Buying Advice

Yeah the 2012 rust is just surface. Give it a good scrub with a wire brush or wheel. And repaint those spots. Annual frame maintenance. That's mostly dirt too.

 

2012's frame is in much better condition. I would vote no only if the 2012 is not 4WD. Hail damage not really an issue and can be fixed under the skilled hands of a PDR tech.

 

It's definitely 4WD, that's not even an option around here haha.

 

I hate rust. Period!
I'd take a little hail damage over more rust anyday.

 

Here are some random thoughts on this. In general the first thing I look at is the mileage. Mileage is the vehicle killer. Everything wears out or breaks at some point. The higher the mileage the more things you can expect to wear out or break. In this case there’s only about 30000 miles difference. Not a biggie but something to consider.
Things like wheels , tires, upgraded sounds I don’t really care about since I can replace those to what I want. Those are cosmetics. I do care about the general condition of the vehicle interior and exterior. Body work and paint if needed can be expensive. Rust is bad as you are looking at the integrity of the truck, the frame, the suspension and so on. Rust is probably a deal killer for me. The truck with the hail damage, how bad is it? Again fixing dents and especially paint is expensive.
Sounds like you are just getting started looking for Tacos, personally I’d keep looking.

You have an F350 and you are going to a Taco? An F350 is a monster. That is some major downsizing. Other than that they are both called a truck that is the only similarity between the two. That’s kind of like going from a Harley to a Honda 150. Hope you like the change. Good luck in your search.

 

I recently went from a Sierra 1500 to the F350, then my needs changed and I don't need to haul anything anymore or put snowmobiles in the back. I also need to get some of the equity out of that F350 for problems with a rental house, so I'm looking for something that I can drive reliably for 2-3 years and then maybe keep after when I buy my next truck. I hunt, fish, ski, etc, and have a dog, so I thought finding a Taco with a topper would be a good bet. My other option was an F150, but I have enough friends who have had major problems with them after 100-150k miles that I'm hesitant there.

When I'm home, I drive up to 500 miles a week, so I would rather get rid of the F350 before I rack up too much more mileage. It only has 31k now, and value will drop faster than the Taco mileage-wise.

I think my sweet spot would be a 2013 Taco with about 100k miles, but I haven't found one in good condition yet close to me. And I'm not going to fly and buy on a used truck because if I get there and it's crap, I don't want to deal with it.

edit: I also don't care about the wheels and tires much, unless they are pretty much what I would put on anyway. In the case of the 2012's, I can live with the wheels for a year or two and the KO2s are my go-to.

 

Thanks for all your input. I've decided to steer away from the 2010 and think about the 2012 a bit. He wants $19k min, and that's $1k above the high end of KBB so I'm hesitant to go that high.

 

No rust buckets

 

Hail damage can severely affect the value of a vehicle... usually pretty expensive to fix either with PDR or more in depth it can vary from like 15 to 30 bucks per dent. If they want near blue book value on it with the hail damage I'd have to say pass on that. I'm not sure what the exact damage is on the vehicle but just thought I'd chime in here. Our other vehicle got hail damage on the hood, roof and trunk and it was almost 6k insurance paid out to fix.

That being said the 2010 also looks little too rusty IMO. I would pass on both and keep looking, you would find something better.

 

Offer 17 k max.

 

Thanks, that’s good info. I’m still waiting for a better picture of the hail damage, but I do know the owner took the insurance check and didn’t fix it.

 

Thanks, that was pretty much spot on with what I did.

 

Says a lot about how they probably cared for the truck, Both get a 'NO' vote from me.
Keep looking. You'll find the right one.

 

Just a point to remember that the TRD Sport does NOT have a locker in it - uses the ABS to pulse the rear brake on side spinning.
TRD Off-road is available with an e-locker that can be engaged in 4-low only as designed.
When you engage the locker in 4-low the engine management and traction control are shut off so you can dig out without computer interference.
So depends on what you really want to do with this truck. Dealer will do a free frame inspection so some sellers may have already done this - ask.
Frame weld rust is pretty common and a wire brush, rust neutralizer, then spray cans will fix/slow way down but requires several hours of dirty work.
Not sure how common the DCLB Off-road was as most are DCSB.
Good luck finding that perfect Tacoma.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm aware of the Sport not having the locker, which I'm okay with for a year or two. My Sierra 1500 had the e-locker, which I probably used more than I'm aware in snowy situations.

The DCLB Off-Road didn't exist before 2016 (at least from my research), so if I want a 2nd gen DCLB, I'm stuck with a Sport.

 

Hmm, I wanna say that I've seen plenty second gen double cab long beds with the TRD OR package around here but could be wrong.

 

I’m happy to be proven wrong, but I’m gonna need a link or picture (with more than just the OR sticker haha)!

 

You're definitely incorrect. Offroad DCLB is a 3rd gen only configuration.

 

Wow I had no clue, learned something today.

 

Thanks, I’m glad I wasn’t on a complete wild goose chase!