2000 Tacoma Rust Inspected and...

The hammer punched a hole through ... Cancer.

My problem is that they are telling me I have needed to have owned it for a year which I have not. Any Toyota bulletins state it needs to be registered to me in the United States.

Could anyone weigh in on experience? Hopefully I'm not sent home with a truck that has a hole in it because I have not owned it long enough. It is partially my fault since my research before buying this truck was poor.

I'm looking for something official fromToyota or trying to call someone at Toyota and get the truth on this matter . In surfin recent threads, some people say yes, some say no.

 

All I can tell you is my limited experience.

I bought my truck about 9 months ago. Prior to buying it I called Toyota USA and asked what would happen if I bought a truck that subsequently had frame rust problems. I was told that the warranty had been extended to 15 years provided the frame had been inspected by a Toyota dealer before some certain date (I don't remember what that date was) **if the truck lived in certain rusty regions**. Mine didn't live in those regions so that requirement was not on my truck and the warranty would be honored for the full 15 years even if it was not inspected.

No mention was made to me by Toyota USA of length of my ownership.

 

Who told you it had to be owned for a year? The stealership or Toyota?

 

Ha! The dealership did. There is nothing in the bulletin from Toyota saying such thing.

In my opinion, it has nothing to do with the owner but rather the truck.

They are still going to send all the paper work and documentation to toyota, so more to come when that comes to fruition...

 

My experience was that after the frame was inspected I got the warranty in the mail. I had to ensure Toyota knew the VIN was from Mass. because dealership was in Texas. The hammer went throught the rail the first time and the dealership really wanted the work. Toyota did not offer buy back and said frame was still good to go. So a few years and numerous beach trips later with no rinse I took it to a Houston dealership and they really pushed Toyota. I got a new frame and free 2013 Tacoma rental for 2 mos. both dealerships were really big helps, Toyota was a little slow. I am first owner, bought it new so I cannot speak to the owning it a year thing. My brother's buddy was buying used tacos in NH and taking them to dealerships for buybacks when that program first came out. I believe the business savvy exploits of guys like that ruined it for later owners of used tacos with frame rust. But then again Toyota should be responsible for all frame rust issues for a longer period of time. Just my .02

 

I can see some good reason for Toyota to have a 1-year rule or similar to prevent people from buying trucks with rusty frames for cheap, have the frame replaced and flip them for a profit, and keep doing it one-after-another.

But, if it is not stated in the bulletin or anywhere else then you should be good to go. Good luck John, I hope you get it replaced!

 

It seems like an exploitation to have been buying up bad trucks for the warranty, but the overall point is that it is still a bad truck. Nothing to do with the operator. If a frame splits at 70mph on a highway, I'm sure there would still be liability if it was day 1 or day 365.

Since this is a 2000, the frame replacement isn't an option. Toyota will likely make an offer to buy back.

I'll probably post my experience as this progresses.

 

Well I just got my offer call, and it was lower than I thought. 7.6K for my reg cab 4x4.

I will likely take it and break even on the truck, that way I wont have to fix the rust problems in the future.

 

You can always counter the offer. See what happens.

 

Where can I go to check if my truck qualifies?

 

In my case (98 ext cab) the buy back value was 1 1/2 Kbb value. I heard the 1 year ownership thing,i was driving on a towing tag for two years,registered it to me,and after a year took it in and had it inspected,but you dont have that luxury. I have also heard of guys buying them and taking them in for the buy back.