Just bought a 2006 Tacoma Sight Unseen from eBay.

A little nervous. I fly to Colorado on Monday to pick it up, and take a nice 1300 mile roadtrip through the Rockies, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana.

I bought a boat motor from ebay in Tulsa before. But this is the most expensive and farthest thing I have gotten on eBay.

I was in the market for a $6000 truck (I went a little over, lol)to replace my Ram and Jetta (I need a truck, but at 10mpg I also needed a car-- Now I have a truck that will get close to car mileage, with more HP than truck).

It's red, I don't like red. But I got it for $4,000 less than blue book value. I had a mechanic check it out. (Random guy I hired in Boulder off internet, but he took pics of undercarriage, which is all I was worried about; having only ever seen snow three times in 30 years)

Pics...









I wired the money to the dealership, and I'll get it around 10am Monday morning(MST).

So I'm trying to catch up here and see what mods I need.

I need to mod the stereo. I have an in-dash six. But I like to run a carputer set up, or at least an ipod control.

I found a DDIN stereo kit for this car, and the stock radio has re-sale value.

I like that it has a built in AC inverter. Though I will probably still instal my 2000w just cause I need more than 400 sometimes.

What I need in the cab, are a printer/fax.. battery charging station (could go in back/ never had a camper top before) and a subwoofer, and a place for electronics. On my Ram I never used my back seat. I had a dual 10" box below and the seat was used as a shelf.

I do camera installs, electronics work and the like. I've actually been using the Jetta on smaller jobs as the Ram was just killing me. (Modified 360)

So any must do's must haves for this truck?

It's my first Toyota and I've had a good amount of cars. I've worked on Camry's before, and that's about it. I learn quick.
I'm a shadetree type, but I can rebuild automatics, so my skill set is there.

Well looking forward to checking this place out. Getting some tips, and learning more about this truck.

I can't believe the re-sale value these trucks command.
I just never sat in one, its weird to buy something without checking it out. But compared to the Colorado or Frontier I was going to get, I would say I made a good choice.

 

I'm thinking of that part in Major League when they start making fun of Serrano telling him he has no balls. Then he hits a home run and looks at them making the "I have very large balls sign"

You sir, have balls.

Nice looking truck from the pics tho ..

 

i did the same thing..off of craigslist.

i did have a great friend (ex mechanic) go over and take a look. he gave it his thumbs up, and i paypalled the seller a $500 non refundable deposit to not sell it until the weekend was up. i worked graveyard, and my wife and i flew to LA and drove it back. we met at his bank for the transaction.

despite the bald ass tires, the drive was uneventful, and i have had zero issues. i did call the seller about a million times.

i hope your deal works out as well as mine. i was nervous as hell, but i got a killer deal with the truck by not shopping local.

 

Certainly looks like it's well kept, and a mechanic checked it all out, I'm sure you'll be fine.

I bought a motorcycle this way once, but I was prepared to back out of the deal and drive all the way back 800 miles home without it, if it wasn't what I expected.

Good luck.

 

Its from a dealer. It was a no reserve auction. I bid a low under $10k value with 20 seconds left and snagged it. I can't find one like it with less than 100k for less than $14k out here.

I had someone check it out before I sent money. Said it was legit. Carfax shows up good. Plus this thing has a complete service log, with 95% of the work being done at the same Toyota dealership.

I'll see, its a risk. But I get A.) a trip to the Rockies and a chance to go rafting
B.) a current body style truck.

Plus its a Toyota, these things get 250K miles with little ring wear.
And when the engine goes I'll re-build it.

But also the dealership I bought it from included a 3-year 36,000 mile powertrain warranty.

 

jezus..what did you get the truck for? sounds like a SMOKIN deal. i would have chanced it too. besides, colorado is nice this time of year.

 

I bought a truck from off of ebay once. It was from a dealer in Texas. Carfax came up fine, but I didn't hire a mechanic or anything. When it was delivered to my house, I almost threw up. It had a 4.6Lv8 instead of the 5.4L, the tires were dryrotted, The seats had cigarette holes in them, and it had been repainted. Then, they charged us a $1000 restocking fee to send it back. . . Learned my lesson.

 

x2

 

welcome to TW..hope it all works out for you,it looks great! my must have mod is the sound system..but youll eventually get everything you want

 

^^^^ yep

 

My friend/neighbor bought a 57 Chevy from eBay. Took a truck with a car hauler to Virginia to pick it up. The car run fine just sitting there in the driveway, he never really test drove it, just started it up. After he got it home and a few days later took it for a drive. The engine started knocking. He took it to his mechanic and the engine was more or less fucked! The seller would never answer his calls. Moral of the story, never buy a vehicle without test driving.

 

Sounds like you did your homework, nice job. If there is any truck I would buy sight unseen it is a Toyota! Serviced at the dealership, carfax, mechanic checked it out...I say your good. You could always bad mouth the seller on ebay if it is not!

 

I hope it works out OK too. You were smart to have a mechanic check it out.

 

Congratulations!
It sounds/looks like a great deal & as you said yourself, you will have a beautiful road trip adventure/rafting trip to boot. It looks super clean & an awesome snipe for sure.
Take pics of the road trip & post up if you can.

 

I did the same with a 2010 Dodge Ram. I bought it in Arizona. I gave them a deposit to hold it until I got there. I gave them a cashier's check once I test drove it and approved. I would never wire money for a sight unseen vehicle. Always bright he money with you. If something goes wrong you walk away with your money. If you've already given them the money then you risk not getting it back.

Other than that, it looks like it's in great condition. Congrats on the purchase. Good job being able to pay cash for it (assuming).

 

Nice truck! Sounds like you got a great price as well. You will love the red. Trust me, Radiant Red is the best color out there. Don't listen to all these other fools with super white this or silver streak that ;D

 

I figure a $9000 TRD access cab was a good deal.
for a 2006. My friend who is a dealer said I could drive it home and make $2500 quick delling it, if not more. Said its got ther highest resale of any small truck. So to get it less than the lowest trade in value is good. Getting it for thousands less is great.

The only issue I see is it says those are 18" rims, and they look like 16"s in the pictures. I didn't know 18"s were an option on the Tacoma.

Even if its a bust, I should still easily be able to back out of it. I was only worried about two things.. Working A/c and undercarriage rust.

I know enough of these trucks to know they are well built.

Coming from Dodge forums to here, I like that most of the mods done to y'alls trucks are cosmetic or audio related. On a dodge you had to mod things to get it to run right.

I'm tired of paying two insurances for one person. I just need one nice truck. And if you saw what I was looking at last week compared to know you know I'm happy.

I thought even a 2002 Tacoma was out of my range.

 

I was just so shocked I got the truck for the price I bid, so I hurried up and sent the money. I wasn't expecting to get it so soon, but Southwest had a deal, so I jumped on it. I have to go to Green Bay and Dallas in the upcoming weeks to follow my football teams (LSU and Saints) so my travel budget is maxed. But I couldn't pass this up.

 

Good luck. Sometimes you take a chance and it works out, I hope this is the case.

 

Be shure to check back when you get the tacoma. sounds too good to be true