only costs $20 instead of $200. The only electronics that it needs to run is coil, ballast resistor and ignition module, all of which can be replaced for less than $100. Like mentioned earlier, I just don't think I would enjoy using a personal vehicle for work either. Heck, it breaks my heart to think about giving my company truck to someone else and it's not even mine!
Here's a trailer/camper setup for $7k
http://www.noas4x4club.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5377&highlight=
Seen it first hand, it's a nice setup. Room on the trailer for 2 rigs plus the camper.
http://www.noas4x4club.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5377&highlight=
Seen it first hand, it's a nice setup. Room on the trailer for 2 rigs plus the camper.
$20k for a $35k truck along with documented family history is a very good deal. It has a reliable engine with a solid manual transmission (6spd g56) that is not going to fail as soon as an automatic. Really the only Cummins trucks that have potential high dollar failures are the 98.5-02 trucks with the vp44 pump and some blocks, I'm surprised your dad is making the change to one of those. I used to think about savings on the frontside a lot more until I had deadlines and schedules to meet, sometimes it's not worth the headache. With certain things having a high resale (diesel dodge, tacomas, etc) sometimes the used prices are so high it doesn't make sense if you can swing it. A friend recently went thru this in trying to buy a Tacoma where 10 year old examples were still $8-10k for a truck with 150-200k miles. For the piece of mind and having a brand new truck that will not need anything for a decade, the $20k he paid new was worth it. With that said, I'm a massive fan of the 94-98 12v dodges but the pricing for an average example is just silly... Every now and then a deal comes along.
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lstzephyr
wanderer
I'm a big fan of cummins dodges as well. I really like mine, and so far it has been the most reliable four wheeled vehicle I have owned(my suzuki bike edges it out as most reliable since it had no problems, ever, while the truck had a transfer case leak), I actually dislike the 94-2002 trucks, I just can't stand the interior. I prefer the obs trucks and their wing windows, different strokes for different folks and whatnot.
That said 20k for a 35k truck may be a good deal, but it still doesn't make it the best choice. Because of his preferences for what he wants out of a vehicle. Not wanting a loan is just as important as wanting a back seat imho. Personally i think the main attraction to a diesel goes away once the electronics are involved, and the mpg drop below 15-ish something that mega will both suffer from.
Fixing the ramcharger is your simplest option, you change very little, and it you decide you don't like it later it is not the end of the world because you wouldn't have much invested. Seems to make sense to me.
Have you considered just getting any old work truck for a work truck, and then pocketing the difference? It wouldn't help your road trip requirements, but if you wanted the stipend, that would be one way to do it. Do you need 4wd? 2wd 2000-ish 3/4t gas reg cabs are pretty cheap lately. Not sure that would improve anything but its an idea.
That said 20k for a 35k truck may be a good deal, but it still doesn't make it the best choice. Because of his preferences for what he wants out of a vehicle. Not wanting a loan is just as important as wanting a back seat imho. Personally i think the main attraction to a diesel goes away once the electronics are involved, and the mpg drop below 15-ish something that mega will both suffer from.
Fixing the ramcharger is your simplest option, you change very little, and it you decide you don't like it later it is not the end of the world because you wouldn't have much invested. Seems to make sense to me.
Have you considered just getting any old work truck for a work truck, and then pocketing the difference? It wouldn't help your road trip requirements, but if you wanted the stipend, that would be one way to do it. Do you need 4wd? 2wd 2000-ish 3/4t gas reg cabs are pretty cheap lately. Not sure that would improve anything but its an idea.
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RU55ELL
Explorer
Absolutely correct. I ended up telling my dad that I didn't want it because I didn't want another loan. He completely understands, which is part of the reason why he is selling it himself. The electronics is another good point.
I totally agree.
lstzephyr
wanderer
I totally agree.
I'll be damned. Somebody agrees with me on the internet, I think I may be in shock.
I'm interested to see what you do with the ramcharger.
4671 Hybrid
Adventurer
What did you decide to do with the work truck, are you going to take advantage of the $900 month stipend, pocket the extra $$$, and use that to build up the Ramcharger and buy the gooseneck and camper?
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I can agree with that, I guess there is something to be said for simplicity which is what got me into the older dodges in the first place.
How do you tow a gooseneck with a ramcharger?
RU55ELL
Explorer
Decided to keep the company truck and build the RC. No gooseneck and camper planned anymore.
4671 Hybrid
Adventurer
You can't. I was asking if he was going to take the $900/mo which comes out to $10,800 per year. With $10,800 he could have bought a $6500 truck, a $1500 gooseneck, a $1500 camper, and spent the rest on fixing his Ramcharger and getting out in the woods.