looking at buying an older H1

[hmcoleap]

I am whole-heartedly with Steve on this one... those numbers are out of whack unless you are a guy who just drives to the dealership for every rattle and quirk.

I bought a 95 that was out of warranty, and I have never spent anywhere near those kinds of amounts. I find that my Land Rover is actually more expensive to maintain than the Hummer is, because the parts are not common GM or otherwise available as "non-genuine" parts.

Like Steve, most of my "Hummer money" has been spent on spare parts, modifications and upgrades - not routine maintenance.

Originally Posted by EXH1X5

Me neither ...BUT ...Steve, YOUR cost examples for an old HUMMER (dubbed the H1 by GM) ?on-the-cheap? could be mis-leading to the average green-as-grass buyer. The rule-of-thumb that seems to fit MOST old & out out of warranty, AMG HUMMERs is;

First year of ownership = Purchase price + $10,000 (maintenance, upgrading, personalizing, etc., etc.)
Second year of ownership = First year costs + $5,000. (additional maint. , accessories, etc.)

[EXH1X5]

Originally Posted by hmcoleap

I am whole-heartedly with Steve on this one... those numbers are out of whack unless you are a guy who just drives to the dealership for every rattle and quirk.

I bought a 95 that was out of warranty, and I have never spent anywhere near those kinds of amounts. I find that my Land Rover is actually more expensive to maintain than the Hummer is, because the parts are not common GM or otherwise available as "non-genuine" parts.

Like Steve, most of my "Hummer money" has been spent on spare parts, modifications and upgrades - not routine maintenance.

S and M you two guys are definitely "exceptions" to that rule-of-thumb! Now let's consider the extreme opposite end of the cost scale from yours. Did you happen to notice the third person to post to this very thread??? Do you also recall that person stating a while back he had over $50,000.00 worth of repairs done to his '98 HMCO to get it to where he wanted it? His $50K figure no more represents the norm, than you two guy's "on-the-cheap" figures do. I will stick by the figures I previously stated!

[leenigen]

I bought a '94 that was in desperate need of maintenance. I think the previous owner bought it and drove it for 10 years without doing a single thing to it. I've had it for two years now and have constently been repairing/maintaining what should have been maintained over the years. I've had to replace all the steering components, most suspention, most ctis, all fluids, and misc. engine parts. The point is that even with an older truck that needed tons of work I was able to get it to a reliable daily driver condition for appx. $2k. Admittadly I did nearly all the work myself and was able to wait until I found parts I was willing to pay for. I refuse to pay the "hummer" mark-up for parts I can get at a normal automotive market price. The cheapest trip to the dealer was $380 and that was only because a ctis line blew on the road in front of the dealer. Dealer mark-up is definitly not worth it. Learn to do it yourself or you'll never afford it.
Also, I have not upgraded anything beyond buying "upgraded" quality parts that needed replaced. Add-ons can wait until the truck is in good shape - which is about now. The upgrades/add-ons will quickly surpass the $2k.

[galifardo]

Hello wath should be the maintanance that i have to do to a H1 1998, i will buy it next week and i dont know wath to check or to expect in cost, could you tell me where can i find a table to know when to do the expected changes.....