Small Truck: When Going Compact Makes Sense

The truck you drive can either protect your margin or quietly drain it, and most pros overestimate how much vehicle they really need. We walk through a practical, field-tested approach to choosing a pool service rig that balances chemical safety, daily ergonomics, and total cost of ownership. From compact cars with hitch carriers to mid-size workhorses and full-size comfort machines, we talk through what actually matters when you’re loading chlorine, parking in tight neighborhoods, and making 20 stops before lunch.

We dig into the real math on electric trucks versus gas and hybrids, including purchase price gaps, charging costs, and how route mileage affects payback. You’ll hear why an open bed often beats a van for chemical service, when a van still wins for repairs, and how to avoid carrying excess liquid that degrades in the sun. We compare fuel economy between popular models, call out the surprise benefits of lower bed rails and shorter wheelbases, and share tips for keeping your truck organized without hauling a rolling warehouse.

Reliability can swing more by model year than by badge, so we share a simple research process: check year-specific issues, confirm recall work, and look for warranty extensions on known components. Brands like Toyota and Honda often lead on dependability, but you should still verify the exact year you’re buying. By the end, you’ll have a clear checklist for test drives, load planning, and making a smart buy that fits your route, budget, and body. If this helped you think differently about your work truck, follow the show, share it with a fellow pro, and leave a quick review so others can find it.

• weighing compact, mid-size, and full-size trucks for route work
• pros and cons of vans for chemical service
• using personal vehicles with dry chemicals and carriers
• true cost of electric trucks versus gas and hybrids
• realistic cargo needs and safe chemical storage
• parking, ergonomics, and bed height for daily efficiency
• reliability by model year, recalls, and warranty extensions
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Chapters

• 0:00 Framing The Vehicle Question
• 3:02 Coaching Program Invitation
• 3:22 Running Routes From Personal Vehicles
• 4:24 Vans, Chemicals, And Safety Tradeoffs
• 5:11 Electric Vs Gas: True Cost Math
• 7:04 Price Gaps And Payback Reality
• 8:28 How Big A Truck Do You Need
• 10:00 Real-World Bed Space And Loading
• 12:20 Full-Size Comfort Vs Urban Parking
• 13:40 MPG And Cost Differences By Class
• 15:26 Ergonomics: Bed Height And Access
• 17:08 When Bigger Feels Better
• 18:23 Why Mid-Size Often Wins
• 19:31 Reliability By Model Year
• 21:17 Research, Recalls, And Warranties

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:50

Hey, welcome to the Pool Guy Podcast Show. In this episode, I'm going to talk to you about your service truck. What service truck do you need? What's too much truck? What may be too little truck for you? So I'm going to go over some aspects, and I'll even touch on doing pool service out of a van or a regular compact car. Are you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the pool guy coaching program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support from me. I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com. I'll start by saying that there's been many pool pros that have started out of their personal vehicle. A Prius, a Volt, a compact car. In fact, there are several pool service pros that still do service out of a compact car with a rack on back or trailer, and then they remove it and use their car whenever they need to use it without the pool service equipment. So it's not a stretch of the imagination to actually start a pool business and even run a pool business out of your personal vehicle. It happens. And I've used my wife's Lexus before when my truck broke down. And my truck started breaking down so much that I was using her car more than she preferred. And so then I just started renting trucks when my truck broke down. So I've actually driven several different types of trucks when my truck broke down, and also when I was looking for a new truck, I drove several different ones. I'll go over that as well. But you can do pool service out of a personal vehicle, it's not unheard of. Now I don't recommend it personally if you're doing pool service with chemicals and you're using a van because it does contaminate the vehicle itself and it's something to consider with all the chemical smells and the residue over time. Now a van is great for repairs and and that kind of service because all your all your all your supplies and your tools are secure in the van. But for regular pool servers, I find that it would be inconvenient because of the harsh chemicals that we use. And a truck open bed or a trailer attached to a you know a compact car is the way to go to have the open air with the chemicals versus something enclosed. Now, if you do use a personal vehicle, you would want to just use dry chemicals, and you would also maybe want to get a you know one of those trailers that connect to the back of your car, something that connects to the back without dragging a trailer. I forgot what they're like a carrier type thing. They do sell those for like camping equipment and things like that. You just put it on the back of your car, and it acts like an outdoor trunk kind of. And that's that's the way I would go if I was using my personal vehicle versus using a truck. A lot of pool pros are moving towards electric trucks, and there's no problem with that. I just think you have to really do the math carefully on that. How much money are you saving by going to an electric vehicle versus the fuel costs of a gas truck? And sometimes it doesn't make really economic sense, you know, paying an extra 15 or 20,000 for an electric truck. If you have a perfectly good gas-powered truck, it would take you quite a long time to recap, recapture all the money you're spending on gas, and you also have to factor in how much it's costing to charge your electric vehicle at home. If you don't have solar panels, the electricity cost should be a factor there. So I would say that in most cases going from a gas truck to electric truck is going to be more expensive, although it is more convenient in a lot of respects, not having to go to the gas station and not having certain parts in the truck to maintain, and it's one of those things where it's a trade-off with a higher cost of operation for convenience, and that's something that you have to decide for your pool route which way you want to go with a gas engine or an electric vehicle. For example, if you wanted to get a Ford Lightning, and let's just say you're gonna buy a new, let's just say you're gonna get maybe the I'll just say you're gonna get the base model for sake of argument, which is about 58,000. They go up to like 90,000 for the platinum. So let's just say 58,000 for the base model, and if you go for a base model F150, you're looking around 40,000. So that's like 18,000 more for electric vehicle. How long will it take you to recapture all that money with the amount of money you're spending on gas? It'll take quite a long time, I think, especially if you factor in electricity. Now, Chevy has a lower price electric vehicle, it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles. If you look up a YouTube video and look at it, it's just a basic electric truck and it's about 57,000. And I think they have a new model that's out that has more upgrades for like 75 or 90,000. But if you just get the standard uh Silverado, it's about 40,000, so it's about the same, about 17, 18,000 more for the electric vehicle, and again, just factor in how long it's gonna take you to recapture that extra money. And is the convenience worth it? And some people will say yes it is, and I would say you really it's maybe not just a straight math decision, it's a decision on convenience and maybe moving towards the future of trucks in some respects. So, how big of a truck do you really need for pool service? Well, I've done pool service for most of my career in a compact truck, mid-size pickup truck. I'm gonna say that the Nissan Frontier is a mid-size truck, and then my Honda Ridge Line is a mid-size truck now as well, and then there's the full-size trucks a lot of people use, but I've done my service all my career in these mid-size or compact trucks. I started out in a Dodge Rampage, which was a really compact truck. It's probably comparable to the Ford Mavic as far as size goes, and I did I use that truck for like three years. Then I went to a small Tacoma. I did like the Tacoma, but it had no power steering. This I'm dating myself here, that's how long I've been in the business. And then I moved into the Nissan Frontier, the four-door frontier. The bed is four feet eight inches, so it's it was a small bed comparable to the Tacoma I had. I think it was a five and a half or six foot bed, and then the ridgeline is a straight five-foot bed, but it's a little bit wider than the Nissan Frontier, so there's a little bit more cargo space in the ridgeline than the frontier. But I've operated with this compact, compact or mid-sized truck, I should say, perfectly fine. You don't really need a lot of space for pool service, and you just need room for your chemicals. So if you're using Hasa, a Nissan Frontier can hold, you know, two cases of acid, three or four cases of chlorine, plus a bucket of cal hyphal, bucket of tabs, DE, and then all your other supplies can fit in there pretty nicely in that small little area. A lot of pool pros use a Ford Mavic, and they don't have any problem with space. You don't really need a lot of cargo space in your truck to do pool service because every day you're unloading and putting new stuff in and changing out the chemicals. So, really, to have a full-size truck full of eight cases of chlorine and you know three cases of acid plus all your other stuff is really unnecessary and it's probably not advisable anyway. I know Terry Arco of Hasa recommends not carrying so much liquid chlorine in the back of your truck, having it exposed to the sun all day. You'd rather just store it in the shade and use and load your truck when you need it. And so having everything in there is just maybe convenient because you're not reloading your truck as much, but it's wholly unnecessary, in my opinion, to have a full-size truck for pool service, unless you really want the full-size truck and you're comfortable with the full-size truck and you're used to driving one, then you can of course have a full-size truck. But here in Los Angeles County, the full-size truck is a bit of a handicap as far as parking. You know, you really it's really more difficult to park a full-size truck than a mid-size or a compact truck, and a lot of tight areas here. A lot of residential streets you go down, you have to find parking and squeeze in there, and it's not as convenient with a full-size truck. The gas mileage, of course, if it's not electric, is a handicap for a full-size truck versus a compact or mid-sized truck, and you're spending a lot more money on fuel with a full-size truck that you may not really need to do in a lot of cases. For instance, if you have a Ford F-150, you're getting about 19 to 19 miles in the city and about 24 on the highway. And if you had a Ford Mavic, which is suitable for pool service, no problem. And you're getting, if you have the hybrid, you're getting 42 miles in the city, and you know, you're getting basically combined about 38 miles per gallon versus the uh Ford F-150, which you're getting about 20 miles combined. So there is a big difference, especially here in California where gas is like right now, it's around 450. It's actually lower than normal, so it's actually good to have cheaper gas prices at this point. But you are spending a lot more money on fuel, and you may be spending a lot more money on insurance for a full-size truck as well over a mid-size or compact truck. In reality, as I mentioned, you don't really need a bed that's gigantic. Now, there are times when the Nissan Frontier was inconvenient, I'll grant you that. And I did rent a Ford F-150 a couple times when my truck broke down. And I I can't deny the fact that the big bed is attractive. I really had room for everything. I'm kind of short. I you know, on the shorter side, I'm 5'7. So I did find it harder to reach in to the Ford F-150 bed versus the Nissan Frontier bed over time. I guess you know, if you're taller, you don't have that problem. But I find that reaching in and being able to get everything out of the truck from one side without kind of standing on something is more convenient in my opinion. And that's another advantage of the compact mid-sized truck, is that usually, except for maybe for the Tacoma, which is pretty high off the ground, and the there's a couple other trucks that may be higher off the ground. The Colorado is another one that's pretty tall. When I test drove it, I didn't really like how tall the bed was. But most of the time having that compact mid-sized truck, like my Honda Ridgeline right now, you can reach in and over the bed pretty easily. So there's an advantage there as well, as far as the height of the truck and being able to reach into the bed quickly to get what you need out of there. But granted, the extra bed space was nice and it is convenient. A lot of pool guys like it, and they'll argue that the full-size truck is much better and more convenient because of the fact you can put everything in the back of the truck. And I'll grant them that it is bigger and it's definitely more roomy inside as well in the back seat. If you have a four-door full-size truck, you could put a lot of supplies back there. So if you're looking for something, of course, with the extra room and the bed and the extra cargo space inside the cabin, the full-size truck would be something that you would kind of gravitate towards. But if that doesn't really matter to you in your business, which I don't think it mattered to me at all at all over the years of using a mid-sized truck, you can get away with a mid-sized truck, no problem. My current one is a Honda Honda Ridgeline, and I think it's probably one of the best trucks on the market today in the mid-size category, as far as comfort, gas mileage, uh versatility. It has the bed and it also has a trunk, and it has plenty of room in the back seat for just about everything you want to throw in there. So it's a great size service truck, in my opinion. And you really don't need anything bigger than that in most cases, again, than a mid-sized truck in the Honda Ridge Line checks all those boxes for a lot of people, and a lot of pool guys are are discovering it and using the Honda Ridge Line for pool service. As far as reliability, it's kind of strange, but I think if you research the truck you're looking at by the year that it was made, you're gonna get a better idea of the reliability versus the actual brand across you know, you know, Ford versus Chevy versus Hooder versus Nissan. The 2005 Nissan Frontier that I had got a pretty poor rating for that model year versus like the 2007 and 8 model. My Honda Ridgeline, I specifically put picked a 2019, I was looking for a used one back when I was looking at them, and so I had the 2017, 18, 19, and 20 available for me. And I picked 2019 because I went on edmins.com and I saw that was the best model year as far as reviews and problems with the vehicle. I think the 2017 and 18 had a few issues. The 2019 also had a model that I liked, which had the sunroof and the rear window, and it had didn't have all-wheel drive, which I didn't need, so I just got the uh front-wheel drive vehicle, so I saved some money there. But as far as the year of the truck, it's really important to look at that. So if you're looking for a used truck, see if you know, like the 2022 models were good versus the 2023 models, I think that's an important factor, is that each model year has some problems, and some model years were better than others. It sounds strange, but that's the truth of these trucks is that looking at the model years versus actually looking at the brands, because you may have a Ford Ranger that's great, you may have a Ford Ranger that's you consider a lemon, and it's something to consider. Of course, if you have a Honda or Toyota, the chances of you having major problems is very minuscule. They're the most they're usually ranked one and two interchangeably as far as brands go. So Toyota maybe win one year, Honda will win the next year. But as far as reliability ratings, there's a site I was on, I can't remember exactly what it was, but you can just Google it, and it'll give you all the reliability of each brand over you know the other brands, and some brands, of course, are much more reliable than others, you know, and you just want to make sure you do your research if you're gonna get a Dodge RAM. Is that more reliable than an F-150? I think Ford still wins in reliability over the other brands out there, and you just want to make sure you pick a truck that's gonna be reliable. My Nissan Frontier was not super reliable, it was a good truck, but of course it had over 200,000 miles on it before I sold it. So I guess you could say it was reliable because I got that many miles out of it. But I would recommend if you're looking for pure reliability and don't want to worry about your truck breaking down or having problems, go with a Toyota Tacoma or a Honda Ridgeline. To me, those are the best-rated b-sized trucks out there on the market. I think the bottom line is it comes down to your preference, you know, what you're comfortable with, what you're familiar with. A lot of people are familiar with full-size trucks, so I'll gravitate towards those. I'm a mid-sized truck person, you know. I I'm thinking about getting a full full-size truck next because I like the extra bed space, and as I get older, I don't like moving a lot of stuff, but I I'm thinking about getting a full-size truck on my next one, maybe as a possibility. But right now the Honda Ridge line is fine, and so it's really a preference of mid-size, compact, full size. If you wanted to get a van or use your personal vehicle, those are all personal choices, and I would say the number one thing you can do to make sure you make the best choice is to research the trucks thoroughly, test drive them, look online for reviews, and really check those model years because those model years are really important in reliability and recalls and different problems people had with their vehicles. Like, for instance, my 2019, I didn't know this when I bought it, but there is something wrong with a torque converter in this in that model year, and there was a recent recall. I had mine actually changed out before the recall, it's like a six thousand dollar repair, and then Anyconda extended the warranty to 150,000 miles or something like that. So they're a really good company when something does go wrong, and that's another factor as well. I know Toyota and Honda, if there is ever a problem, they'll extend the mileage and give any owner more time to get that repair done. And there's other parts on my truck, I think they extended it from like five years to ten years. So they're really good about making sure that if there's a problem, the reliability is not gonna be a problem for the owner of the vehicle, and they'll extend the mileage warranty to make sure that you're covered. And so every vehicle is gonna have some kind of defect, everything is very complicated nowadays with electronics, and so you're not gonna find the perfect truck that's not gonna get one or two recalls. But again, you know, it's one of those things that is a factor in pool service. You don't want your truck breaking down, and you don't want to be without your truck for a week as they're repairing it. So keep that in mind as well when you're searching for a truck. Reliability, in my opinion, is a key factor over the brand of the truck in a lot of cases, and even sometimes the size of the truck if you want the most reliable vehicle for your pool service route. If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, swingingpoollearning.com. When you get there, you can go to the podcast icon on the banner, and there'll be a drop down menu of over 1800 podcasts for you to listen to. And if you're interested in the coaching program, you can subscribe there at poolguycoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have a good rest of your week, and God bless.