Ouch, ouch, ouch! That’s what I’ve got to say about our truck repair bill.
We’ve been debating over the last year or so whether we should get a new truck or pay for the maintenance our current truck was going to need. We have a 1999 GMC 2500 Heavy Duty pick up truck with only a little over 60,000 miles on it. We have used it almost exclusively for towing.
When we purchased our new camper in 2008, we knew we were at our weight limit with our current truck. Kevin is a GM man. The problem was that even the 3500 trucks didn’t have much more weight capacity than the truck we currently have. The 2011 GM diesel truck has been revamped and has a much greater towing capacity.
We were hesitant to purchase a new 2011 for two reasons. New models sometimes have bugs to be worked out, and GM is not offering any decent rebates or incentives for their larger trucks.
So, we decided to keep the truck we have and do all necessary maintenance before we head west. That included four new tires, brakes and rotors, new spark plugs and filters and all the other tune up type stuff.
Kevin was a service consultant at a GM dealer in his former life. Even after a nice discount at his former work place, our bill was still $1,700. OUCH!
I’ve been keeping very close track of our spending since we began fulltiming to try and figure out what our average monthly expenses will be. So far, every month has had some large expense. The first two months we had to buy items for the camper. Last month was airline tickets for our boys to visit at Christmas, this month a large truck repair bill.
I guess all those items have to be factored into the budget. It will be interesting to see how our budget numbers look after a year.
Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!
Ouch....but cheaper than new truck and it's just maintenance. From what I've been reading on quite a few fulltimer budgets, there always seems to be unexpected/budgeted expenses.
ReplyDeleteYou can't replace it for $1700. That the way I look at repair bills on my older van (1995). Another way to look at it is it is $142 a month for major repairs.
ReplyDeleteIf I ever see a month that doesn't have a major expense for something I'll have to pinch myself to be sure I'm still alive.
We just had to replace the tires on ours and there are 6 of them, that alone was a bill can't imagine adding all the other things into that bill, but like Merikay said can't replace the truck for that.
ReplyDeleteYep, it seems like it is always something. It has to be figured into the budget because it has to be paid out of the budget. On the lighter side...it is cheaper than replacement. Hope it works like a charm for you guys now!!
ReplyDeleteMike & Gerri (happytrails)