How far have you traveled...

....to buy a vehicle?

I'm looking at a pretty nice Tacoma but its 1,300 miles away. Not sure if I'd drive or fly if I decided to buy it.

Any words of advice or have any good/bad experiences to share?

 

Where is the truck at? I would see if we have a member near by that would be willing to go check it out for you.

 

It is near Rochester, NY in a town called Canandaigua.

 

Well that's no where near me. I'm sure there is a New York thread. That's where i'd be asking.

 

If you can find one closer to you.

 

If it was in a dry climate like Arizona or California i'd consider it, but not anywhere that rust would be an issue.

 

I can't.

 

Here are the photos the dealer just sent me regarding potential rust under the frame. Looks pretty good consider the area.

 

the ONLY reason I bought a newer Tacoma to replace my 92 was for child safety and a/c. I would not consider it an upgrade, more of a switch for family friendliness. the money spent on a new, stock taco could make your 86 a beast and keep money in the bank.

that being said, I would not go out of my way for a newer Tacoma. wait for the right one at the right price in the right area. unless you have some circumstance that more or less requires a newer truck right now.

 

Details of the truck and what do you consider a good deal?

I see a lot of used trucks around here.

 

I'm looking for a silver or white double cab 4x4 with TRD and tow packages with low-ish miles.

This one has 66k miles and is going for just over $20k. I have searched my area for like 5 or 6 months now with nothing showing up, and when it does, it is way overpriced.

By the way, Oregon isn't any closer than NY to me

 

the circumstances are: I gave my old truck to my parents and I don't have a truck at the moment. I've had my eyes on getting a Tacoma for almost a year now, and I'm tired of waiting. Everything in my area is stupidly overpriced. It will literally be cheaper to go to NY and buy a truck than to buy one locally.

 

True, but it's really no farther either. Plus no salt on the roads here.

 

Did you see the pics I posted of the frame? They look pretty clean to me.

 

Might be perfect, they look pretty good. I'm just saying would suck to get there and the pics are better than the real thing.

If it were me I'd be leery of traveling 1,300 miles to a part of the country famous for rust.

Not trying to rain on your parade just stating what I would do.

 

I bought a F150 about 8 hours away from me. We asked for pictures of pretty much every angle inside and out after making it clear we were very serious about the truck. Got pictures of all the doors, hood, roof, etc in the sunlight to confirm there wasn't body damage or anything. Got the carfax history, haggled over the internet, flew there, and drove it back. It was a great truck.

 

I went and looked at it.

For a 2007 around here, it's pretty clean. Some rust, but nothing serious. If it were mine, I'd hit it with some POR15 in the worst spots.

 

Major props to @rleete for checking it out for me!