If you are new to truck ownership, having upgraded from a car or SUV, you may already be thinking about all of the projects that you can finish with your newfound capabilities. Whether it is for work or personal projects, having a truck will allow you to move larger and/or heavier objects without having to ask a friend or relative for help. Also, you will be able to handle rougher roads and, if you got a four-wheel-drive truck, snow-covered roads with less concern than when you drove a car or small SUV. There is no question that having a truck comes with many advantages, but there are some downsides that you may not have considered when buying your first pickup. Here’s a look at the top five things nobody tells you about truck ownership.
Lots of People Will Ask for Help Towing and Hauling
If you have ever moved from one home to another and you did not own a truck, the odds are good that you either rented a truck or asked a friend who has a truck to help you move. Whether it is loading a couple sofas into the bed of a truck or pulling a utility trailer with a lawnmower and patio furniture, there are portions of the moving process that cannot be done without a truck. Now that you have a truck, you are that friend that people will call when they are moving or buying a new big screen and they want to avoid delivery fees. If you are lucky, the person requesting the help will offer to pay for your fuel and in most cases, your effort will be rewarded with pizza and a cold beer. This is really the most common aspect of truck ownership that no one talks about, but this is one that most new owners should expect.
Truck Ownership Means Buying Lots of Fuel
Today’s trucks are larger, heavier and more powerful than pickups of the past, so even though the engines have become more efficient, full-sized trucks use more fuel than just about anything else on the road. Even the most fuel-friendly trucks on the market today get less miles per gallon than most of the less-efficient cars, so in most cases, if you are upgrading from a car to a truck, you are going to be buying more fuel. When you are towing or hauling significant weight, you are going to be buying even more fuel.
Trucks Eat Brakes, Especially When Working
Anyone who has owned multiple trucks that are used for any real towing or hauling projects knows that you are going to go through braking components much more quickly than with a car. Unfortunately, how often someone replaces their brakes is not a normal conversation piece, so that is an aspect of truck ownership that might come as a surprise. You can work to preserve your brakes a bit by having a well-maintained brake setup on your trailer, but when it comes to hauling weight in the bed – you are going to burn through brakes more often than you may expect.
Parking in Cities Can be a Headache
One key aspect of truck ownership that nobody tells you about is that in some dense city settings, it is very difficult to find parking facilities that will accept trucks. You might think that we are talking about parking garages – and those are part of the issue with their clearance issues – but even many open parking lots in large urban areas do not want trucks taking up extra space. In some situations where pickup trucks are very common, like the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, open lots charge half-ton-or-bigger trucks extra to park because they take up more space, while others simply do not allow them. I have even run into situations where I prepaid for open parking with a full-sized truck but when I arrived, they refused me entry and refunded my money.
In short, if you own a truck and are headed to an event in a big city with tight parking, it might be a headache finding a place to park and when you do, it may cost extra.
Insurance for Bigger Vehicles Costs More
One final point of truck ownership that nobody tells you is one that should be expected and that is insurance costs. On average, trucks just plain cost more than the average car, and the more expensive a vehicle is to repair or replace, the more it costs to insure. Also, with trucks being bigger, they do more damage when they hit other vehicles, so it costs more to repair those other vehicles and that leads to higher insurance costs. When you tie in the fact that trucks are fairly popular with thieves, you have a trifecta of reasons why insurance companies charge more for trucks than for the average car or smaller SUV.
