Buying a new pickup truck can be expensive. Between how much the truck actually costs and how much you’ll need to spend on maintaining it, buying and owning a pickup isn’t exactly cheap. Further consider how much depreciation will cost you and, again, owning a truck can get expensive. The good news is that Kelley Blue Book has the scoop on the pickups with the lowest five-year cost to own.

KBB’s ‘5-Year Cost to Own’ awards explained

Now, calculating how much it costs to own a truck isn’t the simplest of processes. Fortunately, Kelley Blue Book has done the heavy lifting as part of its ‘5-Year Cost to Own’ awards. These awards take things like fuel costs, insurance costs, maintenance, and repair costs into consideration. Kelley Blue Book also includes depreciation.

As Kelley Blue Book explains, “The value of your vehicle on the resale market can have a major impact on your overall expenses. That low initial price of a low trim vehicle may look good out the door, but a buyer of one with more features — or even a competing model with lower depreciation — may come out ahead when all is said and done.”

As for pickup trucks specifically? Kelley Blue Book reports that there were two trucks worthy of a ‘5-Year Cost to Own’ award: the 2021 Ford Ranger and the 2021 Ford F-150. Let’s find out what makes these the cheapest pickup trucks to own.

The 2021 Ford Ranger has the lowest five-year cost to own among midsize pickups

According to Kelley Blue Book, the 2021 Ford Ranger has a lot going for it. The Ranger’s five-year predicted cost to own comes out to $40,532, which is $2,308 less than the segment average. Further, CarEdge reports that you can expect the Ranger to depreciate 36% after five years of ownership.

That’s not all that the 2021 Ford Ranger has going for it either. J.D. Power gave the 2021 Ford Ranger a ‘Great’ quality and reliability rating, which is nothing short of impressive. Meanwhile, Repair Pal gave this year’s Ranger an ‘Above Average’ reliability rating. Repair Pal added the probability of repairs being a major issue is approximately 12% for the Ford Ranger, in comparison to an average of 13% for midsize trucks and 12% for all vehicles.

Pick the 2021 Ford F-150 for a full-size pickup with the lowest five-year cost to own

Now, the 2021 Ford Ranger wasn’t the only Ford pickup to earn a ‘5-Year Cost to Own’ award. Kelley Blue Book also included the 2021 Ford F-150 among this year’s award winners. In fact, according to Kelley Blue Book, the F-150’s predicted five-year cost to own is approximately $48,456, which is $4,274 less than the full-size segment average.

Much like the 2021 Ford Ranger, this year’s new F-150 earned some high marks in terms of reliability too. While J.D. Power gave the 2021 Ford F-150 a ‘Great’ quality and reliability rating, Repair Pal gave it an ‘Above Average’ rating. And when it comes to depreciation? CarEdge reports the Ford F-150 will depreciate 36% after five years. All in all, that’s not bad if you’re in the market for a full-size pickup that’s affordable to own.

Should you buy a new Ford pickup?

While Kelley Blue Book did include both the 2021 Ford Ranger and the 2021 Ford F-150 in its ‘5-Year Cost to Own Awards,’ that doesn’t mean you should run out and buy one of these trucks for yourself. Instead, we recommend starting with a couple of test drives.