Buying a 2010 Regular Cab 4x4. HELP PLEASE

Yea, meant to mention about the "dealer invoice" trick they try to pull. One dealer tried that on me as well. Two dealers let me walk before I found one who really wanted to sell the truck. You can definitely get a deal on the one you described. Nobody's going to pay a high price for a truck that's got rust on the engine (as minor as it may be). Also, I found that the regular cabs don't move that fast from the dealers cause there's not a whole lot of us who love them. One of the dealers I went to in July still has the same two trucks sitting on their lot. Mine was actually sitting in the dealer showroom when I bought it and it only had 6 miles on it. Would think that being that truck was sitting like it was and has some miles on it, you can get it for less than I got mine.

 

Thanks buddy. I told the salesman to give me a call if he changes his mind. I'm trying other dealers farther from home but none seem to have a 2010.

This is the same dealer I walked away from when I bought my 2001 Tacoma. They told me, and I'm not making this up, that the prices were high because they had to ship the bulk of Tacoma's over to Afghanistan for use against the Taliban! This was just after 9-11-01 happened. I'm not kidding you. I found one at another dealer for $2500 below sticker price.

 

After your Tacoma leaks water in side the cab, visor tabs break,clutch goes bad, 3 bad blower motors, radio problems,glove box broken, keyless broken, crap I cant even remember all the problems. Wait how can I forget the letter saying to take out my floormat so my carpet will be dirty when it crashes at a high speed. Copy this and offer them 5 bucks.

 

Tag, come armed with the link I posted about the invoice price if you want to give it another go with them. Or check out a lightly used. You should be able to snag a good one if you keep looking around.

 

On another note, regarding the frame rust, I would think Toyota has done something to help solve the problem. It cost them plenty of money. Keep in mind, surface rust is not penetrating rust. If you look at the frame of any truck, it's going to have surface rust. I had a '99 that the frame rusted through. As much as I miss that truck (lot of miles and good memories), it was one of the best things that happened to me. They gave me $13,395 for the '99 and I bought this one for just over $18k, can't beat that. I had no reservations about buying another one.

 

Thanks again. I'm amazed they wouldn't want this 2010 truck off the lot as they had about 15 or more 2011's sitting there as well. My dad always told me that you have to be willing to walk away from a car dealer in order to get a good deal and that's what I'm doing here.

I had all the figures you gave me with me at the time. He just glanced at it and went back to his paper which showed all the fees they have to pay for ads, transport etc. I could never understand how they can ask you to pay for their advertising fees to promote a vehicle that they are selling? I told him that $18500 was my rock bottom price and they could add in the sales tax and tag fees but that's it. He held firm at $19600 which is listed as "overpriced" or "above fair market value" on the websites I have visited by about $250. Plus, I swear he switched the sticker price. I needed to take a shower to get all the slime off me once I got home.

I may hold off until Spring or wait for some Tacoma incentives to hit the market. It's not like people are lining up to buy Regular cab Toyota 4x4's in my area. I live in Ford country and the gas guzzlers are all the rage around here due to the factory being nearby. I can't imagine paying $38,000 for a truck and then have it get 14 mpg on top of it. I'd be broke.

 

That's odd a few dealers here in New England run newspaper ads for trucks like this all the time for around $18,500 brand new. Of course if the frame on yours is getting rusty don't wash it and drive in lots of salt. Maybe by spring they'll buy it back!

 

I'd have a new truck by now if I didn't take care of it so well. There's not an '01 Tacoma for sale within 500 miles of my house. In fact, there are only 4 listed on EBAY now and they have massive miles on them with none being regular cab 4x4's. These trucks are getting hard to find

 

look for another toyota dealer in a nearby town. call them and get a price quote on the same truck. use this info to play the dealers against each other. you can always round the numbers from the other dealers quote. and nice job not letting them switch numbers around on you. I had some issues with that. I bought the same truck an 09. for $19300 otd w/ the 120,000 mile warranty.just drag them out. i bet you will get a call back. I also made them throw in a free bed extender.

good luck

 

Use the phone and call some more dealers. I think I paid $19k (plus tax & title) for my 2010 regular cab 4x4, with the SR5 package. That was after some kind of rebate, though, so the price was probably $19,500 minus a $500 rebate; I don't know if they are currently offering that or not. It took an afternoon of phoning around to all the "internet managers" (basically fleet sales) at all the dealers within a few hours drive, but I ended up with a price I was happy with. The truck has been great and the 4 cylinder has been fine for my needs.

 

Invoice pricing is available online and in a few of those consumer guide books. IMO asking the dealer for invoice pricing is akin to asking poker opponents to show their cards.

From http://www.autobuyguide.com/2010/12-aut/toyota/tacoma/pricing/index.html
2010 Toyota Tacoma Base 4WD 2-Dr Reg Cab L4
MSRP $19,305.00
Invoice $18,085.00
Destination $800.00

This is of course before taxes and PDI (which most dealers won't budge on). Add about $100 to the invoice for the sliding window. Theoretically, if the dealer were to sell it to you at cost:
($18,085 + $100 sliding window + $800 dest. + $150 PDI) x 1.09 taxes = $20,857 out the door

The other reasons you noted (300 mi on the odo, underhood rust) are enough to walk away from the truck.

The 1st gen. frames are made by Dana. The 2nd gen. frames are made by Hino (Toyota's heavy truck division), so there were some fundamental design- and process changes.

 

'11 R/C 4x4 auto

Just did it...20 and change OTD.

Limited market where I live for this vehicle...But in the end I got it for 12 Dollars less than in the lower 48.

Waited until this rig was "on sale"...For me the only way to get bucket seats was going with the auto in the '11...'cuz immediately after my buy, the dealership sold two '10's with 5sp and a bench for 17k and change.

Autotrader.com is your friend...there are lots of r/c 4x4's out there left over and discounted...For me I'd end up paying more 'cuz of the flights and travel home...So the poker face worked for me...this time.

ks

 

I must be doing SOMETHING wrong as these guys near me won't budge an inch on price despite the Tacoma's not moving from the lots! Where are you guys located that are getting these great deals on 2010-11 regular cab 4x4's? These crooks around me would rather let it rot than sell it at cost even if it's been on the lot for 10 months or so. I'm in western NY state. I may try some PA dealers if any are near Erie.

No specials or sales happening on Tacoma's in my area. I'm working the internet and my best price so far was $19500 on a '10 4x4 manual regular cab with no options and a sliding glass window. It had around 300 miles on it. I'm in no hurry at all so the search goes on. I just thought the "stealers" would want the one and only 2010 sold and would let it go at cost! I can get a 2011 for what they are insisting on this test drive model 2010.

 

Sounds like you're doing the right thing.

Only thing I can add is that the low volume dealers in more rural areas have to make more per car than the huge mega-dealers in urban areas. The biggest dealers are the ones that can afford to make 100-200 per car sold.

If they're gonna hold close to invoice, go ahead and switch over to a 2011. A one year newer truck will hold resale value much better for the first four years or so.

 

I just used the phone. I called every dealer within about three hours of here, asked for the "internet manager," told them I was ready to buy and described what I was looking for. Some of them never called back, some gave stupid high prices, and a few gave nice low prices. With Edmunds and truecar.com it's easy to know what invoice is, and what the rebates are, so once you get a good price you are done. So once they called back with a good price I just showed up, signed the paperwork, and drove home. It's a million times better than sitting in the office while a sales dude goes away "to talk to my manager" and all that dance. Also, if you are a Costco member, you can just use their auto buying program. When I bought my Tacoma the Costco price was about $200 more than I paid, which isn't bad for something so easy.

 

Thanks,
I'm trying the phone call thing and I'm getting some call backs. I'll tell you one thing, the largest dealer in western NY turned out to be the WORST. They razzle dazzle you with crap like multiple people running in and out of the salesmans office while you are sitting there, telling you that you "need" to fill out some paperwork while you wait, people claiming to be numbers managers walking in and shaking your hand then leaving seconds later saying you'll get the best deal possible, etc. They also told me they'd have the truck "warmed up, cleaned of all snow and ready for a test drive" well before I came down. I even made an appointment and the truck was filthy, covered in road salt, bed was PACKED with weeks of ice and snow and it had NO GASOLINE in it.

Now I'm getting calls from the customer service manager "wanting to earn my business". I've purchased vehicles made by many different manufacturers and I hate to say this but Toyota is the most PAINFUL to deal with. Stay tuned as I'm not budging off $18500 for that used, test drive truck with 300 miles on it. No way....

 

Have you tried any of the internet buying services, e.g. USAA. I used American Express for mine, got prices from the three closest dealers, $500 over invoice and no argument at all when I went in with the quote in hand.

 

Thanks for the USAA tip. I'll give them a try. I'm so tired of these dirt bag dealers......makes me long for the day when I bought my Saturn.

 

I found the smaller family dealers are better to negotiate with. I bought mine in Flemington, NJ (not sure how far that is from you).

 

Did you check www.truecar.com or Edmunds? When I put in a zipcode in upstate NY, it gives me a price of $20,248, which included $1198 of destination and ad fees -- basically, a price of $19,050 plus fees. My gut sense is that you could do a bit better than that but not by a lot, unless Toyota has new rebate programs going. Right now you can get a $500 rebate on a Tacoma out here (but I don't know if that's national), plus there are college grad and military rebates, too.