Advice on buying a Salvage Tacoma?

Thinking of buying Another Tacoma to make into a off road rig. Found a 08 Double Cab 4x4 SR5, and hes willing to take 11500 for it. Its got 150k miles which i know is a lot but for that price i might just rebuild it as soon as i get it. It was hit on the passenger side, and the shop im buying it from said they only had to replace the doors and one of the fenders. Carfax shows its only been in that accident. And says nothing about frame damage. Trucks interior looks cared for and has over 2 grand in its sound system. Is this too much for a Salvaged Tacoma? I'm never going to resell it so im not concerned about that. I live on the West coast so finding another 2nd gen on my budget (16500) is almost impossible. Any advice is appreciated.

 

being an 08 probably means it lacks the newer electronics which is a plus in my book.

I would have a hard time paying anything over 10k for salvage though. has it been dubbed road-worthy yet? or is it still un-registerable

 

The guy has had it for 2 years and it drives great. Feels the same as my 2010, as far as i can tell. The guy bought it as a project but decided to go with a WRX instead. I feel like it would be a good buy.

 

I mean has it been accepted by chp and dmv as road worthy? I believe all salvage vehicles have to go through inspection to be registerable. if it passed all inspections then yea, sounds like a decent buy

 

Does it actually have a salvage title, meaning it was at one point deemed a total loss, or was it just in an accident?

 

x2 this makes a difference in my decision.

 

Good luck finding a insurance company that messes with salvage titles.

 

they go through an inspection of the lights and labels and such... its not a mechanical inspection.


I dont know , ive learned that Salvage vehicles are more trouble than they are worth unless you have seen the damage to them prior to the fix and even then its not always worth it. If it was hit on the side it might or might not drive fine. I had a beater civic that took a slight hit to the passenger fender so now alignments are a bitch and the windshield always leaks when it rains since it never seals right . Just my 2 cents

 

Yeah well what i meant is that the guy has been driving it for 2 years in other words its passed the inspections. And it was never declared a total loss, just that one crash. The owner works for the only reputable Auto Shop in town, and will give me free maintenance for 6 months, and if anything goes wrong with it.

 

If the title is not clean I would stay away. Unless you want to make it a offroad ONLY truck.

 

Don't do it.

 

yeah well those are my plans. Already talked to my insurance company and they said i could get full coverage on it without a problem. It seems to me like there's nothing different between it and a non-salvage car other than the titles.

 

right on, starting to not sound too bad. . . .. only you can decide.

if I had the money aside to buy/build a trail truck, I would be very tempted. but then again, a used Polaris razor or something similar would also be tempting

 

So the title is salvaged...

Think about it. This is a $12,000 gamble. Just because the accident SEEMS insignificant on paper doesn't mean other components weren't damaged to a point of failing prematurely. Could be anything from small stuff to big ticket items like a new transmission. The free maintenance is a nice gesture, but it's not a warranty. Even with a 6 month bumper to bumper warranty, I'm betting they wont cover something that was caused by the previous accident. You'll be taking a huge risk with it, and in my honest opinion, it isn't worth it.

You can find a 2nd gen DC in Cali in your price range. Took me a FULL YEAR to find the truck I wanted at a price I could live with, and trust me, there were plenty of opportunities to pull the trigger. I'm glad I didn't.

 

Have had a couple of salvage vehicles in the past.

Just means the cost to repair was greater than the insurance company wanted to pay.

First one was in a fire. Did not plan to sell and was setup as a track car.

Never any issues insuring.

Just be extra careful to go over all of the truck. Check body seams for panel replacements to see if the is being honest. Check the frame notches to see if it has been in a frame jig to tug it straight.

I find it odd for a tacoma to be declared a loss since the resale on them is typically pretty high it would have likely been at least 10K in damage to claim as a loss a couple of years ago.

Since it is a future trail/rig truck there is alot less to worry about.

Other concern is airbags to see if they were replaced correctly of just snipped the light on the dash, they are pricey so some hide the fact that they did not replace them. Seen this a bunch of times.

Try to get a as much info out of them as possible ahead of time, write it all down as he tells it to you or what you can remember since it seems you have been there already and then go over the vehicle to see if they were actually honest.

 

I've had multiple salvage title vehicles. Both turned out to be good vehicles that lasted long time. You just have to pick those wisely. Statefarm had no issues insuring.

 

Price seems really high to me

 

Yeah I've owned a couple salvage cars also and have never had a problem with them. I got an 09 legacy with 45,000 miles for 6k, still havent had a problem with it. If he hadn't offered me the warranty i probably wouldn't have considered it. Only problem i got with it is the mileage, but i doubt ill even put 1k miles a year on it. The guy invited me to go talk with him and his father(owner of the shop). Seems like hes going through a lot of trouble to sell it, dont know if its a good thing or bad. If anything ill have the frame checked in Sacramento Thursday and if its straight and untouched i might go ahead and buy it.

 

Scenario #1: I take my 2002 Tacoma TRD Offroad, replace my hood with a skewp hood. Replace my grille with a satoshi mod (would never even consider that) and change out my bumper with an ARB. Yank my steering wheel and install one from a 2013 because I like it better. We call it a modded truck and possibly add some value to it but certainly do not subtract value.

Scenario #2: I run my 2002 Tacoma Offroad into the back of a car because my head was in my ass. I dent my hood, bend my bumper, crack my grille and the airbag deployed. A body shop declares the repair is limited to bolt-on cosmetic parts. Geico totals it because the airbag costs too much. We declare it a hunk of shit thats too dangerous to operate just because it has a salvage title.

Reality: The two Tacomas are identical in value and reliability. We buy into the insurance company BS and devalue the truck because we are hung up on the word salvage.

 

Great post.

This + Common sense/good judgment + Luck = A great deal. I wish TW had a "like" button for posts.