What's it worth? Any reservations? 2003 SR5 TRD Off-Road 232k miles

What do you think this is worth? KBB puts it at median of $7,100. But this has the topper too. One reservation I have is the seller has had the vehicle for only a few months. One owner before that, but he doesn't have any of the maintenance history or experience with the vehicle. Said he bought it for his kid to fix up as a cool first car but they wanted a jeep instead. Maybe true, maybe not...but either way I am not as confident as if the seller had been maintaining himself, had records, and had more experience the vehicle he was selling.

I have yet to check it out in person, trying to get that arranged soon.

TIA, hoping to join you all as Tacoma owners soon!

 

Check the frame for rust. Do a search for places to check. If it isn't rusted it would bring more than that around here in N.C. Looks like a decent truck

 

I'd get a really really good look at the underside. Good chance its got some rust.

Alos not sure if he's registered it, but there might be some tax implications depending on where it came from.

 

Welcome aboard new member
Black brake fluid=Neglected maint.
Flipping cars for $$$$$

 

Looks like it has a ton of rock chips on the hood too, you'll probably need to address that if you live where they use salt.

 

How many people actually change their brake fluid on a regular basis, or ever? I would venture a guess of 1 out of 10,000 cars on the road today, maybe more.

 

If the frame is as clean as they are making it out to be, that’s a great price for the CO market.

 

Thanks six5creed and 0xDEADBEEF. I was planning on spending some time underneath with a hammer tapping around and noting any flaking.

Thanks! you're saying you see the darker colored fluid in the brake fluid reservoir in the photo, or that it is something to look out for?

So you say $9,500 is a more realistic value for it? I know these things tend to sell above blue book, didn't know how true that was above 200k miles though. Thanks for the input.

 

I paid more than that for my 04 with 150k.

 

Who can say but I picked up a 87 4Runner for about the same reason .

Dad bought the 4Runner as a project for Father and kid.

Kid was over whelmed by peer pressure just had to have a Jeep

A bunch of new parts drove it home .

I never pay attention to any past so called maintenance history After the one Hook Has a new engine !! Only 80,000 miles ago when the truth was told

 

If the underside looks like the Arizona truck he says it is, there aren't any mechanical issues, and it has a clean title and hasn't been wrecked, then that's a good price.

 

Thanks everyone.

Any reason to be particularly worried about the mileage being over 200k? Should I be worried about anything beyond the frame and the fact that the timing belt (and likely water pump) was swapped at 175k ish miles? Piston seals? Transmission?

 

Timing belt and water pump replacement is routine maintenance every 90k intervals.


Mileage is almost arbitrary. A very well maintained 200k truck will be better than a poorly maintained 100k truck.

 

Check for leaks everywhere around & under the engine bay, and also at the rear wheels as axles seals can go out. Power steering leaks are also common.

 

People can trash a vehicle in a few thousand miles.

Each vehicle is always going to be different . We all have different areas we keep after

Some are the wash wax and vacuum polish the wheels go to the quicky mart for service

Others are into the drive train and live under the hood and under the truck .

Then some need to look and really are not sure just what manufacture built what they drive.

Some area of the 4x4 vehicle is always going to be neglected most times I put in an average of $1000.00 in parts .

Happy hunting

 

Update: saw the truck yesterday. Attached are some photos of the underside and the leaf springs. Looked pretty good to me. Only downside I really see are how many rock chips there were, would take a lot of paint to cover all of them. Also, I know you Tacoma owners aren’t scared of 200k+ miles but still makes me nervous. It drove pretty nice though and seemed to be dry and no leaks that I could detect.
The seller offered to take it to his Toyota mechanic and have an inspection for it, so I’m gonna hope nobody buys it between now and then and see if I can get a look at that report. I may take it to a mechanic myself if it’s still around next week just for peace of mind.

 

Wow, that frame looks great.

You could just throw one of these on and hide a lot of the chips...

 

That won’t be around next week.

 

Yeah that may be the case. Seller prefers a cash offer of course, but he is entertaining a trade for my current daily driver. He has a couple folks coming to look at it with cash so he will wait to see if they buy it before moving on my trade. Unfortunately, I don't have any cash right now to buy it until my daily driver sells.

 

Yeah that is a good idea. Should I be worried that the metal uncovered by those rock chips will rust if I don't paint them though?