Suggestions or advice on my first Tundra

I am in sales for a construction supplies company. We have a delivery team but often things go wrong and the buck stops with me, so i use my company issued Silverado 1500 to save the day.
its a double cab with standard bed. sometimes its a pallet, or just boxes, usually light stuff.

Now the rub. My company was bought out. They are making us turn in the trucks for a gas card and car allowance. I will get $500 a month but they put it in my pay check and its taxed as considered income. So net more like $375. I know it aint jack.

So i need something reliable. My research has brought me to the Toyotas. Never owned one. My previous personal vehicles have been jeep suv's. Ive had decent luck even if they become rust buckets but everything starts to break after 150k miles.

So what would you suggest?
I like the extra cab space for supplies that get destroyed in the back like catalogs and samples, swag. so ext or crew cab works.
I prefer 4x4 because i live in chicago but may also move to MI with this company where they get more snow.
I will put $3,000 down ( from the company) and take out a 36 month loan. I wont get more than 3 years at the miles i put on.
so its gonna need to be a used like 2008 ish model and looking arround probably gonna have 115-150k miles on it.

Any suggestions on model variations or engines would be helpful, even which model years are best. thanks guys!

 

When shopping, do the usual checks- suspension, rust, leaks and for Tundras check for cam tower leak.

Try and find a slightly later model, one with the big gas tank, and a 5.7 engine, 4wd. Bigger gas tank is so nice, but those didnt come out till later. 2008ish are still great trucks. Crew cab is huge, lots of room and you can put a ton of gear in the rear area but they have small beds.

You may need to look at towns or even states close to you to find what you want at the right price. Sucks buying a used vehicle right now.

 

Thanks Frichco,
I will definitely get a mechanics inspection and opinion prior to purchase. Good advice on the cam leak and larger gas tank. Curios do the the double cabs have a short bed or standard bed? I think the silverado double cab im in has a 6ft bed which works nice.

 

Crew has the 5.5 bed, smallest bed, DC is 6.5 i think but there are also some trucks around with the long 8foot bed/DC cofig. No bed larger than 5.5 on a crew unless someone did some swapping.

 

Grab a 2017 with 38 gal tank

 

You’re getting hosed. That $375 is gonna have to pay for depreciation, tires, oil changes, broken windshields, insurance etc. company is screwing you guys hard.

 

Happens at near every buyout. Slash costs to pad profits. Hurry and sell before the staff mutiny takes hold. Pump and dump is the oldest trick in the book and still utilized every day

 

Man that’s a tough situation to put your employee in.

 

Not sure how much you drive per month on average but if you put on the miles think of this a 38 gallon tank with 5.7 v8 that oh gets about 15 mpg the $375 a month might not cover gas.

 

Most definitely. AZXP has it exactly right as well.
They are doing this to go public and offer stock. They make a killing and I take in the shorts.
To clarify its $500 a month taxed and in addition the gas card. I think I heard the gas card was also $500 but we already had guys on this new program blow through that in a month. I believe they are increasing the gas amount. We told management when the gas card runs out we are parking the truck until the new month starts.

They definitely have us by the short hairs because we are non-salaried employees. Full Commission pay based off sales profit, so not working hurts us more than them. They just re-did the pay plan as well which should lower my income by $5-10k a year.

Thats why the plan is to buy a higher mileage tundra, do as much work as I can myself to keep costs down but even then I'm out of pocket on maintenance and depreciation.

so why not leave? well I may be using this company to help me move closer to home. that will play out over the next six months. its not easy because I work with co-workers and customers i have a 15 year minimum history with.

 

How about a nice SUV and a small trailer combo. Just thinking of options, depending on your needs and lifestyle. Another thought would be a trailer only when needed and a hitch mounted cargo basket/case for smaller cargo.

 

Yes, I could get away with a SUV for 90% of the time. The problem areas are 10FT pieces of Unistrut and rod, and a pallet of material at times. The truck even with s small bed works perfect. But if I say no to those items an SUV works.
I have a 2007 Jeep grand cherokee 5.7L hemi. it has 155k miles. I could use that and buy my wife something different to drive. that would be the most cost effective option.
But looking at Toyotas SUV's you are paying the same rates as a Tundra seems like so might as well go truck. Even used 4 runners are not cheap.

 

Not trying to tell you what to do, just sharing ideas. You can add a front receiver, then build a custom attachment, basically a post rising up vertical from the hitch with a horizontal bar on top parallel to the bumper. Then you simply have crossbars on a roof rack/bars. Boom! Ten foot material is no longer a problem unless the weight/qty is excessive. Like I said, just saying that there is more than one way to skin this cat. Good luck!

 

Similar to this

 

I appreciate the ideas. I was thinking something similar using a roof rack.
Rather than mess with it, its probably better to just tell the customer in those situations sorry they don't pay me enough for a truck to handle this so you will have to wait for the delivery team.

 

I totally agree. I am not taking any risks or putting myself out there for them. I dont have a non-compete so they wont let me because I would be back to work the following week with their competitor. Ive been doing this 20 years so I'm friends with my competition.
it makes most sense to use my jeep. its paid off and fully depreciated. I can use the 375 to build up a bank for repairs. then i have to buy my wife a different vehicle though.

 

During my time on Conrail some managers turned in their company supplied vehicles and went to a Runsheimer plan. You had to purchase new from a list of vehicles, they reimbursed you for 5/7ths of what they thought was a fair monthly payment and gave you a set amount per mile. If you didn't already have a second vehicle and needed one it wasn't too bad but most of us already had one so it was a burden we didn't need. The kick in the shorts was when job cuts or buyouts hit. You were stuck with a vehicle you didn't need. They quickly found that few people were interested in moving up the ladder and those that did take the promotions weren't qualified for the job. It wasn't but a few year and they dumped the whole thing and went back to company supplied vehicles further screwing those that bought a new vehicle they didn't need.

 

Company supplied is the best way to go. They bear all the cost, as they should. I lose money driving mine for work. The gas mileage is less than what they assume. All damages and repairs are on me. Most recent was a blown out sunroof from a double wire in transit kicking up debris. Thankfully being handy, it only cost me $235 for the replacement panel. Installed it myself. Otherwise that’s a $1100 repair.

 

Another issue is your insurance company might like to know you are using your personal vehicle for business use and may require a different policy.

 

yes for sure, anyone have experience with this? If im honest and tell them how many miles i drive im sure its a much more expensive policy.
I currently pay very little because my wife does not work so it has a leisure miles policy on the jeep.

 

If someone else gets hurt it could turn out to be a really bad nightmare. I was thinking about this when I first read your post. The company is basically trying to avoid any potential claims against them. Lawyers always go after the deepest pockets! The whole mess really sucks in my opinion. If it was me, I would put in my notice and walk away because it is clearly obvious, employees are not being respected and your own livelihood should be a higher priority.