5 Of The Most Reliable Car Brands To Consider If You’re Buying A Used Pickup Truck

While automakers have been trying to find ways to lower the price of cars, the skyrocketing price of new vehicles continues to be a major issue for buyers. The price of the average new vehicle overall now sits at around $50,000, and if you’re looking for a pickup truck, the numbers are even tougher to swallow. The full-size pickup truck, which regularly tops America’s sales charts, now has an average selling price of nearly $67,000, and some mid-size trucks aren’t too far behind. 

Needless to say, these high prices are pushing a lot of pickup buyers to the used market, whether they’re looking to save a bit of money by choosing a truck that’s just a few years old or save a lot by buying something much older that ideally still has lots of life left in it. That last part is important, because a used truck can still be a significant investment, and nobody wants to be plagued with issues or have to do lots of costly repairs.

Exactly which used truck model you should pick will depend on a lot of things — like whether you’re in the market for a full-size, mid-size, compact, or even electric truck model, for starters —  but if reliability is your goal, there are a few commonly recommended brands to start with.

If you’re shopping for a new or used pickup truck, Ford might have more options than any other brand. It makes a pickup for every type of buyer, from the compact and fuel-efficient Ford Maverick to the best-selling F-150 to the beefy Super Duty line. There’s even the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning.

When it comes to the used pickup market, the mid-sized Ford Ranger is ranked highly by Car & Driver, as is the Ford Maverick, which tops the compact class (where it admittedly doesn’t have many direct rivals). U.S. News & World Report also ranks the 2020 model-year Ranger as the most reliable used pickup truck, while giving high marks to the Maverick as well. Looking at the larger Super Duty Trucks, the Ford F-450 is ranked by iSeeCars as the third longest-lasting truck on the market, with a 28.5% chance of lasting over 250,000 miles, with other Super Duty models ranked closely behind.

However, you’ll probably also want to consider depreciation in your purchase decision. Before you settle on a used Maverick, Ranger, or another Ford truck model, remember that many of these trucks are known for having excellent resale value, and might not offer the large up-front savings you were expecting. You might save a few bucks, but you’ll also want to make sure you aren’t overpaying for a used truck compared to what you can buy a new one for. 

Toyota’s inclusion in this group should come as no surprise. The brand’s got a reputation for building reliable vehicles, and when it comes to its trucks, the data largely backs that up. On the iSeeCars rankings of longest-lasting pickups, both the mid-size Toyota Tacoma and full-size Toyota Tundra are in the top five, with both models twice as likely to make it to 250,000 miles compared to the average truck.

Used Toyota trucks get high marks elsewhere too, with the 2022 Tacoma earning JD Power’s Dependability Award in the mid-size pickup segment, and the 2020 model year Tundra getting an Editor’s Choice Award in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of the most reliable used pickup trucks. Notably, though, if you’re looking for a used Tundra with high reliability, you may want to avoid the 2022 and newer models, which have been plagued with ongoing, and at times significant, engine issues. 

Not surprisingly, that reputation for reliability coincides with high Toyota truck prices on the used market, and that might draw you toward examples with more miles on them. While having high mileage certainly isn’t a dealbreaker on a used Tacoma or Tundra, there are definitely some important things to consider before buying a high-mileage Toyota.

While Stellantis vehicles have suffered from fairly significant quality issues recently, used Ram trucks generally perform pretty well when it comes to reliability. In the ultra-popular half-ton truck segment, Car & Driver ranks the Ram 1500 as its top pick among used models, with the 2022, 2023, and 2024 models all earning high marks.

U.S. News & World Report placed the 2023 model year Ram 1500 at number five on its list of most reliable used pickups, and the newer model Ram 1500, which we greatly enjoyed driving, has also scored very well in JD Power’s Vehicle Dependability Study. The hope is, of course, that the Ram’s record of initial dependability will continue as the trucks age.

The heavier-duty Ram 2500 and Ram 3500 might perform even better when it comes to long-term reliability, with both of those models ranking in the top 10 of trucks most likely to last 250,000 miles. While high resale value on a vehicle isn’t always directly proportional to having excellent reliability, it’s generally a good sign, and iSeeCars ranks the Ram 1500 second in resale among full-size trucks, while the larger Ram 3500 does even better, beating out all other trucks in the heavy-duty pickup category.

Honda might not be heavily associated with the pickup market, as it only makes one truck model. However, the current, second-generation unibody Honda Ridgeline has been around since the 2016 model year, and it has earned high marks for reliability. Long-term road tests have shown the Ridgeline to be without major issues, and the truck is also rated above the class average in its likelihood of reaching the 250,000 mark.

When looking at reliability scores, the Ridgeline gets high marks from JD Power, and notably, even though it’s starting to show its age in some ways, the Honda was chosen by Consumer Reports as the top pick in the mid-size truck category. Indeed, despite being a unibody pickup rather than a more rugged body-on-frame model, the Ridgeline’s reliability has always been among the best in the mid-size segment. 

The Honda Ridgeline occupies a unique place in the truck market, and if your needs include towing heavy trailers, carrying huge payloads, or venturing far off the beaten path, the more car-like Honda might not be a good fit. However, if the Ridgeline’s capabilities sound good to you, it should make for a reliable, versatile, and easy-to-live-with pickup for the everyday grind.

While Chevrolet and GMC are two separate brands, we’ve listed them together because their trucks are nearly identical mechanically and should deliver the same overall record of reliability. These GM offerings range from the mid-size Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon up to the heavy-duty Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup models. 

JD Power gave awards to both the 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 and 2022 Silverado 2500 in its most recent dependability rankings , and JD Power’s reliability scores for the Silverado’s GMC twins are equally strong. Likewise, the 2022 Silverado 1500 and 2020 GMC Sierra 1500 are both ranked among the top 10 most reliable used pickups by U.S. News & World Report. 

When it comes to long-term, high-mileage reliability, GM’s heavy-duty pickups do especially well. The 2500 and 3500 variants of both the Chevy Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD are all ranked by iSeeCars among the trucks most likely to last beyond 250,000 miles. Also not to be left out are the smaller, cheaper Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups, which also earn high reliability scores tp help make them solid recommendations on the used truck market.

The brands on this list were chosen based on reliability scores, data, and used-vehicle recommendations from a variety of sources, including iSeeCars, JD Power, Consumer Reports, Car & Driver, and U.S. News & World Report. In some cases, like with the Honda Ridgeline, current model-year reliability and quality ratings were considered, as that vehicle has carried over for several years without major mechanical changes.