Caravan Club 2

I've been working on the numbers and trying to figure out not just what to buy but when to buy it. The latest and greatest hurdle is what I had feared at the beginning. Trucks are expensive. We're talking luxury car prices here. Yes, they come with incentives so your average Joe can afford one but apparently your average Joe has to settle for a used truck with 100k miles on the clock. My original goal was to do it all for under $500/month. That's truck, camper, insurance, and storage. Can't do it.

I have to buy from the lot to get the "deal." It snows here so every truck is going to be a 4X4 which makes trucks expensive. People in my podunk neighborhood have these expensive trucks so either they're leasing them or taking out a second mortgage to pay for it or they just buy a used one with a shit ton of miles.

I even tried to trim the fat. Originally, I thought, "I'm going to have this truck until the day I die so why not get a few options." I've always gone base model with the exception of my Outback and even that just has a few minor upgrades. Anyhoo, I stripped the truck down to bare essentials. I ditched the beefy engine which means I sacrifice about 2000lbs for towing but now that I know how much this all going to cost it looks like we'll be pulling a small trailer for the rest of our lives. I was expecting to see a calming drop in the monthly payment but alas, it was about $20. You're probably thinking, "That adds up over time." but it really doesn't. In fact, the cost savings is so minuscule it would be silly to not get the few extra features that would make owning and towing substantially easier.

Since sales tax is in the ballpark of $3200 we're going to need to bundle that into the financing which eats up about a fourth of the incentives so I'll be looking to see if I can combine additional incentives to the 25% discount. That would cover the bulk of the sales tax and give us a little breathing room.

Campers come with the same incentives but the camper we want is still going to ring in around $20K. We'll be getting an extra $1000 worth of accessories that we need like weight distributing hitch, leveling supplies, shit hoses and what not. Getting it in under $200 will be tough. In hindsight, getting the truck five years ago would have been a good idea but then the wife wouldn't have anything to drive our son around in.

The whole thing is pretty discouraging. I'm going to put together a backup plan with a used truck to see how affordable I can make this but that eats into the longevity of our plans. I really want to do this and be done for a good 15 to 20 years. That way when I hit my 60's and Henry moves out maybe we'll buy a new truck instead of having to replace a used truck at around the time it's paid off.

At this point it looks like this is going to cost a lot. Fuck.