Should I Worry Buying a Used Tacoma That's Been Driven in NY?

This is a good point. However, looking at it closer, there is consistent activity on the record up until 3/28/11 when a bunch of maintenance entries are noted and then a "Steering/Suspension checked" on 7/28 before it's listed for sale on 11/2. So there's something missing there I think. There are pretty much monthly entries from 3/20/09 t0 3/28/11 which leads me to believe this was a lease that ended at 24 mos. Maybe it was a dealer demo (unlikely since it wasn't the model year at that time) or just the dealer drove it as a personal vehicle. Or it just sat on the lot not for sale and unused (unlikely...taxes, etc).

As for the flooding. As far as I can tell from the Carfax, the vehicle remained at Dorschel (ironically where my parents bought their first Toy, a Corolla in '88) in Rochester during the major flooding from Hurricane Irene in 2011. Rochester was affected but I don't think Henrietta was, which is where Dorschel is located.

It's funny...I find myself wanting to know the life story of this Taco before even making any sort of thorough inspection on it. I did give it a good walk around and a slow speed test drive last week. Is it normal for a Tacoma owner/seeker to want to know everything about the child before the adoption???

The good news for me is I am absolutely ready with money saved up to buy but am in no true NEED to make a deal tomorrow (or the next day...). Maybe I'll just have to suck it up and start thinking about buying new for only ~$5K more.

EDIT: Whatever. I'm going to look at it tomorrow again. If I can, I'll snap some pics and post back what I find. It's been for sale at the local dealer for over a month now, so I don't think it's going anywhere soon.

 

I bought a low mileage 2007 TRD AC in Ithaca NY in 2010 and it was in excellent shape but had been rustproofed underneath. It had the full maintenance history from the local dealer and was owned by an older guy (not sure what that means anymore) who drove it around town. The only reason it was for sale was he had knee surgery and couldn't drive a stick anymore so he replaced it with the exact same truck but with an automatic.

I bought it over the internet so I had the detailed history and pictures in hand before i handed over my deposit so I think it's normal for anyone that really cares about what they are buying. Of course, I lost a couple of good deals trying to get enough information to be comfortable with my purchase but I ended up being happy I waited a little to get the perfect deal.

As long as it's never been in an accident, there isn't much that can go wrong other than normal stuff and that can happen to anyone. The problems to really worry about are well known.

 

lol...beat me to it

 

I would be afraid of anything coming out of New York! :O

 

Here's some more food for thought... Carfax reports are all well and good but don't get nervous about them skipping a few months. They aren't that great in the grand scheme of things. We just sold my fiance's car, private sale, and printed the report so we could have it on hand as a selling tool and to know what it would show. The car had been in 3 fender benders in it's life, all minor, but all professionally repaired and there were insurance claims on each one. Only one repair showed up on Carfax. Also, very few of the maintenance records were available and she did maintain it well. My point is, use Carfax as a guide only. Things like the vehicle being shipped around and auctioned off are good information to have and think about, missing a few months of maintenance records is not a big deal. For example, I don't believe the Carfax report on my truck will have any maintenance records past the 30k mile mark since I've done it all myself and I'm now at 80k miles. 50k mile gap where it's only seen a shop for alignments and tires but yet my truck has been meticulously maintained.

 

My 2 cents? If the truck is *exactly* what you want, and you've conducted a thorough inspection of the body/undercarriage, then go for it. I also like the idea of using it as a bargaining chip.

Here in Maine, we get plenty of salt; both from road treatment and ocean air (the real killer). Because of that, I bought my truck from down south (TN) while I was living there.

Best advice I can offer is to be patient. If you pass on this one, another is just around the corner. And maybe "around the corner" is to your south, not north. Guess it depends on how much of a time crunch you're in, the condition of the truck in question, and how much this puppy matches your needs/wants.

Good luck! As along as she doesn't fall apart, you won't be disappointed!

 

Thanks for all the great advice. I'm glad I joined this forum to get the opinions of real Tacoma owners. As for carfax, I will say I do take anything I read on the Internet that isn't from a real human with a grain of salt.

This truck is exactly what I was looking for, but since I'm in no rush, and assuming the truck is in good shape, I plan to make a fairly aggressive offer. Nothing offensive but definitely aggressive. They've had the truck for 1.5 mos, so I'm sure they want it gone as much as I want it in my garage.

Of course, I woke up this morning and...POURING RAIN. It's supposed to clear out this afternoon, but I took the day off to drive the dang thing.

 

So I'm now the proud owner of the beautiful 2009 SR5 Taco in Silver Streak Mica (there's an original color...lol). My thorough inspection - I probably spent 30+ minutes under the truck with my maglight - turned up only very minor surface rust. Nothing flaking, bubbling, etc. Just a very rare general rust haze on the frame which I would expect after 2+ winters in NY. After a full test drive up to 70MPH, I can say the truck handles and rides beautifully. On the flat, straight stretches, I could literally take my hands off the wheel and it drove straight as an arrow. It shifts, including into 4H, perfectly.

Not only that, but I was able to negotiate what I thought was a great deal. I'm super pumped. Driving it home at interstate speeds, I was actually amazed at how quiet it is. Even with the radio at low volume, I could barely hear the wind noise and close to zero road noise.

Overall...having owned the vehicle for all of 5.5 hours, I'm very pleased.

Thanks again for everyone's advice! I'm proud to have "joined the club," so to speak

 

x2

 

Congrats! Now that you bought it...

 

x2 on the pics. Congrats!

 

As soon as I get a few minutes, I'll take a few pics and post them.

I'm already considering my first mod: wiring up the fog lights so I can turn them on with the parking lights. I think it's a bit odd that Toyota choose to only allow the fog lights to be on with low beams...in thick fog (which we get plenty of in the valleys in Kentucky) fogs + low beams kind of defeats the purpose, but that's just my opinion.

I found a really good step by step to "modify" the fog lamp relay then wire that to the cab fuse box with an add-a-circuit to the parking lights' relay. Thoughts? Is this really as safe as some other folks seem to believe it is?

 

There are much easier ways to do the fog light anytime mod and none of them require an add-a-circuit or wiring into the cab.

I spliced my parking light power wire and ran that to my fog light relay (I bent the tab out on the relay to accept the new trigger wire). Quick and easy.

Check out the 2nd Gen Cheap/Free Mods section.

 

Will do, thanks. Will I need to use an in-line fuse with the splice mod?

 

Nope. The marker lights are already fuse protected and the draw is only to trigger the relay. The fog lights will still be on their own circuit just the way the factory built it. All you're doing is changing what triggers the relay so there's really no added draw to the marker light circuit.

 

Congratulations on your new ride Adam!!

 

As promised...here's a few pics I snapped of my new truck. I guess it's really no different than any of the other of thousands of Silver Streak Mica '09 SR5 4x4 double cabs out there.

Well...except for the fact that it's mine and I'm proud of it!

EDIT: By the way, I noticed something when I was taking some more pictures to brag to my brother...there really isn't a bad angle to photo this thing from, is there??

 

That's brilliant! I like how even though Toy decided to have a strange setup for the fogs, the "community" has come up with no less than five different ways to make it right. This one is simply brilliant and won't cost me more than buying a single quick splice as I have eveything else.

Love it!