We Bought a Truck

This post is a continuation of 2 previous posts, Life Unimagined, and The Saga Continues… We’re almost at the 1 year mark for the start of our truck woes, Labor Day weekend 2024. They’ve endured the entire year. They took a back seat to the RV fire in February and we thought we’d eliminated them.

Nope.

I won’t go into the particulars, but low power mode kept happening at about 180-200 miles. It was either find a campground or pull over and walk. Driving a 42ft 5th wheel at 15 miles per hour, on a highway is no bueno. So we asked ourselves,

“Why do we keep putting money into this? Wouldn’t it simply be better and easier to buy a different one?”

You would think…

Again, nope. Truck buying is hard. Gone are the days of walking onto a dealer’s lot, finding the perfect vehicle, handing over cash and walking away with a clean title.

It takes almost a full day to buy a vehicle, even if you find exactly what you want, have cash in hand, 3 bank statements, are pre-approved for a loan, bring a solid trade in, and hand over your firstborn grandchild (which may or may not clinch the deal) and even then it’s iffy. Thank you Jesus that insurance companies have online sites for transferring your insurance to a new vehicle! You can’t leave till you prove you’re insured.

Bruce had been researching trucks for almost 6 months. He joined user groups, FB groups, checked with mechanics, other full time RV folks with 40+ft RV’s, looked up every recall, potential failure and hiccup known to every brand of truck on the market. Ford, Chevy, GMC, and Dodge. At times it left him paralyzed.

Just to give you an idea of how this process has gone. Back in June he wanted to buy a Ford 250 Power Stroke turbo diesel. He wanted a red one with a tan interior. Leather, all the new tech, and if he could buy it new even better because it would have a warranty.

The price was staggering. It cost more than our first house. The payments would be obscene, even with a decent downpayment and a good trade in. It sent him into shock – he had to lie down.

At this point, some of you who’ve lived in the same house for 30 years and paid it off, sent your kids to college without loans, and own all of your vehicles outright, are wondering why we (at this age) are taking out loans for a truck.

Because we haven’t lived that life!

We’ve moved all over, sent our kids to expensive schools in IL where they assumed we were rich, the high paying manufacturing jobs left the US in the 90’s, project management sent Bruce to a mental health clinic, and layoffs have been a normal part of his career path.

Remind me, what’s a 401unk?

Anyhow, back to reality. What was a reasonable payment? What could we truly afford? How was this going to happen and when? Should we simply keep repairing the one we had? It wouldn’t get us new tech, comfort, or lower miles, but in the long run it might be more economical.

Things were getting desperate enough that Bruce even considered finding a Doge…(I don’t like them because the ram emblem looks like female reproductive organs to me). This week alone 4 trucks sold right out from underneath him.

Maybe it was even time to change our plans and find a house somewhere…

We took that option off the table. It was too depressing to think that after all we’d been through with the fire and a replacement RV, we’d have to curtail our plans because we couldn’t afford a better truck. And having to repair it all the time, was far too inconvenient for this kind of life. Trusting strange mechanics isn’t Bruce’s forte’.

Back to his research.

Time was beginning to slip away. Can someone tell me where August went?! And October 4th is our date to start traveling again, we have reservations in DC, VA and FL and plans for stops in between. Universal Orlando is calling us for Christmas. So something needed to happen or there might be…

WORDS

Yesterday he found a candidate about 90 min away at a place called Monster Motors. Bruce called, made an appointment for this morning and did all the financing paperwork ahead of time. We left home about 7 so we could get breakfast, took the pup, and made our way there. Bruce was looking forward to finally nailing this project.

When we walked inside and he gave his name, they asked who had set up the appointment. Bruce, “Angela”. Them, “Ya, that’s our AI bot but I’ll take you to Bobby, he may know more”. Lord rescue us from AI! Bobby did know more, he’d texted and emailed Bruce to let him know that the truck sold last night. (Balloon deflating noise).

We sat down and took a deep breath, asked if they had an equivalent one and went through the list with Bobby. He’s a cat guy…big kudos for that. They had a possibility, so he brought it up and we took it for a spin.

Can I just say…new technology in vehicles is amazing! I love the cameras. It’s like a drone follows you everywhere. It takes all the guess work out of parking, backing up, pulling in, and changing lanes. And heated/cooled seats, phone charging on a flat surface, sound proofing, Bose speakers…I’m a goner!. The only strike against it was its black interior, but hey, it was gorgeous so who cares?

Bruce was in love…

Now for the paperwork…

4 hours later we finally drove away with our new to us truck. A 2020 GMC Sierra Denali with the Duramax engine, the same diesel they’ve made for years, (if it ain’t broke they ain’t fixin’ it). Full tech, sun roof, leather upholstery, and only 46,000 miles. And best of all, at least 1/2 the price of a 2024 or 2025. No lying down this time.