Wide range of Trade-in offers for branded title

I finally traded my 2018 TRD for a check. It's been enlightening and humbling. I bought in 2021, not quite the peak, but a crazy time to buy a used vehicle. I bought a Rebuilt Title with 20,000 miles for around 33k... I thought I'd be keeping it for a decade or more, but shit happens. I was also shaken by the potential for needing a new cylinder head, or an 8k repair bill from the dreaded P11Ex CEL... It has about 40,000 miles now.

The rebuilt title is what scares off a lot of buyers. I don't know I'd buy a salvage again, because reselling is a shit show! You never know if you'll need to sell sooner than you thought...

Dealer #1 offered 15,000
Dealer #2 offered 12,500
Dealer #3 offered 16,000
Dealer #4 offered 0, wouldn't touch it.
I posted online asking 27,000 and got zero interest in one week.
Dealer #0 (who sold it to me originally) offered 20,000 buy back.
I finally sold it to Dealer #5 for 22,000.

Anyway, I basically sold for 10,000 under what I got it for. Owned it for 30 months... put 2,000 in tires and maintenance to it. Overall, it cost me about $400/mo. to drive a 3rd gen taco for 2 and half years.

 

33k could have gotten you the same Tacoma without a rebuilt title.

 

Perhaps these days, but not in December 2021 with 20k miles. You think I didn't shop around?

 

33k could of gotten a brand new 2018 in 2018...

 

I admit 33k could get you a 4x2 new in 2018. But if you compare apples to apples, TRDs with any upgrades were in the 40s.

None of that really matters in the context of this thread. I'm talking about trading in a rebuilt 2018 in today's market.

Count yourself lucky if you didn't need to buy a truck just 2-3 years ago because even used trucks were going for more than new at that time!!

 

My trd offroad 4x4 longbed was $33,436 brand new in 2018. The price on that sheet is the "base value", its listed on all of them, my base value was $38,538
The problem is California more than anything. Got to travel outside of the state to get a deal.

 

Definitely the downside to salvage/rebuilt. If you go to sell it prepare to eat it big time.
Also recently sold my 3G and lost $1,400 over 19 months/23k miles. CarMax currently has it listed for $44,991 (original MSRP was $44,545).

 

Yup, I paid $33k for my new 18’ TRD OR 4wd w/tech package. I got it for under invoice.

 

Sorry but you WAY overpaid for the truck, and salvage titled vehicles have horrible resale. That hurts, but you live and learn.

The only way you can make good on one, is to get one that doesn’t have all kinds of gremlins pop up(not great odds) and to drive it until it rusts to dust.

 

LOL everyone's more interested in what I paid for the truck, not what I sold it for. We can talk about that more sure, how bad I got ripped off

I shopped around for about 3 weeks and saw a lot of trucks, Frontiers, old diesels... at that time used cars were absolutely crazy. It's the week I sold my '98 SR5 abused concrete-haulin beater with 205000 miles for $9,000. Thats just what the market was. I bought (and sold) in a high market. Sometimes life happens and you have to buy the best vehicle you can with the cash you have. Like got divorced and gave wife the SUV so had to have something bigger to drive the kids when I had them.

Based on my gen 1 absolute tank I was not expecting any gremlins to pop up in a modern Tacoma, but that GR2-FKS had other plans!

That post-covid used car market was a once in a lifetime! For some perspective the same dealer currently has a 2023 with 5k miles for $33k

 

The same dealer currently has a 2023 with 5k miles for $33k? That sounds like a bargain? Is it a 2wd base model or something?

 

The kicker nobody talks about is quite a few insurance companies won’t even ensure a salvage title vehicle. And I’m not talking just comprehensive. Some of these places won’t even ensure for liability only.

 

I bought my 2018 Sport 4wd new in 2018 with everything. no leather or sunroof with a platinum warranty for $35k plus my taxes and tags.

 

Everyone is so hung up on what you paid because how crazy that price was compared to what your being offered now for it. I paid 33k for my truck new, got a trade in offer last year for 30k, and my same truck is selling for 34k-35k on carmax right now. Salvage titles tank a cars value, but it seems when you got it, the dealer charged more because it was salvaged.

 

You traded it in because you feared you would get P11Ex CEL or have cylinder issues.


Was it acting weird to make you nervous? Or you just wanted it gone in fear of those issues?

 

When I got it for 33k the market was crazy high, that's the point I'm trying to convey. The dealer was just following the market at the time, like they all were.

Thats why the same dealer has a salvage titled '23 TRD Offroad Longed for 33k on the lot now, that you say is a bargain. The reality was 3 years ago 33k for a 2018 old salvage truck was a fair deal.

Allstate refused to insure it at all, which sucks because then I couldn't bundle it so I had to pay about 20% more insurance. National General did insure it comprehensively, then I switched to Root for lower premiums.

I got the CEL and failed leak down... it still drove fine after clearing the code every couple hundred miles. I feel fine about trading it in to a dealer for a little less than selling privately for a little more.

 

Anytime you hear "salvage title" run away as fast as you can

 

You will hear the same from me. It does not matter what you got for trade in, I would never pay $33,000, or $36,000 for a Tacoma with 49,045 miles. Could have bought brand new, should have looked around.

 

Lol, you can if you want. But salvage title means absolutely nothing. It's an invented concept that insurance companies invented to make more profit. In reality it's just a "title".

My 1991 has a "salvage" title after hail damage it experienced in 1994. It's important to know why it was originally totalled but if the work to rebuild it was completed. The truck is fine.

 

I'd buy a salvage truck depending on the before pictures and work quality, but I would run it to its grave no matter what.

I have an 08 civic hybrid that I've spent about 3K this past year on, it has 255K, but it's paid for and gets 45mpg or better. I know I'm spending more than it's worth, but I should be able to keep it going to at least 500k and most parts are that expensive....it just sucks when you do a bunch at once.

What's the plan for your next ride?