“You can set my truck on fire, roll it down a hill
But I still wouldn’t trade it for a coupe deville
It’s got an eight foot bed that never has to be made
You know if it weren’t for trucks we wouldn’t have tailgates
I met all my wives in traffic jams,
You know there’s something women like about a pickup man” – Alan Jackson
Trent at The Simple Dollar talks about his old truck here. The point of his article is to stay focused on the larger overall goal. But he talks about the high mileage, the rust spots, etc, but also how he will keep driving it due to his larger goals. I am here to tell you about the frugal beauty of an old truck.
Hello, my name is Linke and I drive an old truck. Things of beauty, grace and speed are often referred to in the feminine. My truck is male, sluggish and answers to the name of Yota. That is Yota with a “t,” not a “d.” That is another green character.
Yota, obviously, is short for Toyota. He was born in Japan in 1992. I adopted him and brought him home in November of 1992. His adoption cost me $12,300. He is the only new vehicle I have ever had and probably always will be. Yota’s mileage is in excess of 225,000 and growing daily. He is still my daily driver and carries me back and forth to work five days a week. The number of times he has failed to start can be numbered on the fingers of one hand. All of them involved a dead battery. Either I inadvertently left the lights on, or his three year battery reached its 38 month life expectancy. In other words, none of the failures were his fault. Yota still gets approximately 26 mpg around town and approximately 32 mpg on the highway.
Now, Yota is not without his faults. The driver’s seat upholstery is split (it has been sat on for a few hours – see below) and he burns a little oil. The rear bumper is messed up and the front of the hood has a couple of minor dings. But he has no rust. The driver’s side seat belt is literally worn out. He has been in three accidents and has been hit in the same passenger’s side rear quarter panel every single time. He has not lost an accident yet.
Yota has been paid off for over 15 years. In other words, that is 180 months without a car payment. He has saved me a small fortune through the years. Other than tires and oil changes, he required no replacement parts for his first 115,000 miles. The original platinum spark plugs were only supposed to last for 100,000 miles. They were replaced at 115,000 miles, but were still in good condition. 150,000 miles was a big year for Yota. He needed a new clutch that year, a couple of wheel bearings, new brakes all around, tires, belts, etc. That year he cost me over $1,500 in maintenance. His A/C still blows cold and has never been serviced or recharged – (and we do not want a leak, because the refrigerant from 1992 is not exactly going to be environmentally friendly.)
I guess most people would have traded Yota in years ago. According to those who study such things, the average length of automobile ownership in the US is now up to 56.3 months versus 49 months just six years ago. So, the average person would have purchased three other vehicles by now. In other words, if one assumes that most people go for the four or five year loan, then they are never without a monthly payment. One can look at this a couple of ways, but the easiest is to say that X years of monthly payments averaging $X00 per month (which basically covers interest and about 3% inflation) is approximately $X,000.
For my own calculations (using a few different methods), I arrived at savings amounts in the range of $40,000 to $54,000 over the average buyer. Personally, I would probably have only traded once during the seventeen years and believe my savings to be more in the $25,000 range. Your mileage may vary. (Pun intended).
· 225,000 miles (and still going)
· 7,895 gallons of gasoline
· 250 quarts of oil
· 20 tires
· Three CD Radios
· One drivers side seatbelt
· And over 5,000 hours of shared time on the road
· Priceless.