Need some advice... what would you do?
 

I recently bought a beater truck, a 91 Ford F150 with 75K original miles off of my old roommate for $425 and its in great shape minus that its in primer. My plan was to spray it some satin color and start driving it more to keep the miles off my car. Plus with gas being around $4 a gallon for the box, the truck seems like a better daily driver.

I haven't had the $ to do maintenance on my 00 S with 52K. I've been wanting to replace the IMS bearing, waterpump, front engine mount, and AOS because I have no record on any of this ever being done. I can't afford a replacement engine so I wanted to start with these few items in order to hopefully prolong the cars life. I have listed the car on Craigslist a couple of times just to see if I got any bites. I don't really want to sell the car but if someone really wanted it, then it might be the best thing for me to do financially.

What my predicament is, is that a guy up the street just offered me $1500 for the truck. I'm debating whether I should sell it in order to a) buy another beater or b) use the $ to buy a few parts for the Boxster.

I know that $1500 may not be a lot of $ to most of you, but with a job loss and now one that pays a lot less than before, I've been barely sneaking by so saving up $ hasn't happened much/at all.

If I sell the truck I was planning on buying the LN IMS bearing and waterpump for starters. I will be doing all my own work and I understand that I should change the clutch out at the same time as the IMS but for now the IMS is more important to me to change and the clutch can wait till I can save more $/ it fails.

My other thoughts on selling the truck and doing the bearing and pump is that if/when I go to sell it, this could help me get top dollar for it and in the mean time I can feel a little more at ease.

So what is your opinion or what would you do in this situation? Sell the truck to buy another car? Sell the truck to buy parts? Or drive the truck, and just try to keep saving for the parts?

Keep saving.
If you want to drive a Porsche you need to have spare money and a backup vehicle for times you do not want to drive it.
If you got offered $1500 then it is re-assuring to know you can get more than you paid for it when you do sell it.

as much as i would want to drive the boxster, if the $425 beater doesn't need any work then you can drive it into the ground while you save $ to do the work on the boxster. plus you'd still have it as a backup in case the truck falls apart...

drop the ins on the boxster as low as you feel comfortable and do the work as the $ allows.

With decent paint, wouldn't the F150 be worth $3K? I know satin colors are "hot" right now, but that could limit who would be interested in buying it. If you try to command higher dollar amts, you need to make it appealing to as many customers as possible. Just something to consider, but I would definitely forego the quick $1000.

As they say in the Lincoln Financial commercials, stick to the plan.

Go on take the money and run.

No wait, negotiate.
Sell him the Boxster, your liability risk is off the charts there.

If you sell the truck, what will you drive while doing the upgrades on the Boxster? It really sucks doing major work on the weekend, and hoping you can get it back together before Monday.

Do not let any car determine your life path. If you cannot afford it, sell it. Then take steps / measures to improve your financial standing so you can afford such things after the basics are covered. That's some advice some of the "Old Fellers" gave me way back when. I didn't listen either, old enough now to realize they were right. JMO and theirs......Good Luck. :cheers:

Ditto........

Hi Jake, I think Coreseller gave good advice. Sounds like you really like the Boxster though. Does the car really need or have to have all the stuff you mentioned? Is the engine mount totally shot?...if not don't fix it. The water pump is something that can be fixed if it fails...heck it could last another 50k miles easy. AOS, is the car sucking air?...if not why replace. I drive my 00 'S' with 55k miles all the time and I know my odds of totaling it are greater then the IMS failing. If you replace all the above the car will probably sell quicker but you won't get your money back on the investment. Sounds like you got a deal on the truck, is the primer that bad?..if not paint it later.

Good luck whatever you decide, there will always be another boxster down the road for you if you decide to sell.

my dad always said "i'll take a fast nickel over a slow dime any day"

the stuff you listed is more of a "wish list" it would seem, as none of that stuff has actually failed.

i'd sell the truck, maybe pushing for $2,000 (you can counter you know!). that's money in the bank and a better return you'll get on any savings account, or even most stock right now.

i say sell the truck and use that money as an emergency fund/savings for the wish list. if you invest it right, you could double it, triple it, or better by the time one of those parts actually fails.

It makes no sense for you to own a Porsche. That car is going to be a continual $$$ sink. It sounds like you need to be saving money now, not spending it on a toy.

This is good advice. Murphy's law is alive, well, and just lurking in the shadows to attack those who are most vulnerable. It took me a couple of decades to understand the the net effects of being "car poor" and by the time I realized it, I could almost afford to drive what I wanted. A lot of people gave me the same advice, but I didn't listen. I would have reached that point much earlier in life had I not been so determined to have that instant gratification of a car payment that looked more like a mortgage in my check book.

I can attest to Porsche ownership being much more satisfying when you can actually afford a catastrophic failure or being able to pay cash for whatever you want to drive. You'll get there eventually and each minor decision in your life adds up in determining just when you reach financial independence. The current economy and your earning potential will recover.

I hate to say it but I agree with the above.

Sell the Porsche, work until you get where you want to be, then buy another one.

are you saying that a 20 yr old F150 gets better MPG than your Boxster? If so you're either driving way too aggressively or something is wrong.

I agree with the others on selling the Boxster. No disrespect but if I recall, this is not your first post on your financial difficulties. I'm sure you love your Boxster as much as the rest of us but if it's causing you this much angst it might be worth your peace of mind to sell it until you're more financially stable to afford another one.

I can understand your struggle. I recently sold my beloved '74 Bronco I've owned for over 17 yrs but I'm actually relieved now and I can get another when the time is right.

I agree in my current financial state I should not own this car. When I bought it, I wasn't as hard up for $ as I am now. I'm also hoping that this will change soon. I'm a teacher and I lost my job in the fall... It's hard finding another teaching position after the year has started. Hopefully I will land another job this summer.

So far the car has cost me $0 in the way of unexpected repairs. I know that won't last forever, but so far this car has been amazing. I just want to feel a little relief when I'm driving it, that I'm not going to have a major failure so I am trying to be a little proactive.

I have no idea what kind of gas mileage the truck gets, but the box only gets me like 17-19 on high test. Just recently tuned it up too.

I think for the time being, I am going to keep the truck and just drive it as it is, save a few $ up and see what my job situation is going to be for the following school year.

And in the mean time, I'll relist my car and see if I have anyone interested in it. If they are, I'll sell it.

I just bought an F150 myself. Probably not the smartest move as gas is near $4.00/gallon and the truck gets about 15 mpg on a good day.

My 2 cents:

You're not commuting now, but if you don't anticipate a long commute, keep the truck. It's paid for, sounds like it's running okay, relatively low miles (I bought mine with 72k on the clock), and should serve you fine.

Fix up the Boxster as time and money permits. At first, after joining this forum, I became paranoid abount an IMS failure. But now, I don't think it's as prevalent as others would lead you to believe. Will I change out my IMS? Probably. But I'm not going to do it as a stand alone project. I'll wait until the clutch goes and do them both at once. Now the water pump, what I gather is you don't want to wait for it to go. Mine has already been replaced by the previous owner so I'm not to worried about it yet.

And I don't think all these fixes are going to increase the resale by much if anything at all. I'd venture to say most owners don't even know what an IMS bearing is. I didn't. It would be good to have the service records for this work, but increasing the value? Hmmmm, maybe 10 cents on the dollar.