Should I Replace My Truck

Question

Own a restaurant and catering company in Baltimore Maryland. We have 4 custom made catering trucks that cost apx. $25,000.00 each. Our oldest truck, a 94' dodge dakota is starting to have alot of problems. The transmission is starting to shift very roughly, it doesn’t have much acceleration. The hood is starting to rust, I need new ball bearings on the front two wheels, and just yesterday the rpm gauge started acting very weird and somestimes dosent move at all. My question, should I replace this truck with a new truck that will cost $27,000.00, or spend 10,000$ to totally overhaul the truck.

You can view pictures of the truck at:

http://www.sorrentoscatering.com/catering_trucks

It is the truck with the pink lettering.

Answer 1

wassup b'more i miss the old hammerjack days and weekends on the baltimore block next to the police station. i would get rid of it if its going to cost ten g to overhaul it

Answer 2

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  Obviously, you don't need the tach.  You'd be stupid to fix that.  Packing the wheel bearings is going to cost $100.  You spend more than that on socks and underwear. Overhauling transmissions is just a cost of doing business, right? You plunk down $2000 for every quarter million worth of business the truck does.  Replacing the whole truck won't stop that.  If you run a delivery business that goes with it.

So it comes down to this - Do you paint the truck or not?  You could literally spend $10,000 painting this truck.  I probably wouldn't just because of its age.  But it's a sure thing that this truck is going to give you cheaper service than a new one.  No way around it. I might try to have the hood painted only.  It looks pretty cute in the pictures.

You know, new trucks are getting the worst gas mileage that trucks have ever achieved in the history of the world.  It just blows my mind.

Answer 3

Business wise it would be best to buy another truck.That way you write it off at the end of the year and it will save you money on repairs in the future. you have a safer truck for your employees to drive . The new truck just makes better sense.

Answer 4

If the truck need $10,000 to repair it would be a good move to get a new or newer truck. you say it is a custom truck maybe you can save some money by taking off the custom stuff and putting it on the new or newer truck. in the long run you will save time money and aggravation Dodge dakota's have a lot of problem's to begin with that come with age in the 93 to 99 yeas.toyota & nissan can do the same job and less thing's go rong & you will save gas too!!!!  

Answer 5

Well honestly it looks like u need to buy some real trucks and not pea shooters or even vans u could get 2 econoline vans and 2 trucks and use the trucks for the small parties and the vans for the bigger ones. But if u are not in the financial decision i would buy this as it is and then add your equipment or use the old equipment and just transfer trucks and save more money

http://www81.forddirect.fordvehicles.com...

Answer 6

yes.

Best Regards,

THE MAN