Buy or not? Salvage Title w/ Pictures

Hi all,

First time poster, just got the account tonight. Had a 2000 Ford Ranger for a bit... thing was a piece of junk, always falling apart. Now looking to get a Tacoma, my wife has a '98 4Runner with 278k, still going strong. Needless to say, I'm convinced.

Anyway, I found a deal through USAA on a 2019 Tacoma TRD Sport for $22,800. What's the catch? Salvage title.

I am not familiar with the 3.5L, let alone these cars at all. However, I am not afraid of working on them, having done many head gaskets, timing belt/chains, automatic tranny swaps in my while on this earth. The current owner/guy who fixed it said he has replaced the radiator, hood, grille, and headlights, although looking at the pictures, it seems a bit more was replaced...

I can get it for about 66% of MSRP, which makes it appealing, but not if it's going to be a headache. Beside the obvious damage (radiator support, crooked hood), what would you be concerned about? Frame? Engine? What's likely to be damaged in a front-end collision like this obviously took?

What do you think??

Here's the before:





And the after:

 

Noooooo

 

I would not, im sure you can find a good deal on another Tacoma that hasn't been crashed.

 

Honestly looks like a half ass patch job to me. I'd steer clear

 

Hell to the no.

 

Run as fast as you can away from that thing. With all the wuhan virus thing going on there are some really good deals on most items right now just need to look for them.

 

salvage titled vehicles, no matter how well they are repaired, still have a value stigma, and are worth approx 50% of normal used values. you would already be behind the ball. run, dont walk away from this. Ski

 

Looks like shit still

 

X2

 

Also, unless you’re paying cash, you’d be screwed...

Pretty sure most banks won’t issue a loan on a vehicle with a salvage title, no matter what it’s worth or how new it is!

 

Run away fast

 

I would not want anything to do with that thing. It looks like it has been hacked back together. Not to mention it would probably cost a couple grand to get the front end repainted.

 

I don’t think you’re going to find a decent 3rd for less than $25K unless it’s a base model and/or has really high miles; My uncle paid $25K cash for his mint 2017 AC TRD Sport with only 17K miles on it last year, but his is a 2WD.

 

And the condenser and radiator have been removed in the before photos; No way of knowing how well they were installed...

I wouldn’t be surprised if the truck overheated while you were stuck in traffic or the A/C suddenly stopped blowing cold. Avoid this truck like the plague!

 

Maybe if it was going for 66% off of msrp?

The grill is crooked as hell. Makes you wonder what kind of shape is everything else that you can’t see?

 

23 grand for a salvage?


Looking at those panel gaps, I wouldn't even be willing to ride if I was drunk and that truck showed up as my Uber.

 

Why did they total it? The damage doesn’t look like it was too bad, and I’ve seen vehicles with much worse damage not get totaled...

I’m guessing unseen frame damage and/or airbag deployment...?

 

Looks like a $500 rig to me.

 

Uber runs VINs and won’t allow salvage title vehicles...

 

Absolutely not