Buying a used truck is kinda dumb in my opinion. Unless you can afford to blow the depreciation, regardless of the "deal" you get there will be money flushed down the toilet. However to answer the question at hand, trucks are that expensive because people pay it, its that simple.
A 3-5 year old vehicle with low to average miles is the best financial automotive purchase.

 

I normally would agree with you, but as was said earlier, the used price on a 2011 or newer F150 is ridiculous! Some of them with 30-50K miles are the same price as I could have bought them new at the end of 2011!!

 

You're missing that trucks aren't really depreciating much right now. I looked up my truck on NADA the other day to check what's it is worth. A 2011 Platinum 4x4 with 53,000 miles books for $41,000. Guess what, I paid $42k before trade in when I ordered it new. Plus there is typically much more attractive financing options on a new truck.

In today's market the old adage of buying used to save money isn't holding true.

 

Baaa, but it is 2000 Pro though. Tryin' to put off upgrading as long as I can, as I hate using 7 at work. And 8 just confuses me.

1911s as well. Ain't got no time to play with my .45 sigs and glocks that just sit in the safe.

Adrianspeeder

 

your absolutely correct, and id point that kind of information out to the salesman right before I offer 35k for the used one. this is the kind of thing more people should do before buying anything really. do some research and get informed before making a bad decision.

unfortunately I know from experience.

 

Used vehicles are so expensive for several reasons.

1) Cash for clunkers in 2009 took a huge bite out of the used vehicle supply (690,000 vehicles crushed), forcing buyers to compete for fewer vehicles. Used prices skyrocketed in 2010 and have never come back down.

2) Millions of people got their credit ruined after the housing bubble/economy burst. These people have trouble qualifying for new car loans, so they are forced into the used vehicle market.

FWIW, according to Wiki, the Top 10 vehicles crushed in cash for clunkers included F150 2wd (2nd most), Chevy C1500 2wd (8th most) and F150 4wd (9th most).

 

I forgot all about that disaster.

Adrianspeeder

 

C4C wiped out a large portion of the cheap used car market. Thanks obummer!

Here's just how bad the used market is right now. In June of 2012 I bought a 2001 VW Jetta for $4000 cash. It had 139,000 miles on a GLS with a 2.0 5 speed. A year later I had put a timing belt/water pump ($150), cat/downpipe ($130), new front and rear bushings, ball joints and tie rods ($80) and a cheap but nice enough radio ($200). The car was clean when I bought it but I ran a buffer over it and gave it a wax job. A year later I sold the car with almost 158,000 miles for $4200. The car was on Craigslist for less than 36 hours before it was sold. They buyers said it was one of the best cars out there for less than $5000.

 

It still doesn't make much sense to buy it used at $35k if you could buy it for that. For $7k you're giving up 53,000 miles and the factory warranty. Factor in the better financing options on the new car and the difference is even smaller.

 

You couldn't get it for $35k though, that's the thing. I work at a huge used mega-dealership and F150s sell like hot cakes AT these insane prices. I've even told family and friends in the market for new F150s to check out the Ford dealer across the street. Some have stayed with used because they're still cheaper (but not in value:cost ratio), while others have looked at new ones and realized that they're better deals.

It blows people's minds that new could be a better deal for them. There have been so many first-time new car buyers in the last few years. It used to be the best deals were those cars that were lightly used for 6-24 months that the original owners took the depreciation blow on. That's still the case for some new vehicles, but it isn't for some and certainly is not for these F150s.