Toyota Tacoma As An Investment?

I'm probably not alone in my experience and as it is sometimes said, "Timing is everything" but I just bought a new to me '15 TRD OR AC LB (216,000 mi $15,500) and had to sell my '03 Tacoma Pre Runner extended cab. Very clean condition and hated to see it go.

I bought the '03 in Jan. 2018 (7 1/2 years ago) with 178,000 mi for $7500.00. Listed it with its now 195,000 mi. (which is only 17,000mi in those 7 1/2 years) on FBM for $9500.00 and sold it within 20 minutes. Probably could have gotten more but greed is not my thing and it went to a very happy young man, so good experience all round.

But seriously, since when is buying a used truck an investment? Had no intention of making money off a 22 year old truck but there ya go. Crazy world we live in.

 

$9500 in 2025 dollars is slightly less value than 7500 was in 2018 dollars... Figure you got to use it for 7½ years and 17K miles for a bit over $100 (not including gas, parts, maintenance).

 

$7500 in Jan 2018 is worth $9800 in today's debt slavery dollars. It would be a poor investment as you didn't beat inflation:
https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=7500&year1=201801&year2=202506

Are you going to declare $2300 in capital gains when you do your taxes this year?

 

First off those numbers are blowing my mind. Had no idea inflation was that insidious. I guess I didn't give it that much thought, and as the title of thread is actually a question I guess the answer s a pretty definitive no. But I'll for sure tell my accountant.

 

Now you understand how $20/hour in today's wages is not enough to afford housing, which circles back to the majority of the problems we're faced with in modern times.

Marty sure screwed up this timeline with that whole Delorean project.

 

I regard my 2013 as an investment in peace of mind. The only car I ever did well with when selling was a Honda S2000.

 

Buy and hold.

 

When, more like if, I sell a used piece of equipment. (Car, Truck, Mower…..)

I sell it cheap enough that even if there is a problem. (That I didn’t know about). The buyer can’t really be upset.

I’d rather be honest up front, and send off with a good deal. One good enough that the money they saved can get the through a few little problems should they pop up.

I’m the guy that spends $1000 and 2 weeks working on a tractor. Just to turn around and sell it for a loss. But at least it was “fixed”.

Done that type stuff more than once.
Probably do it again. But I sleep better at night knowing I did “my best” for the next guy.


Only on a few occasions have I not followed that path. But the buyer knew upfront. It has problems, that’s why it is sooooo cheap.

 

If you had invested $7500 @ 5% in 2003 it would be worth about $11,000 today. And you wouldn't have had to spend money on gas and repairs.

With many vehicles they depreciate down to a point then they start going up in value. That truck probably cost around $12K new. My 07 is that way. Even with 259,000 miles on mine it hasn't depreciated in value much at all in the last 3-4 years.

 

In 2006, we had our first baby on the way and I was driving a 92 Toyota Pickup with no extra cab (not that the tiny extra cabs were useful). I sold it for $4000. If I didn't need that money to buy the Sienna, and parked the thing, it'd be worth three times that.

That said, as others have eluded to, if I put that $4k in the market funds that I've been using, it'd be worth something like $23k.

So, I think for as much as these trucks are going for, there's not really real "investment potential" in a Tacoma - which is really just an extremely common vehicle.

 

There are very few vehicles I would consider an "investment" and my Tacoma is not one of them.

HOWEVER...As the OP has found there is price curve for some desirable vehicles, like old Tacomas. The value of the truck is highest before it ever leaves the dealer as a new truck. Once purchased, it's value drops for years until it reaches a certain level and then flattens out. At some point the value begins to rise again. Eventually, mostly due to inflation, the price may rise past MSRP. For instance, an optioned 1965 Mustang Convertible was around 3 grand when new. Today it might be worth $30,000. BUT, $30000 of today's dollars have almost the exact buying power of $3000 in 1965 dollars. Basically a wash.

For anything to be a successful investment, it needs to both appreciate at ABOVE the level of inflation, and NOT cost a lot of extra money every year (insurance, maintenance, storage, etc.) An old truck is horrible at that. Meanwhile if our Mustang buyer of 1965 would have simply put his or her money in the S&P500 and let it ride....it'd be worth $108,000 today....which is a return of about 360% above inflation.

Old trucks DO make way more financial sense than a new vehicle, that's for DARN sure. I'm over 60 at this point. I could write a check for a new Tacoma. I'm not going to. I bought a 10 year old one and love that truck. I didn't buy it as an investment. I bought it because I wanted a truck, it fit my needs, and will likely be the last one I ever need to buy.

I'm not saying I'll never buy a brand new vehicle. If I did though, I'd consider net purchase price after trade as a sunk cost and just forget about any residual value it maintains.

 

Vehicle as an investment lol, have to be pre electronics , pre 80s ?

 

With rare exception, the only cars that you can truly treat as investment pieces are limited-run supercars/exotics and rare classics. And those tend to be very, very expensive to buy.

A Tacoma will definitely hold its value far better than most vehicles, but it’s still a very common truck. I see many Tacos of all generations most days.

 

On my 6th Toyota (Tercel, 4Runner, and 4 trucks) Every one of them i bought used and every one i drove for several years, a couple over 10 years. Each one i sold for what I paid or even more. All have been great as free rentals. I know this doesn't account for inflation but pretty cool that it's worked out that way.