Keep driving your GMT800s?

[Cadillacmak]

I came across this interesting article: https://www.npr.org/2025/10/29/nx-s1-5556935/cost-of-living-cars

This graph is just shocking!
View attachment 5332

Surely there's got to be an increase on auto maintenance due to inflation, but to me it looks like the costs of repairs alone are getting out of control, especially because we know that manufacturers are pushing those oil change intervals to 10,000 miles+ and sealed transmissions with "lifetime" fluids. If anything, that graph should be trending downward, assuming reliability is held constant. And sadly, those graphs don't show any signs of reaching a plateau. What am I missing here?

I have a lot to say about this! Inflation is a small part, techs who know their stuff is a big part, they are a high dollar and a rare skill these days. So to make up for less techs a lot of shops are just parts replacers instead of great techs like @ORVietVet. They will replace parts until fixed and put the cost on you, I have witnessed this a lot! The biggest cost is how they build vehicles today, $1000 mirrors, $1500 tail lights, $1200 door panels. If your armrest is broken on the door panel it is not a $50 armrest, its a $1200 door panel. The hidden expense that is not shown in the graph is how many people just wont fix because of the cost. I had a 2011 Lincoln Navigator that the amp went bad and would make ear damaging sounds even with the radio off. It was a $1000+ to replace it if I did the work. I pulled it apart to see if I could fix it and found it was a faulty design with pressure points grounds to galvanized steel and I fixed it with stuff on hand. No shop would do that!

 

[ORVietVet]

@Cadillacmak, thanks for the compliment.
There are some things I just will not do. I have no lift. I have an all "word of mouth" clientele. It's my way or not at all. I never work on anything that has to be towed in. Promise I made to my landlord.

 

[stutaeng]

Good points @Cadillacmak on the lack of qualified technicians, dealerships being "parts changers" and overly complicated, overpriced and unnecessary technology on the newer vehicles.

New vehicles requiring bumper removal to replace the headlight bulbs is kinda comical compared to our generation of trucks. I still think the headlight and grill serviceability of our trucks is insane how easily that comes apart. They clearly designed that system with the Owners and techs in mind. Are there any other vehicles out there that have that little rod design on the headlight to remove them?

 

[ORVietVet]

Good points @Cadillacmak on the lack of qualified technicians, dealerships being "parts changers" and overly complicated, overpriced and unnecessary technology on the newer vehicles.

New vehicles requiring bumper removal to replace the headlight bulbs is kinda comical compared to our generation of trucks. I still think the headlight and grill serviceability of our trucks is insane how easily that comes apart. They clearly designed that system with the Owners and techs in mind. Are there any other vehicles out there that have that little rod design on the headlight to remove them?

I have never ever seen that headlight removal design, anywhere else. The easiest before that was GMT400 and older.

I was talking to my Snap On driver yesterday. He met me at a large GM dealership, so I could get a couple sockets that I ordered from him. I was in the truck talking with him for 15 minutes and no one came on the truck. I asked, "Is this normal".

He said, "Nowadays it is. The older techs here have almost everything they need/want and don't owe me money. The newer/younger techs don't make more than $20 a flag hour and just make payments to me or buy stuff, like ICON, at Harbor Freight". He said he tells them that until they decide if this career is what they actually want to do, then HB is a choice to consider. He said he sells more tools at independent shops.

 

[ORVietVet]

This automotive/light truck tech career can still be a great career but the majority of techs nowadays are turning in to parts changers. Lots of jobs out there but parts changers salaries are not as much and independent shops need more qualified techs than the dealerships do. The dealerships are advertising that they will "train on the job". Train to just throw parts at a problem, but to be honest about it, the parts assemblies are now a lot of "module" assemblies that encompass so many systems all in one unit.

The headlights swap out, not just a bulb, is an example of this.

 

[99Sierra2500]

Book time is what got a lot of guys, and insurance won't cover anything beyond that. $17/hr isn't enough to really kit up, see a lot more mobile guys now. Everything is about 3x more expensive than it was 30 years ago, wages haven't risen with that. I see like in the Sierra reddit a lot complaining about bad engines, old days that 165 hp 350 might not have had a lot of glory, though if they had to warranty one, not that I ever heard about that much, they would just grab a goodwrench engine from the parts dept, be a day to change. Now it's wait forever.

 

[Cadillacmak]

I bought a new K2500 in 07 and the temp sensor in the rear view mirror didn't work, I thought "no big deal" and scheduled a warranty. Took it in and they called me to pick it up, they said they would call me back when the mirror came in. They called and I dropped it off again and when I went to pick it up they said they ordered the temp sensor since the mirror didn't fix it. Called me again when the temp sensor came in and I dropped it off again. When I went to pick it up they said that didn't fix it so when the new climate control head unit comes in they will call me, dropped it off again and when I picked it up the temp worked. That 8 trips to the dealership, missing work every time, because no one could diagnose a simple item that I didn't even care about except resale value. This did not include the 4 trips for the heated windshield wiper fluid recall, 4 trips for the power steering lines, 4 trips for transmissions, and others I cant recall right now. That last new Chevy I every bought!

 

[Cadillacmak]

I had way better luck with Ford after this but this is a similar Lincoln story. Bought a new Navigator in 2011 and the gauges would go wild for a second every once in a blue moon. Scheduled a warranty and they told my wife they would order a new cluster and call us when it came in. The techs there were great and the one on our truck told my wife that it would not fix it but he had to replace it first before he could dig into the electrical connections that he knew was the problem. New cluster didn't fix it, so scheduled another warranty and he fixed a bent pin in the harness which was the problem he suspected. 6 trips to the dealer could have been 2!

 

[INW-Iron-Steel]

New vehicles suck! I am most definitely a shade-tree guy. Once things went CAN bus I checked out. I will seldom touch anything post 2008 with real issues. Too many electronics and computers for my liking. Like @ORVietVet said, lots of "module assemblies" that cost a fortune. It does make it easy for parts-changers at the dealership with proprietary manufacture software. Vehicles are now glorified disposable electronics, and I'm not into paying thousands of dollars for software for a vehicle that may only last 10 years. I have almost sold my 03 mustang because of my disgust with the CCRM Ford decided to mount under the fender.

Interestingly, my 04 Sierra seems to get more love as it ages. 20 years may be the sweet spot where older rigs start gaining appreciation. Years back I was snowboarding and this guy in his fancy SUV shouted something about moving my "old ratty POS truck." At the time it was just over 10 years old. In the past couple of years, more and more people approach me and tell me they like my truck. I was buying something on Marketplace and this guy goes "Well, I really like your truck, so yeah, we can do that price." Not sure what changed that made it cooler. It just has 100K more miles and a rusty tailgate. As it is about to turn 300K, I still consider it my most dependable vehicle. I take care of it, it takes care of me.

Here's my .02 on quality and bean counters. If GM made a truck half as good as the GMT800, I would have already spent my money. But, as it stands, I wouldn't spend any money on any vehicle produced by GM in the past 10 years.

 

[Marky Dissod]

New vehicles suck! I am most definitely a shade-tree guy. Once things went CAN bus I checked out. I will seldom touch anything post 2008 with real issues.
Too many electronics and computers for my liking. Like @ORVietVet said, lots of "module assemblies" that cost a fortune.
It does make it easy for parts-changers at the dealership with proprietary manufacture software.
Vehicles are now glorified disposable electronics, and I'm not into paying thousands of dollars for software for a vehicle that may only last 10 years.
I have almost sold my 03 mustang because of my disgust with the CCRM Ford decided to mount under the fender.

Interestingly, my 04 Sierra seems to get more love as it ages. 20 years may be the sweet spot where older rigs start gaining appreciation.
Years back I was snowboarding and this guy in his fancy SUV shouted something about moving my "old ratty POS truck." At the time it was just over 10 years old.
In the past couple of years, more and more people approach me and tell me they like my truck. I was buying something on Marketplace and this guy goes
"Well, I really like your truck, so yeah, we can do that price." Not sure what changed that made it cooler. It just has 100K more miles and a rusty tailgate.
As it is about to turn 300K, I still consider it my most dependable vehicle. I take care of it, it takes care of me.

Here's my .02 on quality and bean counters. If GM made a truck half as good as the GMT800, I would have already spent my money.
But, as it stands, I wouldn't spend any money on any vehicle produced by GM in the past 10 years.

Which would you prefer:
a brand new GMTT1xx 2026 to 175,000 miles?
or
a GMT800 with 175,000 miles to see how far you can take it?

Personally, I won't go past GMT900, and that'll be awhile ...

 

[ORVietVet]

Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of me selling my girls 135k miles GMT400 1990 K2500 LD 6 lug ext cab short bed. Great truck but I was having some troubles finding certain parts when needed and I am also at the GMT400 forum, same owners as here. I found a 2004 116k miles K2500HD crew cab short bed that was perfect and I loved it but it was too much truck for my girl and the bed was too high for her to use it, stock height and not lifted. I almost sold my 2005 Tahoe Z71 and kept the truck but I did not want 2 pickups in the family, when I would eventually find the right 1/2 for her. To this day, she still misses the "Big Brown Beast" 1990, that she loved.

I need to find a K1500 ext cab or crew cab short bed GMT800 with no rust. The search continues....

 

[INW-Iron-Steel]

Which would you prefer:
a brand new GMTT1xx 2026 to 175,000 miles?
or
a GMT800 with 175,000 miles to see how far you can take it?

I'm sure this is a rhetorical question, but GMT800 all day. I purchased mine with about that many miles on it. I was just thinking about it the other day; I have personally driven mine in 11 states, including to Lake Superior in Duluth.

Would you trust an L87 or little Duramax blasting through the rural farm fields of the Midwest? Not me, not even fresh off the dealer lot.

 

[INW-Iron-Steel]

.I need to find a K1500 ext cab or crew cab short bed GMT800 with no rust. The search continues....

View attachment 5411

Beautiful truck! I really like that two-tone combo from GM. Do you know what the two colors are? I hesitate to call it brown on brown as that just doesn't sound great.

How does she feel about an Avalanche? Those tend to get overlooked because they look goofy.

 

[99Sierra2500]

Just gave mine the first bath of the year. I have owned newer ones, hooking up the scan tool is like geez how many modules does this thing have? Per new ones, don't think they looked so good, except on a positive note I have heard the L5P diesel isn't that bad. I'm happy with what I have though.

 

[ORVietVet]

Beautiful truck! I really like that two-tone combo from GM. Do you know what the two colors are? I hesitate to call it brown on brown as that just doesn't sound great.

How does she feel about an Avalanche? Those tend to get overlooked because they look goofy.

That is a brown and gold. The exact name of colors, I am unsure of.

I owned a 2002 Avalanche and did not like it. Bought my 2005 Tahoe when I got rid of the Avalanche. Have not really owned a pickup in quite a while. Except for the recent 2004 K2500HD that we owned for 3-4 months, that is it.

 

[ORVietVet]

Beautiful truck! I really like that two-tone combo from GM. Do you know what the two colors are? I hesitate to call it brown on brown as that just doesn't sound great.

How does she feel about an Avalanche? Those tend to get overlooked because they look goofy.

Yea, great truck. I sold it for $10k.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Which would you prefer:
a brand new GMTT1xx 2026 to 175,000 miles?
or
a GMT800 with 175,000 miles to see how far you can take it?

Personally, I won't go past GMT900, and that'll be awhile ...

I'm sure this is a rhetorical question, but GMT800 all day. I purchased mine with about that many miles on it.
I was just thinking about it the other day; I have personally driven mine in 11 states, including to Lake Superior in Duluth.

Would you trust an L87 or DuraMedium blasting through the rural farm fields of the Midwest? Not me, not even fresh off the dealer lot.

Not rhetorical, trick -
if you prefer a new one over a GMT800, why are you still here? ...