My 2025 Ram 1500 RHO carried an approximately $84,000 sticker, but that is not what I paid. When I traded it in after roughly 14 months, the $65,000 offer needed to be compared with my actual purchase deal, the remaining loan and the payments I had already made. Those are three different numbers.
This is a look back at the Ram RHO trade-in I described in my March 2026 videos, when I replaced it with a used 2023 Ford F-150. It explains my particular deal, not what every RHO owner should expect to receive today.
The price fell about $7,000 from what I actually paid
I bought the RHO in January 2025 through Mark Dodge in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In the video, I described an $84,000 sticker, a $10,000 dealer discount, another $1,000 in dealer goodwill and a $1,000 Ram rebate. That brought the reported vehicle price to approximately $72,000 before the additional amounts in the financing agreement.
The extra $1,000 from the dealer deserves context: I said it followed sales leads generated by my earlier video about the purchase. That was a benefit connected to my publishing work, not a discount every shopper could assume would be available.
Against that approximately $72,000 vehicle price, the $65,000 trade offer represents about $7,000 of depreciation. Comparing the same offer with the $84,000 sticker would show a $19,000 gap, but that would ignore the discounts and rebate I received. Neither figure, by itself, is a complete cost-of-ownership calculation.
I said I checked more than one dealership before accepting the offer. That gives context to my decision in March 2026. It does not make $65,000 a current market appraisal for another truck with different mileage, options or condition.
The loan payoff and monthly payments tell a different story
My reported original loan amount was $77,983, including about $4,000 in sales tax. The video does not itemize every dollar between the approximately $72,000 vehicle price and that financed total, so I am not assigning the rest to particular fees or products.
I also reported about 13 payments of $1,188. Multiplying those figures gives $15,444 in payments. At trade-in, I estimated the payoff at roughly $68,000 to $69,000, depending on whether the next payment had posted. Against a $65,000 trade allowance, that meant approximately $3,000 to $4,000 of negative equity at that moment.
That negative-equity amount was not the entire cost of owning the truck. It described the gap between the loan payoff and trade offer. The payments already made included money that reduced the loan balance, along with financing cost. Adding all of those payments to depreciation as if they were separate losses would count part of the same expense twice. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains the distinction between loan principal, interest and negative equity.
The video used a few different shorthand descriptions of what I lost. The clearer way to read the figures is to keep purchase-price depreciation, financing and the remaining payoff separate. Without the final payoff statement and a complete ledger of interest, operating costs and other expenses, I cannot turn those estimates into a precise all-in ownership total.
I liked the RHO, but my business had a different calculation
Trading the truck was not a declaration that I disliked it. I praised the ride, the smooth and strong Hurricane engine, the rear-seat comfort and the heated massaging seats. The family used it for trips and camping. I also mentioned the expense of fueling it and that the passenger screen was less useful to us than I had expected.
The odometer discussion was approximate: I opened the video talking about 16,000 miles and later described roughly 17,000. The important point is that this was a truck we used, not an untouched vehicle flipped immediately after delivery.
It was also a business asset. I said the RHO generated 25 videos and roughly $4,000 in video earnings, which I described as net profit in the video. That was my reported channel result, not an independently audited figure or an amount a private owner could expect to earn.
Some accessories were provided for coverage, including the Mopar running boards, the RealTruck bed rug and the ScreenProTech protection mentioned in the video. My publishing income, supplied products and tax circumstances make my experience different from a household buying the same truck. I am not treating those benefits as a universal ownership-cost discount.
The used F-150 lowered the next truck’s price
The replacement was a 2023 F-150 with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost, a 6.5-foot bed, tow mirrors and the FX4 package. I reported a $43,000 purchase price and showed approximately 64,034 miles later in the walkaround. That is more specific than the rounded 60,000-mile description at the beginning.
I liked its condition, the longer bed and the opportunity to try a more ordinary used truck. The windshield was cracked, but I said replacement was part of the purchase agreement. The walkaround did not establish the truck’s future reliability, and a clean-looking cabin was not proof that it would need no repairs.
At the time, I wanted to reduce the amount tied up in the next truck while preparing for a planned 2027 Silverado purchase. I also wanted a vehicle that made it easier to create useful comparisons for viewers shopping regular half-ton pickups.
The RHO was enjoyable, and the discount helped when it was time to trade. But a $7,000 difference between purchase price and trade value did not mean 14 months of ownership cost only $7,000. The financing, operating expenses and business side all needed their own accounting. That distinction is the useful part of this trade-in story.
Sources: my RHO ownership and resale video and the used F-150 introduction, both published March 10, 2026.
