First thread Guys: Help me with Decision on Getting this Tacoma or Not

u mean they paid 14 k to undercoat it and it came back messy and nasty?

 

RED FLAG

No way, brother. I'd never buy a vehicle off of eBay without being able to inspect it first.

Although they might have a 30 day return policy or something, or a visual inspection before you take it. I would wait until you can see it in person

 

Tell him to bring a hammer and to hit the frame right where the front hanger is for the rear leaf springs. That was the #1 area where frame rust became a major issue.

If the hammer hits solid steel and it feels fine, you're probably good to go. If the hammer hits crunchy steel or puts a hole in the frame, walk away.

The fact that some of those components have surface rust and your frame is apparently perfectly painted makes me suspicious about what they might be trying to hide.

 

No, the undercoat was nasty, and warrantied. That warranty led my frame to be replaced

Agreed.

I'm thinking the same thing

 

My experience of Ebay motor auctions. Found a white 2004 taco DB 4cyl with only 26k miles. They had it listed as 16k buy it now and bid started at 100 dollars or something. I checked the location of vehicle and it was 15 odd miles from where I live. When I got there it was nothing what they had posted for their description. Paint was faded, they couldn't start the engine, interior looked more for a car that had over 200k miles, almost torn tires, engine leaking some type of fluid. I asked the sale guy really this has 26k miles, 'yeah read the odometer'...I just walked away. If I remember correctly auction finished at 16k. Poor smuck who bought it and had it shipped. I'm sure they detailed it before shipping, but there is no way it had 26k miles.

Well that my story on ebay motors...

 

OP I looked at the pics again. It has to much rust, look at the spare wheel. I wouldn't risk it since tacomas have rust issues.

 

I'd ask if the frame was replaced by Toyota.

I'd also ask why there is black paint on the rear shock body.

 

I noticed that. Looks like paint overspray

 

I could have sworn with eBay vehicle transactions, you get like one all out self inspection and have to accept the vehicle from the shipping company, and if you don't then they deal with shipping it back and you get a refund

 

It's up to the seller...ebay protection is for mileage discrepancy(exmaple liste as 5k miles you recieve car and it 10k miles, car is totaled during transport me thinks...as long as the seller documents everything per ebay rules. It's your car once it's purchased.

 

I would at least go through PayPal....then you can dispute the shit out of it. If they don't document rusted frame and you receive it like that, some pictures of a hammer going through the frame should make paypal give you your money back because the seller was not honest about the condition. Paypal is super buyer friendly.

 

Agreed. It has enough rust to scare me. The rest has been prettied up. It looks like a Broker turnover type of vehicle.

 

Acutually found it on Cars.com and was also on auto trader. A friend of mine who has a friend who lives near the dealership went to check it out for me and he aint a rookie. He checked it out online the night before he went up there the next morning and it checked out fine on paperwork as well as in person. Also the guy I know that knows him, aint no slow leak either. They are pretty nit picky when buying/fixing things.

Thanks though guys for all of your help and opinions

 

I see overspray everywhere, it was either undercoated quickly or repainted (due to rust prevention or hiding bad rust). I would make sure it is inspected as first gens and second gens have frame rust issues pretty bad.

 

always heard about how toyos run forever with kept up maintenance so how and the heck could they have had frame issues with rust on the 1st Gen's if they build a proper and strong running truck?

 

They will run forever, just maybe not drive forever. Haha

 

You should be able to take the VIN to Toyota and verify if the frame warranty is in effect. If the truck came from a location where it was inspected and undercoated before the deadline (2011/2012 or something) then then frame is warrantied against rust though until about 2019 (15 years past first in service date). If the truck was never inspected or coated, its no longer under warranty and you are taking a much greater risk.

 

This. Good info.