How to choose the right truck?

One truck to rule them all is a dream that many enthusiasts pursue. Many of us start off with a basic pickup, and then over time, we add one little detail after another. In time, we eventually have a truck that is just “us.” These are great trucks, to be sure, but they are not the only vehicles on the road. Some like to go out and have fun, others like to work. A small business can call on any of the above for its transportation needs, and there is also a whole other category called “tow trucks” that I’ll tell you about in a bit. But if we know our tow vehicle needs, it’s time to make a decision on our regular vehicle.

What do you need?

In many ways, the answer to that question depends on where you’re going. If your job is in the suburbs, then your regular vehicle should be a compact car. That’s the way a lot of the business owners think of it, at least. For them, a sedan is more than big enough. But for those of us who live in the city, we tend to be a little less practical. If you can’t fit what you need into a compact car, then you’re going to need something more substantial. There are other factors to consider, but you can’t possibly fit them all in on a page. So let’s take a look at a few things to consider.

How big is your family?

If you live with a spouse and children, you’ll want a pickup truck for obvious reasons. The big bed, the cargo area, the towing capacity, and the capability of hauling big stuff will all be at your disposal. If you live with other family members, but just one, then the question is a little different. Do you have more stuff than you can carry in the cargo bed? Do you have a family that travels together or a family that works together? If the answers to those questions are “yes,” then you can probably just make do with a pickup. If not, then there are other considerations to be made.

Do you need to move big stuff?

Many of us love our pickups for the fun of it, but there are certain situations when a truck is the best vehicle for the job. If you’re hauling lumber, say, a 10’ by 8’ sheet of plywood can weigh almost 2,000 lbs. That’s enough weight that, unless you have a ton of experience, it’s not really possible to safely do it in any other vehicle than a full-size pickup. It is not unusual to see a full-size pickup pulling an empty trailer, because it just does it better than anything else.

How far is your business travel going to take you?

I can’t tell you how many companies we talk to where the owner has decided to lease a truck to get from their home to work. That can work, but there are times when renting a truck is just a bad idea. Take this situation, for example. Your truck is being used to haul construction materials from your job site. One day, you’re on the job site with your truck, hauling materials in to the job. The next day, you pull up to the job site, but there are no construction materials.

You think it’s just some oversight, and call the site to ask about the situation. It turns out that the crew is not going to be there for another day or so. They’re out doing other jobs, and when they return, the truck is empty. Now you have a truck that’s not working for you, so you’ll have to rent a truck again. And that’s just the first problem. It’s not unheard of for companies to use multiple trucks for the same project because they don’t want to wait for a single truck to finish. That will cost them money, that’s for sure.

Can you work in the truck?

There are certain jobs that just don’t make sense in a truck. Sure, you can take things to and from the dump and to and from your friends, but if you want to take things to the shop, or move something across town, or carry a load of lumber over to a job site, there’s no way you can do it in a pickup. That’s where a van comes in.