My beloved Civic....

[Minna Reid]

Now let me just say I truly love my Honda...at 35+ mpg and zero maintenance this is the perfect vehicle for a salesperson who puts in lots of road time. Not a construction vehicle though - at all! Let me just tell you what an *** I feel like pulling up to the Home Depot to load my 8' lumber, a vanity, or 500 sq foot of laminate flooring in this tiny excuse for a car...lol. Belive it or not, I've made it all fit. But I guess I must face the fact that I need a truck at some point soon. Should my life stay on the track its taken, I'd like to pick one up (used...cash...cheap). Got a good brand to recommend? What's done you well?

[Frank Adams]

Since I am the world's cheapest guy (or at least in the top 10) let me give you some better advice. Either a trailer hitch and small trailer or pay some delivery charges.

Assuming you're going to be in sales for awhile and the REI/rehabs are going to be a part-time thing would you really want to go to a vehicle that gets 12-15 MPG for the "few times" that you need to haul something?

Owning a second vehicle to haul things occassionally doesn't make any sense either, acquisition cost, insurance, maintenance and depreciation for something that you use from time to time doesn't make sense either.

I've bought and sold close to 100 houses, done anything from paint and touch up to lots of framing, roofs and other major rehabs, and I've NEVER owned a truck. I've carried lots of stuff in my wife's Jeep Cherokees and Subaru Foresters when she had those, which was most of the time that I was doing this. Now we have a Lexus and a Mazda Miata so not a lot of "hauling" in either of those, although I admit to getting some funny looks with 2 X 4s and 2 X 6s sticking out of the passenger side of the Miata, ZOOM ZOOM!

Big purchases I consolidate and the supplier will deliver for $500, while sometimes this is inconvenient with good scheduling it works fine. The only problem has been needing a door or something "odd" size and nothing else. In those cases I get a buddy to help me or go to the supplier as they're opening, load it in her Lexus and get home before she's up and realizes her car was gone, LOL.

all cash