How did you come to afford your raptor?

[David Godbee]

Well it appears the majority of us has worked a career and reaps the benefits of sticking with good jobs, doing our best to better our position and using our assets wisely along the way. Me, 30 year military career, 20 year union career using my AF specialty, and using my assets to make more along the way. Those who work hard get the toys we like. God, guns, and guts made us a great nation. Vote Trump this year are watch this great nation go down the tube.

 

[Troutrad]

Folks will be all over the board here. From what I’ve seen from posts and pic, some barely could make it buying a truck like this but stretched cuz it was their dream; on the other end of the spectrum, others are way over the top with the Raptor the cheapest ride in their very full and large garage. What I love about this forum, you get all kinds of folks but all pretty passionate about their “ride”, which has in turn made me a little nuts about mine. Don’t matter so much where we made our millions ( or thousands ).

 

[Spike Spiegel]

I own a construction company. Its my company truck.

 

[greatone99]

Hvac tech and installer , for 23 years strong , making really great money .

 

[RustyNutz]

I really appreciate the maturity and caliber of people on the forums. Great replies, who would have known that OnG was so profitable haha. We definitely have opportunities to greatly increase or diminish our wealth and earnings, that is for sure. It always interests me how much is sweat equity vs luck, vs family heritage.

I'd never recommend someone purchase a vehicle that costs 50% of your annual like I did. But in being in the collision industry, I've purchased/fixed/drove/sold several crashed vehicles over a few years to work up to a Raptor. We just finished paying ourselves back for my wifes '18 odyssey elite repair/purchase, so my rappy is really my only debt right now.

Like you said David, I like that so many of us work our asses off to afford nice things we desire.

 

[Badgertits]

I had a nice 2015 6.2 GMC truck I had just paid off w/ only 62k on it & @ prior job had a car allowance but then hit a deer head on @ 75 decided to total it out got cut a $34k check from ins. Company took that + $12k I had been saving up toward buying/upgrading my “toy car” w/ a new Vette or something but instead put it toward Raptor

paid the raptor note off in bout a year now back to square one

once you pay off an expensive vehicle it really helps in the future obviously as the more $$$ current ride will put in your pocket the less you have to put down to have a low/no payment OR the bigger you can go next time when you “upgrade”

should’ve added....I’m in the metals recycling/manufacturing business. Essentially a commodities trader/internal ops consultant for my employer which is a privately owned AL processor/smelter. We generate ingot/sow that we do sell directly to the likes of Ford/GM/Chrysler/Ryobi/amazon/Allison etc. i have sold metal that has gone into making the heads, running boards, block, tranny casing & body sheet of our Raptors....pretty cool getting tours of the factories that produce the vehicle you drive built by the metal you sold em

#Merica

 

[BroncoAZ]

I work as a consultant in the auto dealer and collision industry for the past 14 years. My wife is an attorney in small firms for the past 14 years. We both work hard and are generally responsible with our money. We don’t have kids, we pay things off as soon as practical (pay off cars in 2-3 years, usually buy used), we put 15%+ into Roth retirement vehicles, we bought our home in an expensive area with 20% down and on a 15 year mortgage. We don’t go on lavish trips that waste huge amounts of money, most vacations are to see family where we don’t have to pay for hotels. We have no debt other than our mortgage and soon to be Raptor payment.

As for the Raptor, the truck I ordered will cost just over $70K out the door. I honestly can’t believe I’m spending that much on a truck, but whatever. I could afford the $1080 monthly payment, but I don’t want a payment that large looming over me for 6 years. I sold my diesel truck for $18,500 last week, I will be selling my sedan for probably $8,000 when the Raptor arrives, and I have some cash in savings (besides a 4-5 month emergency fund), so I should be able to put down about $35K. This will make the payment far more reasonable around $540 monthly. My usual thing is to make double payments, so the Raptor should be paid off in 3 years or less. I have already set aside $12K separately to pay for the $2300 extended warranty and $2700 maintenance plan plus another $7K in mods I plan on doing. I also placed the reservation for her new Bronco, so we’ll be buying another new vehicle for $45K out the door sometime in. 2021. We will sell her paid for SUV for probably $20K at the time, so the Bronco payment won’t be too bad.

I wouldn’t recommend an entirely new industry unless you plan on going back to college for a new degree. To me it seems like the easiest transition would be to something else in the same industry. Try different body shop, one of the larger corporate owned stores connected to a car dealership. I know body shop managers at some of the larger shops pulling down $120-170K annually. It’s a different dynamic than a mom and pop shop, reinvestment is planned for in CapX expenditures instead of from your salary. Another option would be going to work for one of the insurance companies beating up people like yourself, or a paint supply company selling things to people like yourself. Unless you really want out, stick with something you know just on a different path.

 

[RustyNutz]

Seems like you’d have the means to buy a salvage Raptor and reconstruct it

Not to open the books too much, but i am married with 2 small kids. Our combined annual is 115ish, she works part time accountant for us. I think the industry change was more of a vent- Its really on me to grab the bull by the horns and steer it in the direction I want. I regret not starting a Roth when I was younger - instead 2 years ago we upgraded a large part of my term life ins to a whole-life ins policy that doubles as our investment. We purchased a foreclosed home during the housing crashed, and sold it recently for a 250k profit sitting in an account we pretend doesn't exist, to be used to build a new home in a year or two. I bought her a clean titled crashed odyssey elite w/ 6k miles last year, and it is already paid off (and no signs any damage ever occurred).

Its funny you mention fixing a crashed raptor - I hunted a gen 2 with the options I wanted for about 4 months, and during that time sold my Sequoia (also a copart repair) for 30k, and put that money aside for parts/down payment. But these trucks salvage value is crazy! I was finding 30-40k selling prices, with a salvaged title, and needing 10-15k in parts alone. After searching for a long time, I found my 18 802a, with 16k miles with a bit of roughhousing (door repair needed, rear tailgate dent) for $54k. So my payment is under $500 and it now looks show-truck again. Great idea with payments too, we always try to add or double our payments - I hate having any debt.

 

[Oldfart]

I gave handies at the bus station. It paid the bills and I got to make my own hours.

 

[MattR]

I’ve been slowly working my way up. Paid off a few trucks of varying trims, working my way up.

I work in healthcare. I have quite a bit in student loans so it was probably prudent to stay in my paid off truck, but I just sign up for a call shift every month to cover the truck.