F-150 vs Silverado 1500 2019: Fuel Decides It by $2,039

Our calculator puts the 2019 Ford F-150 at $35,931 to own over five years. The 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 comes in at $37,970. That is $2,039 more for the Chevy, or $34 more every month ($633 versus $599).

The F-150 is the cheaper truck to own, and the reason is fuel. The Silverado costs $2,462 more to fuel over five years. That one line is bigger than the whole total gap. Everything else is small change, and some of it favors the Chevy.

The gap is a fuel bill, not a reliability story

Here is the honest way to read the numbers. If fuel were equal, the Silverado would be slightly cheaper. The F-150 loses $113 more to depreciation ($4,059 versus $3,946), $518 more to repairs ($5,529 versus $5,011), and $67 more to insurance ($7,928 versus $7,861). Add those up and the Silverado is ahead on three lines.

Then fuel erases it. The F-150 burns $13,957 over five years. The Silverado burns $16,419. The Silverado also costs $275 more for maintenance ($4,478 versus $4,203), which trims the Chevy's advantage further.

So the F-150 does not win by being a better-built truck in every way. It wins because it is cheaper to feed. If you hear someone say one of these trucks is simply the cheaper one, that is too simple. One line item does nearly all the work.

Registration is identical at $255 for both, so ignore it.

Purchase price is a wash, and a small trap

Our estimated purchase prices are $17,900 for the F-150 and $17,400 for the Silverado. That is a $500 head start for the Chevy. These are our estimates for the model year, and real listings will vary a lot by trim, mileage, and region.

Don't let a $500 sticker difference steer you. Even if you land the Silverado at that lower price, the fuel gap would have to be wiped out by something else, and nothing else in our numbers is big enough. A cheaper truck that drinks more is not cheaper.

Depreciation tells a similar story. Over five years the F-150 loses $4,059 and the Silverado loses $3,946. That is a $113 difference. At these ages, both trucks have already taken their big hit. Neither one is going to make or break your budget by resale value alone.

Fuel: $41 a month, every month

The Silverado costs $41 more per month to fuel. Our calculator's five-year averages are $233 a month for the F-150 and $274 a month for the Silverado.

That adds up quietly. You won't feel $41 in any single fill-up. You will feel it as $492 a year, and the yearly figures show the gap holds steady. The F-150 runs $2,682 in year one and $2,903 in year five. The Silverado runs $3,155 in year one and $3,415 in year five. Both climb a little each year, and the Chevy stays higher the whole way.

Want the MPG ratings behind this? Check the 2019 Ford F-150 on fueleconomy.gov and the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 on fueleconomy.gov. Both trucks were sold with several engine choices, so the number that matters is the one for the exact engine and drivetrain in the truck you are looking at. Our dollar figures are an average view. Your engine, your towing habits, and your local gas prices will move them.

Year by year: the Silverado is never cheaper

Here are our calculator's yearly totals.

F-150: $6,626, $7,773, $7,284, $6,928, $7,320.

Silverado: $7,047, $8,253, $7,714, $7,295, $7,661.

The Silverado is more expensive in every single year. There is no crossover point where the Chevy pulls ahead. The gap is $421 in year one, $480 in year two, $430 in year three, $367 in year four, and $341 in year five.

That gap is narrowing a bit toward the end, and the reason is repairs. The F-150's repair bill grows faster. It goes from $614 in year one to $1,741 in year five. The Silverado goes from $557 to $1,578. The F-150 is adding repair cost at a steeper pace, which is the one real warning sign in this comparison.

Still, a narrowing gap is not a reversal. If you kept both trucks well past year five, repairs might eventually close the distance. Within the five years we measured, they don't.

The year-two maintenance spike

Both trucks hit a speed bump in year two. The F-150 maintenance bill jumps from $695 to $1,717. The Silverado goes from $740 to $1,830. This is where big scheduled services tend to land, things like fluids and other major interval items, depending on the truck's history.

Then maintenance drops. By year five the F-150 is at $370 and the Silverado is at $394. If you buy one of these and the seller can't show what has been done, plan for that year-two bump. It is the most predictable surprise in the whole ownership period, and it hits both trucks about equally.

That is why year two is the most expensive year for each: $7,773 for the F-150 and $8,253 for the Silverado.

Repairs: the F-150 costs more, and the cost climbs

Our calculator has the F-150 at $5,529 in repairs over five years against $5,011 for the Silverado. That is $518 more for the Ford.

The trend matters more than the total. F-150 repairs go $614, $819, $1,024, $1,331, $1,741. Every year is worse than the one before. Silverado repairs go $557, $742, $928, $1,206, $1,578. Same pattern, slightly lower.

For reliability context, look up each model on RepairPal. It collects shop repair data and rates models on how often and how expensively they visit the shop. Check the specific model year and compare the frequency of unscheduled repairs, not just the average cost. A truck that breaks less often but costs more per breakdown is a different kind of risk than one that breaks often and costs little.

Our read: the F-150 is the likelier of the two to hand you a larger repair bill, but only modestly. The difference is about $104 a year on average. That is not a reason to pass on it. It is a reason to keep a repair fund, and to get a pre-purchase inspection on either truck.

A 2019 truck with 60,000 to 90,000 miles is out of factory warranty in many cases. Check the original warranty status on any specific truck, because that changes who pays for the first big failure.

Insurance: close, and only an estimate

Insurance runs $7,928 for the F-150 and $7,861 for the Silverado over five years in our numbers. That is $67 apart, which is less than $14 a year.

These are our estimates based on the vehicle's value and class. They are not quotes. Your own quote will differ, sometimes by a lot, depending on your age, ZIP code, driving record, and the trim you choose. Treat insurance as a tie unless your own quotes say otherwise.

The verdict

Buy the F-150 if you drive a normal amount, mostly use the truck as a daily vehicle, and want the lower monthly cost. At $599 a month against $633, you keep $34 every month, and over five years that is $2,039. The F-150 is the cheaper truck in every one of the five years. You are accepting a repair bill that climbs a bit faster, so budget for that. For most people shopping for a used half-ton, this is the better financial pick.

Buy the Silverado 1500 if you find a clean, well-maintained one at a clearly lower price than a comparable F-150, and you drive few miles. Low mileage shrinks the fuel gap, which is the Silverado's only real weakness here. It also has lower repair costs ($5,011 versus $5,529) and slightly lower depreciation and insurance in our estimates. If you drive 8,000 miles a year and not 15,000, the Chevy's strengths start to matter more. If you drive a lot, its fuel appetite will cost you.

One more point. If you were going to choose by sticker price alone, the Silverado's $17,400 estimate looks tempting next to the F-150's $17,900. Don't. A $500 saving at purchase is small next to a $2,462 fuel penalty.

Our pick for most buyers is the F-150, by $2,039 over five years.