How did you come to afford your raptor?

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RivRaptor

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Small business owner Office Equip -(Endangered) The payment is written through the business thereby reducing my taxable income! And yes I do use it for work to pu & deliver supplies and equip but then its around to tow / launch the company boat & playing in Baja! The only problem is racking up the miles on an expensive truck, I put 100k on the Gen 1 so I try use the work beater car (03 G35 w 210k) for the smaller stuff as to keep the highway miles off the Gen 2. And because no post is complete without a pic...

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Killjoy

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Wife and I started a business 18 years ago (I was 24 yrs old) in Digital Production and was fortunate to be debt free with only one credit card that amounted to $1000 limit in 2012. We lived in Vegas working on projects for WSOP, Tapout, Nissan, Hyundai and a new MMA league that's now on ESPN. They said my income was great but my credit score was so-so since I had no debt. So I bought my wife a Velociraptor that year and she bought me my Shelby a year+ later for my birthday and voila... we finally had credit!

Raptor now paid off and Shelby is just about done and new 2020 Shelby is already on it's way to me. We just love cars (fast & loud) so I think that's where we have always invested our money.
 

Nesc204

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I was at the rt place at the rt time when I got my 2011 Gen 1. Got it brand new in November of 2012. Was a left over and is Fully loaded from factory except it didn't have navigation. Well nothing beats the navigation that comes on cell phones and I needed a crew cab at the time. MSRP on it at that time was 56,000. I got it for 45,000 and still drive it today and just LOVE my Raptor just as much as the day I 1st bought it. I'm a Corporate Jet Airplane Mechanic for Gulfstream
 

Mj1anderson

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I bought a two year old Gen 2 that was fully loaded, in incredible shape and low miles.
Saved $20,000!!!
No brainier for me.
That and a UPS pension makes life good
 

Nuke LaLoosh

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Regardless of how we made our money, it’s hard to drop $70k into a truck, which will only decrease in value (though probably much better than many other vehicles).

I bought my 19’ Raptor at age 30, and kinda feel like it’s a terrible financial decision at this point in my life, especially since this is vehicle #5 for me... :-/ Most of my colleagues are talking about how much extra they are putting into their 401K’s and driving the cheapest POS they can find. They definitely look down on my spending habits. Wonder who is making the wisest decision...

Life is short and there is no guarantee you or they live to get to spend that 401k.

My Lieutenant also owns his own side business. Every day on and every day off he is busting his ass. Did everything possible for his kids. Wife comes down with cancer. It’s been rough but she will most likely beat it. He had a conversation with her one day about squirreling away all this money that neither may get to see. Shortly there after he bought a Lambo. The future is never guaranteed. You can always make more money. You can never make more time.
 

RadRaptor

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I came from the collision repair industry as well. I ran small shops, then MSO's, and now I am a consultant that helps them grow and develop teams, and leaders.. Brother there is another way than 60 hours a week, trust me I have been there.....
 

traxem

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I’ve been practicing law for the last 10 years. I started my career as a bankruptcy attorney in 2009 during the recession. After that ended, I shifted to auto accident litigation. It paid the bills, but there were some months where my employees made more money than me. As with most small businesses, income is always a roller coaster.

I’ve wanted a truck for years, but wifey says it’s not practical for what I do nor was the cost justified. She’s a real estate agent—she wouldn’t understand! But she was probably right.

Then in 2018, three large cases landed on my lap: two cases involving wrongful deaths with semi-trucks and one case involving terrible head injury at a hair salon. After they all settled (through insurance), I went truck shopping dressed in a Budweiser t-shirt, cargo shorts and flip-flops (I think they’re called thongs).

Didn’t think I’d get a Raptor, but I’m not towing and Tacomas were too slow. My only concern was going through the Starbucks drive-thru, but it handled the curbs like a champ. I’m still looking for a carpet bed cover.

In short, I worked hard and paid for it with money I earned.
 

pbtjrlmrt

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IT field. Went to tech school(trade school) after serving 3 years in the Army. Got a job as a computer programmer worked into Management. 30 years in pulled the trigger on the Raptor. Sold stock grants to pay for it.
 

Greg Gobin

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Locomotive engineer for 16.5 years at a class 1 railroad making six figures since becoming an engineer. Some areas conductors make it just not on my line. Salary on the rr depends on where your at in the country
 
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