Convince me to sell our f-150 truck

[kevj1085]

3 months ago I was excited to hop on a deal for a 2007 f-150 my neighbor was selling for $9500 with 116k miles on it. He has personally maintenanced it since it was new and taken excellent care of it. I bought it so we could tow our lightweight pop-up camper for cheap vacations and hail bigger stuff around. Our other car is a 2008 Prius that we use for every day travel, my wife and I carpool to the same job together with 2 kids. Both cars are fully paid off (Prius was a college gift brand new to me and I paid cash for the truck).

To be honest I really thought we would get more use out of the truck but upon further analysis, we have hardly used it at all so far, have done nothing the Prius couldnt do. I have broken down vacations we take from Phoenix AZ out to San Diego or los Angeles 3-4 times a year and have discovered if we drive the truck 4 times out there it will cost $600 in gas as opposed to $200 for the Prius. As well, if I sold the truck our monthly auto insurance would drop from $140 to $70.

I thought staying in the popup would be cheaper but KOA cabins around around $65 a night in San Diego and RV spots are $50, so only a $15 savings. Then I figure well what about bikes or toys etc for the kids. Well we could rent bikes in California and just hang out on the beach or whatever. I also figured maybe we could buy one of those hitches to put on the back of the Prius to add storage space.

So total breakdown-
Sell truck- $9500
Sell popup- $2000
Insurance saved- $840/yr
Gas saved just on vacations alone- $400/yr

We have never ever needed both cars at once, as we always drive everywhere together as a family. I'm just worried there will be some spontaneous time when we really need the storage of the truck as a family of 4 w dogs and won't have the ability with just the Prius. However, $1240-1300 a year Iis a lot for just a what if.

[Cwadda]

It sounds like your entire post you were already convinced and made the decision. Are there any counter arguments for keeping the truck for any of the points you made?

[kevj1085]

Really when I bought it I had in mind it was purely going to be for our vacations 3-4 times a year. I wanted to tow our pop-up, bring our bikes, bring our beach canopy, igloo for food, space heater, kids toys, chairs, paddleboards, etc. Also, if we ever were out there and SPARINGLY meaning hardly ever opted to rent a boat or even here locally, we could do so. I just hate the feeling of knowing we are paying insurance monthly for somerhing we don't need 99% of the time, but the one time we do need it, we would really need it!

[BDWW]

Well clearly the answer is buy a boat/jetskis/dirtbikes, so you can utilize the truck more.

[HipGnosis]

You shouldn't sell it at LEAST until you take the camper and your stuff somewhere, at least for a 3 day weekend.  To do otherwise would be ludicrous.

It will probably enlighten you to many things you didn't consider. For example; how much you can save buying groceries instead of restaurant meals for the family.

There are many insurance policies that let you suspend coverage for un-used vehicles, and cover them with a phone call as needed.  You may need to change insurance Co.

Renting stuff on vacation has always been real expensive or a real hassle for me.  Sometimes both.  Why didn't you include the anticipated costs in the breakdown?

It's highly probable that as your kids grow, they will need or want to be in different places at the same time, proportionately with their age.

What will you do when the Prius needs maintenance or repair that takes a day or two to get parts?

[SwordGuy]

Dude, as rarely as you're using it to haul the stuff you're mentioning, and as much as it costs, you could buy a cooler and camp chairs for each trip and throw them away on the beach when you leave - and still save money. 

Seriously, you don't need a truck for an occasional trip like that.    Rent.  Use a car-top carrier or a cheap trailer.

UHauls are cheap.  A hitch on your car isn't that expensive.   

Or buy a cheap trailer like a $300 fold-up trailer from Harbor Freight.   I use one quite frequently when I rehab a house for our rental property business.   Total cost was somewhere between $800 and $1000.  That included buying a hitch and having it installed, buying the trailer, buying lifetime tags for the trailer, buying wood for the trailer bed and sides, and all the nuts, bolts and screws to fasten the wood together.   It will last pretty much forever and I'll use it way more than it sounds like you will.

And when we go camping, we take a tent, fire gear, medieval armor and furniture, etc.   The trailer works fine for that, too.

[Cwadda]

Could you use it for a side hustle which would pay for the cost of truck? I.e. furniture moving?

[Miss Piggy]

Well clearly the answer is buy a boat/jetskis/dirtbikes, so you can utilize the truck more.

Yeah, that, or a much bigger camper, a.k.a. travel trailer. Gotta get the most out of that truck purchase!

[khangaroo]

Doesn't MMM mention in one of his posts that you should buy a vehicle for the "majority" of its use? For example, you're not going to buy a minivan when you're a single dude but your sister comes over every other month and brings her 4 kids over whom you like to take to the park and can't do that in a sedan. In your situation, you bought a truck for your occasional vacation/weekend trips.

With the prevalence of car-sharing, you can just rent a truck for the weekend to do all of the things you listed. As you stated, you didn't expect you would need to use the truck as much as you are and I doubt that's going to change unless you decide to take more vacations, do more activities = more money (usually).

I, personally, would sell the truck and buy something that fits the majority of your lifestyle better.