View Full Version : Home owner with no Pickup?
As I mentioned earlier, my truck has died. My SIL gave me her GEO as she got a new Camry. I forgot how much fun it is to drive a small car. Parking is a breeze! I would much rather have a car than a truck. We are city dwellers so we don't have room for both. I just think it would be hard to be a home owner with no pickup.
We can subscribe to "yard debris" pickup with our garbage hauler - and that would solve alot of our hauling issues. I don't use the pickup a lot -- but it is very handy when I do need it.
Are there any other home owners out there that don't have a pickup and how do you do it? :help:
I don't have a pickup and it is sometimes a pain. I have a small trailer that I use to tow a motorcycle behind our motorhome, but neither my hybrid SUV or my wife's VW Beetle are capable of towing the trailer.
I currently have an issue with our lawn tractor which requires that I have a professional mechanic make repairs. Unless I use the motorhome to tow it on the trailer to the shop, I'll have to pay the shop a $75 pickup and delivery fee.
Yes, a nice little pickup would come in handy right about now.
We do have a mini-van and when we need to haul furniture or appliances, we take out the seats. It's a pain, but better than having another vehicle. For big items, like when we built a fence, we rented a Home Depot truck to bring everything home. Or pay more for home delivery. Sometimes that works out best anyway. I had Sears deliver my washer & dryer, so paid $50 extra. They actually then set it up for free.
no pickup here. But when we need one we ask a friend to help out. I would never buy a pickup just for the yard etc. Delivery is not usually that much.
I used to have a nice little Ford Ranger and got a lot of good use out of it. But when it was time to replace the old fellow, I chose a Honda Fit, which I dearly love. Occasionally I still need the hauling capacity of a pickup, but I'm lucky that both my father and brother, who live nearby, have full-sized pickups if I need help. And for stuff around the property, we also have one of those Suzuki (or is it Kawasaki??) Mules. I guess the point is, I've got a nice community of family to draw from if something comes up.
ApatheticNoMore
6-3-11, 12:47pm
Find people who are willing to lend their pickup? No, not a homeowner (I wish, never pulled in the kind of 6 figure plus income that would make it possible here), but I do have people who would gladly lend their pickup should I ever need it.
No pickup here, and I seldom have the need for one. Delivery fees and mail order charges are far less than monthly truck payments and maintenance. I own my car, and routine maintenance, not including gas, still comes to several thou a year. The back seat of my 2000 Civic folds down if the need arises for more trunk space, but I seldom use that either. Yes, I have a house, a small yard, and a garden. I have a Yard Guy and no lawn mower, and YG still costs me less than a truck. (He doesn't take up any space in my shed, either, as a lawn mower would.)
I used to have a pickup, until I had kids. Then I got a mini van. We just couldn't do without it. I take out the back seats and can fit sheets of plywood in, 10' pieces of wood, fencing, furniture, small trees, etc., etc. But you probably don't want a van either, if you're really into a smaller car.
Rent a pickup from uhaul. They rent small pickup trucks as well as moving vans.
I solve this problem by having a hatchback.
You could probably rent a van too, if the weather was bad.
Is there car-sharing in your city? Often they have a variety of different kinds of cars, including small pickups.
We have a pick up truck and it is our only vehicle. I have to say we get so tired of everyone wanting to borrow it or asking us to haul stuff and pick up stuff for them. It gets real old. We're about ready to trade it in for a small car that gets way better gas mileage, and find other options such as those described above for living without it....
Homeowner with no vehicle, much less a pickup. My daughter has been living here so I borrow her car to go grocery shopping, prior to that I was having it delivered ($9.99 delivery fee). But that's the only time I borrow it.
I broke down and recently bought a gas grill which would not have fit in a car - Home Depot was offering free delivery online so I ordered it that way.
Between using deliveries (often), public transportation (very often), Zipcar (occasionally), rentals (hardly ever), Uhaul (haven't needed it yet) it works out. And our city will haul away just about anything put out for trash.
flowerseverywhere
6-4-11, 6:44pm
We have a pick up truck and it is our only vehicle. I have to say we get so tired of everyone wanting to borrow it or asking us to haul stuff and pick up stuff for them. It gets real old. We're about ready to trade it in for a small car that gets way better gas mileage, and find other options such as those described above for living without it....
We have an old pickup and rarely does someone ask to use it or for us to haul etc. because we were often using it to go to work or it wasn't convenient for us. I have no problem saying no to people if it suits me. We did have one neighbor who started to ask a lot so when we lent it to him we asked him to bring it back full of gas. That was the end of that. Funny how people are.
We do all of our home remodel and yard maintenance so it sure comes in handy, but we could live without it and just pay a delivery fee.
I've got a 2001 Corolla with a back seat that folds down. I can usually get in boards up to 8 feet and when I buy a bale of straw I bring it home in the back seat. I never even considered getting a truck just because I have a house. I live in a big city and perhaps that makes a difference?
Edited to add: Oh, I see now you do live in a city. My city offers bulk trash pick-up several times a year so that takes care of any big debris that may need taken away.
I have roof racks on my Hyundai Accent. Not only does it haul all my toys - bikes, kayak, skis, etc... - but I can haul tons of other stuff on them too. You can get the flat or round bars (I have Yakama) and haul anything that isn't too heavyor longer than your car (tie the ends to the bumpers for extra security). If you want to haul your toys, you can buy seperate, easily removable accessories for those things. For example I have 2 bike mounts, a kayak mount, ski and snowboard mounts, those little foam rollers that go over the bars (for surfboards) and a big locking cargo box that all easily mount on top my tiny car. Also my rear seats fold down and access the trunk so can put long items in there and extend them all the way to the front seat too. I do have a truck also - a ford ranger extra cab with a shell - but really only use it for camping with my dogs. I also have racks on that and usually transport my "toys" on the racks rather then inside anyways so I can keep it clean - or keep my camping stuff (and sometimes the dogs) in there.
Have been a homeowner for all but a few months since the late 1980s, and have always gotten along with some sort of hatchback, station wagon, or (currently) an SUV.
Car interiors have occasionally suffered minor damage, but I've always held onto vehicles long enough that resale isn't much of a concern. Have always had access to brush pickup service, but have hauled a fair amount of firewood in the past couple of years and moved all the demolition materials for our kitchen except the old refrigerator.
We have a small SUV (Honda CRV) and it has handled the majority of stuff we used to use the pickup for (DH used to have a Chevy s10). We handle some extra stuff for our furnished rentals, but it even carried a stove! DH still pines for a little pickup but its not in the cards right now.
San Onofre Guy
6-6-11, 6:15pm
I miss having a pickup since mine died. I have asked my neighbor twice to help. I did note over the weekend that Home Depot rents a truck with a dump bed for $20 for the first 75 minutes. I have a number of large stumps to take to the dump and given they each weigh 200-300 pounds I will probably rent that truck and do a trip Home Depot to Home to the Dump to Home Depot in one hour, as long as I have enough strong backs at home to make loading quick
I'm not a homeowner, or a car owner for that matter, but I agree with the other posters. There are almost certainly other options that are cheaper for someone who only occasionally needs a specific vehicle. One that hasn't been mentioned here is zipcar, if you live somewhere that has them. We're lucky enough to have 3 in our building's garage, so owning a car would be immensely more expensive since we only need one maybe once per month for target/costco/petsmart trips, taking the cats to the vet, etc. Plus they have pickups at various locations around the city that we can reserve for $12.50/hour for that once in a rare while time that we need to haul something. Definitely cheaper than owning one.
I'm not a homeowner, or a car owner for that matter, but I agree with the other posters. There are almost certainly other options that are cheaper for someone who only occasionally needs a specific vehicle. One that hasn't been mentioned here is zipcar, if you live somewhere that has them.
The weakness of that is that whatever you really need the truck for is likely to run up damage charges on it. Soil, mud, and sand can be protected from or cleaned up, nail-filled demolition lumber or broken concrete is a lot harder. You need to rent something not so clean that a couple of scratches will draw notice when returned.
I've used short (20 gallon) plastic trash cans to haul masonry and dirt in my SUV/wagons over the years. Noticed the other day that I need to buy a couple of new ones.
Lots of great suggestions here - it really has me thinking of passing on a little truck. Perhaps a small SUV that I can pull a rented trailer?
Lots of great suggestions here - it really has me thinking of passing on a little truck. Perhaps a small SUV that I can pull a rented trailer?
The trailer may be a good choice, but I don't have any firsthand experience. Seems to work for a lot of people.
DH doesn't want to own pickup because you get asked to help people move. A lot.
I had a friend whose bumper sticker read "Yes, it is my pickup and No I will not help you move"!
The weakness of that is that whatever you really need the truck for is likely to run up damage charges on it. Soil, mud, and sand can be protected from or cleaned up, nail-filled demolition lumber or broken concrete is a lot harder. You need to rent something not so clean that a couple of scratches will draw notice when returned.
I've used short (20 gallon) plastic trash cans to haul masonry and dirt in my SUV/wagons over the years. Noticed the other day that I need to buy a couple of new ones.
Indeed, if one is planning on using it while doing major renovations that result in chunks of concrete, etc, yes, a cheap, battered, owned truck might be best. As someone who doesn't enjoy home improvement projects very much, even if I did own a home I wouldn't likely ever have a need to haul anything like that. My most recent hauling need was taking a bed to a friend that we were giving it to. I'm happy to report that the zipcar truck survived unscathed! :-)
Last night as I was working on my lawnmower I thought I should take it in for service - then I thought oh crap, my truck is dead...so when I go to lunch, I will take the store pickup and pick it up and bring it back with me...not having a pickup is going to be a large adjustment. I have used a pickup for 30 years.
...just watched the taillights drive away. Never had to list it on Craig's list. My neighbor told a friend, we agreed to a price and that is done. My dd - is already missing it. Lots of memories with the little red truck (we had it for a couple years before she was born)!
My SIL is paying to have the hood damage re-painted on the GEO she GAVE me. What a fun little car to drive and for now the price is right. 1990 w/180,000, but has been garaged most of it's life and always maintained. I have to admit the rust spot on the hood bothered me. SIL sat a box of Rid-X on the hood and it ate through the paint.
DD is freaking out she will have to ride around in the GEO. I will make sure I "HONK" for her when I pull up to the High School. :laff:
You must live too far from the school for her to walk. At that age I'd've sooner died than have either of my parents pick me up from school, and would've walked or begged a ride from absolutely anyone to avoid that fate, regardless of what kind of car my folks had. (It was the mid 80s, everyone had an ugly small car or an old beater.)
Greg, must be why my parents always had a large station wagon - gardening stuff, wood for various projects, etc. But this was into the mid-80s and those station wagons felt like I was driving a boat when a teenager!
I just got another truck. Ive always had one. When I turned 16 I had a new ford f-100 in the driveway with a 3 speed on the column and the am radio was an option, that was 1974. There have been spells when I was furnished a truck from the company I worked for, but Ive never been without. I could maybe get by without a sports car at some point, but not without a truck.
Unless you lived in the country, we didn't grow up with pickups at all. How did our folks manage? We have never once thought of owning a truck, but it would come in handy.
I'll admit that when my dad asked me what vehicle I wanted when I was 16, I told him I wanted a Chevy Monte Carlo. Then he went and talked with his insurance guy and accountant, and I ended up with a "company pickup". He owned a construction company.
About once a year I'll rent a flatbed ford truck from Home Depot for $15-20/hr. I can usually get my errand done within two hours.
Now when we finally get some land I plan on buying and restoring an older 78-87 Chevy full-size truck. You can find them dirt cheap and parts are available in nearly any junkyard. It'll be my first auto restoration project. I want to get a diesel and eventually experiment with biofuels.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.