Financial Delima???
 

most everyone knows I drive a peice of crap burban that has more rust then the Titanic will ever have.
Truck has always ran good its just hte componets are starting to wear out :(
I have replaced axles, all brakes, all suspension items except the steering box. Now the tranny blew after getting home from LOTO
:(
It wil cost a min of 800 for a used tranny to be put in. I found one warrantied for 5 years or 75,000 miles I have been told these trannies are built like a brick $h!t house.
but it will cost 2 grand to have done. Beefier gears low of all low gear shift kit and high end parts for trucks and pulling.
I have been looking into a new Avalanche
My ? is this
Would you, if you had a choice of waiting 3 years to buy a new truck once you refinacne and have everyhting paid off and just put a few grand into a not so good truck to last
or would you buy the new truck and set you back another 5-7 years on payments??
After refinacing I will have everything paid off except the townhomes. This will leave me a large monthly amount of spare change. If I focus dirrectly and correctly with this amount of money I can have everything else paid off in 3-5 years.
Then I can afford my KODIAK :)

Save now and pay off bills
or
pay now for a new truck ??
5 years from now I could have a new KODIAK for what i could be having an Avalanch for now :(

I hate decissions :(

or repair suburban and buy BIGGER motors :)

Hugh~ You live in Minneappolis and the weather can be pretty nasty for a few months...a piece of mind is worth alot!!!

I know alot of car companies are offering that, 3yr. no interest deal right now and some even offer no pmts. for a year on-top of that!!

But, perhaps the money that you put into the Burban will last...but, there's always the chance you may be wasting that money....once again, a piece of mind is worth alot!!

I haven't actually seen your vehicle. I am just going by what you are saying about it. I used to sell cars for a Dodge Dealership and I know I've taken in some trade-in's that, were a hands down good decision to get out of!!

Good luck with your decision!!

I agree with Tracy. BUT, I personally hate to pay intrest. The 0% intrest that dealers have right now is sort of a gimmik. They take away some of the discount, so you are in effect prepaying the intrest.

It depend on how much your burben has been costing you and will cost you over the next 3 years. What you spend in reapairs may pay the intrest, or more.


I think the car companies make them to start wearing out as soon as they are paid off.

What year truck do you have now? What tranny? Those prices sound a little high. Did you price a tranny from GM. Why not take a trip south and get a good used rust free burban and save yours for parts. If you are going to step up to the plate for a tranny look at what Art Carr has to offer. He built me a bullet proof 4L60E tranny for a 97 full size 4x4 Blazer that had a 383 small block w/ a vortech supercharger on it. It smoked the stock tranny right away, smoked the rebuilt tranny (with better hardparts) just as fast.The Art Carr tranny workred great!! He makes his own hard parts and a great converter (that he will reflash once for free if you don't like what you get the first time) he even reflashed the converter for the person I sold it to that was putting it in a Camero that didn't want as much stall, now that's customer service. Just blew up rear ends after that, until I put a 3/4 ton rear in it. What about buying a truck in Canada? I heard they had some great deals with the way the money exchange is. Good luck:)

By new & for 3 years you have full warranty, anything that breaks is covered & you are not out any more money & you know what your costs are.

Repair truck, put $2g in now, next month ??, month after that ??? 6 months from now after 2000+?? $ in old truck you still have old truck & are going to be posting this question again.

As was posted do your shopping, Look at what truck is going to cost in end. May be better to take all the discounts & pay interest instead of taking the no interest route. GM or bank may have better interest rate. If you are not sure what is best route to take do, post the question.

Hugh man that is a tough call. I finally last year made the plung and started to look at new trucks. Well the F350 that I wanted was almost 50 grand and that was just out of the question!!! I looked and looked and looked and got a used one with only 15,000 miles that they were asking 37,000 for and I worked them down to 31,000 with a 4 year 68,000 mile warrantee that is on top of the factory warrantee. So basically I got the truck down to 28,000 if you take off the warrantee. The warrantee includes them giving me a rental any time I have it in for service. I got to tell ya bro the piece of mind of driving around in that truck is WELL worth the HUGE nut that I have to pay. It will be mine in 3 more years and last I checked it is actually more in the Blue Book then when I purchased it :D:D. I think that the lack of the 0 percent may have pushed up used car costs just a bit. Do not kid yourself to think that if you put another transmision in this thing that your troubles are all over. I did that same thing and still continued to have problems with my old truck. I would look at getting a truck that you can feel comfortable driving all the time and get rid of the Burban and the Car. This will save you on insurance and room at the townhouse. Dude once you drive a new car you will wonder how you lived so long with out one!!! :D:D

Jon

Oh ya I forgot to say. I would not buy new. I would get a newer car. Like a 99 or 2000. A lot of the "aftermarket" warrantees are as good if not better then the ones from the manufacturers.

Jon

You do not have to purchase the Extended Warranty from a dealership....click onto the internet (obviously, ya'll know how to do this:p ) and you'll be imazed at the cost difference!! Ask dealerships what companies they go with and you can purchase from the same company and compare (BIG DIFFERENCE) but, your not paying the dealership's Financial Advisor's, nor the Salesperson's commision on that Extended Warranty!!!
And you can "add" extended warranty's when the car "isn't" even new. Shoot, you can buy from somebody on the street and turn around and add on an extended warranty if ya' want....BUT, there is an option for a new thread....."How many people have benefitted from an Extended Warranty!?!??"
You all probably knew all of this...but, I'm not quite awake and I typed it anyway ;)

Again....GOOD LUCK with your decision Hugh!!

Hugh, as the only Board member who has actually DRIVEN your burban........GET A NEWER TRUCK!!!! Like Audio said, get a newer one, not a new one. Chances are the payment will be a LOT less.

ok guys n gals :)

Did a report last night on my truck
have owned this things since oct of 1999
Including purchase price i have only spent 6200 on all parts service and repairs.
This of course does not include the now defunk tranny
drop 2 grand into tranny and lets say 2 grand into motor over he next 3 years knock on wood :(
that gives me 10 grand for a truck to last me now 3 up to 6 years
that gives me a average monthly expediture of $283 for 3 years down to 141 for 6 years.

I know I cannot get the 0% financing can only dream of having that good of credit :(
but I do know that the new Avalanche will run me at least $550 - $700 a month with insurance being $30/month higher then what I am paying now

In hte last 13 years i ahve lived in MN I have owned 9 vehicles.
This car is the seond longest one yet.
I have owned 6 brand new cars or trucks adn have lost my A## on everyone of them.
I do not feel comfortable buying newer-used
Look at yourself Audio and WaterFoul.
You both have had trouble with newer trucks-used trucks
I would like to hear from people that have actually put money into something you know you will neer get out of it.
But then again that statement includes all of us with cars, trucks, BOATS, toys.

Tracy, I am soo sorry to hear you sold Dodge :( I hated my 98 Quad cab and turned it in less then 10 months after buying it with only 17,000 miles on it. It went back under hte LEMON law
But I am glad to hear you say USED to :)
Gmhd fan, who and where is Art Carr?
I have heard the name before.
I have checked into a GM rebuilt factory tranny and at a buddies discount he says he can get it to me for 1200 thought that was high for a GM employee discount.
I still have a month or so for this refinancing to get down.
I am just looking around and tossing $$
:)
thanks again

Hugh: Any problems that I have encountered with my truck have been fixed free of charge including the rental. Ya it was frustrating but there was no cost associated with it. It is often times easier to work with Fixed costs then the maybe my truck will blow up and I will have to buy this or that. I got in my old truck the other day and was like HOW THE HELL DID I DRIVE THIS POS.

Jon

MnFastBoat
 

I am glad you posted this thread. I am in your same shoes. The trany in my Burb just died 2 weeks ago. My trany guy told me $800 for a custom heavy duty rebuild of my Tubo 350. I have not done as much prior work as you but I did put a fresh 468ci in it last year. I also am at about the same dollar amount and tring to justafie the monthly part. In three years I will also be more finacialy sqared away. I think I will then buy a couple year old 2500 Avalanche?????? Perplexed in Seattle

Sometimes you have to look at thing in a way other than financially. The way I see it, the best way to get your money out of a vehicle is to drive it out of it. I usually buy a new truck every two years. I look at the loss at trade in as a cost of doing business for me. I have to have a truck, just as a carpenter needs a hammer. I spend a lot more time in that truck than I do in my recliner. On the normal rotation, I should have traded in last year, but I have not had one bit of trouble with this truck, and am afraid if I trade, I may end up with a lemon. It still looks great and runs better. 96,000 miles and only oil changes, three air filters, and a set of brake pads.

After you put the extra money into a new tranny, there is no guarantee that something else major will go.

I got a deal for you, I have a new truck with only 415 miles on it, it is a Chevy silverado LS 1500 Ext cab v8 selling for 25,000$ sticker on truck is 30,000.



717-291-3222

art carr

You get what you pay for! His converters are huge. And with most late model overdrive trannys the converter is the weak link. And I've seen alot or drums break in the Chevy OD trannys. Art Car makes all the hardparts that fail with the stock units. And I got good money for it when I sold it on ebay. I don't know what year or tranny you are working with but I just put a new GM converter in my 97 Suburban (has 140k) and the converter was a little over $200 so when you look at the cost of the GM tranny that comes with a converter it's really not that bad with the warrentee. I would DEFENTILY stay away from a local rebult converter if you rebuild it locally.

ragtop409
If you fix you truck I would try and find turbo 400 to put back in. Towing with a th350 behind a bigblock is just asking for trouble. The real slick setup is try and find a 4L80E. Its like a TH400 with overdrive, the street rod guys have the computers to make them work in other vehicles.

And yes the death of a tranny is HEAT! And don't forget to blow out the tranny cooling lines when you put the new one in. I know so many people that don't do this.
Good Luck

Hugh-
I'll throw in my $.02, first have you checked out any salvage yards for any possible trannys from wrecks? I know that some will say that you are buying the same problems but if you can find one that might happen to be out of a low milage wreck then you should be good for 20-30k? miles??? Is it a 96 burban?

Food for thought, you could spend the coin now and fix the burban figure out what you'd be lookin at per month for a payment and start puttin that into the bank to get used to paying that payment. That way you have the down payment in a year or so and the new payment won't hurt near as much.....

ok now I just might have to do this :)
It is a 1989 burban wiht 190,000 miles on it

It WILL be put to rest :)

I will NOT be buying me truck until next year :(
Hell why buy one over the winter when it will get all dirty and some SOB will run into it in the snow just my luck right now

I will wait until the unveiling of the new and not so clad Avalanche
I really like what I have found.
I have grown found and excepted the plastic door ding protectors.
But these pics of the new removed body armor is sweet looking
I likt the functionality of the 'switch'
it serves me for who and what I tow, haul, transport that is why I like the Avalanche over anything else.
I like the side compartments, removable LOCKING sections on the bed, the removable rear glass for long haul air flow.

To those stating, I have already been making payments to myslef for such an occasion. Just not in the same amounts as a true payment.
Bills are important ot be paid :( adn i trully do not need the truck until spring now :(
Can borrow one last time to scrub and winterize ouch!! that hurt.

Thanks for all the opinions and Ideas, but tihs will benifit everyone more in the long run.
Especially and hopefully my boat motors come spring of 2004 or 5 :)

Hugh You should give me a call I know a realy good trany guy and a hell of a lot cheeper and fast.

Check out Metro truck sale's They specialize in 3/4 and 1 tons a year or two old out of Missouri jest tell them what you are looking for .
Hay I finely got my boat back together if you have a day off I'm going to hit the lake a couple time befor the snow flys today would have been grate.

GOTTAHAVEIT I agree whith Cool is the way to be.

MnFastBoat,
I think the refinancing and getting debt free is the number one thing to concentrate on. Any chance of getting the new truck thrown into the refinancing?

The zero percent interest is nice but the cash back would be a better choice. If you can afford it there are some great deals out there. If you buy new make sure you get a good price. You should be able to buy at the dealer invoice and possibly some of the hold back money on the right vehicle.

Leave your engines alone until you get everything paid for.

Dan