The high cost of finding a pickup truck to tow an RV

If you've tried to find a heavy-duty pickup truck to tow an RV you no doubt have experienced severe sticker shock. But the situation has become so alarming that I'd call it scandalous. Too many truck dealerships are adding on bogus charges way above MSRP.

In fact, the situation has become so outrageous that auto manufacturers have been warning their dealers to stop the practice because they are damaging their brands!

That's one of the topics we talk about in great detail in this week's episode 391 of the RV Podcast.

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Our experience in trying to buy a pickup truck to tow an RV

In short, it's been very disappointing.

I've spent the better part of two months calling auto dealerships all across the country looking to buy a 3/4 ton pickup truck to tow the new Fifth Wheel we will be getting at the end of the month. (What? News to you? Check out last week's podcast where we tell you all about it!)

I've searched for new trucks made by Ford, Dodge Ram, GMC, and Chevrolet.

It's been eye-opening, to say the least.

It's no secret that trucks are in short supply. Blame it on the supply chain and the chip shortage but the production of new trucks has ground to a stop. GM and Ford have glumly told their investors that they expect that the chip shortage alone will have cost them one billion dollars in profits this year.

We started looking for a used truck to haul an RV

It's always better to buy used, right? That way the original owner takes the huge depreciation hit as soon as the vehicle rolls off the dealer's lot.

But my initial search found lots of used trucks listed but those used prices we found were often as high as what we see listed as MSRP for new trucks! The first used truck I looked at, a loaded 2017 F-250 Limited, was priced at $70,000!

And that for a five-year-old truck!

If used trucks were that much, I figured, I might as well buy new. I expected that I'd have to pay full MSRP.

But, man, was I wrong.

New trucks are selling for way above MSRP at most dealers

I began my search at the local Ford dealer in Fort Walton Beach, FL, where we have been based most of the winter and spring. Right on their lot, I found what I was looking for. A beautiful new 2022 Lariat 4x4 diesel.

Its sticker MSRP was $80,000.

Reluctantly, very reluctantly, I realized that if I wanted a pickup truck to tow an RV, I was going to have to pay MSRP.

Again, I was wrong.

The salesman told me that I would have to pay what he called a "diesel surcharge" of $22,000 OVER MSRP.

In other words, to buy that $80,000 truck I would have to pay $102,000!

This couldn't be, I thought. I tried another salesman. Same thing. Then another salesman. Again, the same thing. It was, they tried to explain, a supply and demand thing, a temporary price adjustment because of the chip shortage and the lack of new truck inventory.

I told all three salesmen that I thought a $22,