First Tacoma....Did I make a mistake?

Hey guys, I recently purchased my first Tacoma, a 1999 2.7L 4x4 reg cab. I live in Nova Scotia, Canada but the truck is originally from the U.S., it has 81000 miles and I payed $5500 Canadian for it. The guy that sold me the truck had it inspected 2 months before I bought it. I had checked out the frame and he confirmed the shop that inspected it said the frame was solid. He claimed the only issues were it needed an alignment, it had a bit of surface rust,and the front driver side corner was a little bent up from and accident he assumed it had been in. I was extremely happy with my purchase, until I got the truck home and noticed that the registration, which he had signed and left in the glove compartment when I came to pay for it had a "rebuilt vehicle" title. I wasn't happy to say the least that he did not disclose this to me. My immediate fear was the frame is bent......it doesn't appear to be but I won't know for sure until I have my mechanic look at it. As I got under the truck and inspected in a bit closer I also noticed that on of the cross members of the frame ( the second one from the back) looks like it pretty well rusted out. I'm stressed out about my purchase now and just wondering if guys may have any insight into what I should do. Are the cross memberseasily replaceable? I'm debating if I should even keep it... Thanks!

 

Not sure exactly what your frame looks like. Maybe if you can post some pics of it. I searched high and low for that cross member but I had no luck. What I did do was get some square stock and I dropped the gas tank and fabricated a new cross member with the square stock and then reinstalled the gas tank again. If I did it it can be done. I would first make sure your frame is straight and sound, if so then your truck can be saved and cross member replaced. If your frame checks out good and straight, replace cross member and then spray your frame twice a year with fluid film, that is what will keep it from rusting away.

 

call him back and tell him you want your money back. if he refuses, take him to court. he lied about the condition of the vehicle.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I will definitely get some pics of the frame up tomorrow!
As for getting my money back, I looked into the legislation on selling a used vehicle, and from what I understand when selling a car privately you don't have to disclose if it has a rebuilt title. In Nova Scotia at least. Still a slimeball move regardless though.

 

It's a 1999 truck. It's fine and that is great price. Drive and enjoy.

No one will be buying a clean title Tacoma with less than 100k miles for $5500.

We don't buy Toyota trucks to flip them. We drive them. When you hit 300k miles, it will sell for the same money whether it's a clean or salvage title.

All the trucks in my pics are salvage title trucks. I drive them all over the Midwest.

 

If its just the crossmember its not a bad deal as thats easily fixed/replaced. If you haven't seen already these trucks still sell for $10,000usd and up for a cleaner one.

 

I just don`t understand that most seem scared to death when it says salvage title or reconstructed title .

Here in Pa I can take my truck to a yard only because I don`t like the color in the morning with nothing else wrong with it.

Do the paper work come back the next day buy my same vehicle back of course at my loss !!

The same vehicle now has a salvage title

It is like buying any vehicle they all should be checked out the same .

Besides every 4x4 I ever looked at was used by the sellers Mother to go grocery shopping before the big blizzard and haul the cats to the vet.

 

Here a rebuilt title signifies that an insurance company has deemed the damage to the vehicle sevre enough that it is not worth fixing.

 

Just who decides it is not worth fixing ??

I have worked on cars that were totaled because the Air bag went off.

 

Rebuilt is better than salvaged title, right? Doesn't that mean that it was repaired and deemed fit for driving?

At any rate, if the truck runs well and the frame is in decent shape, that was a steal of a price you got it for. That mileage on a first gen out here would cost 3 times that. I got my '04 a couple months ago with 24k miles on it for $17k.

 

I don`t really think there are Any Federal Standards but I never really looked .

It seems to be state by state and different states seem to use different terms .

Here in Pa it is salvage or reconstructed been a few years since I bought any thing new( I am doing so good)

Reconstructed comes after your salvage title vehicle is repaired and inspected it can be a real paper work nightmare sometimes .