Dealer Charging Too Much?

Interesting, your choice vehicle? My dad hates trucks until he needs one, so a little rebelliousness led to me buying a bunch of them over the years.

 

I wanted a pickup truck, and my dad kinda did too. I wanted the red 2010 AC 5-lug SR5 they also had on the lot at the time, but my dad thought it was too expensive for my first vehicle and doesn't really like red vehicles. My parents also wanted a vehicle with no backseat to discourage me from bringing more than one friend at a time along for the ride...

 

Yes they are. And I'm afraid I will lose out, if a cash buyer gets it. I really should just focus on losing my current ride and then checking the market afterward I guess. I only have a bike as the alternative or a spare late model Rogue (sister), ending it's lease soon (closing in on mileage limit).

 

I saw a base model 2002 RC 4x4 with 104K miles and NO AIR-CONDITIONING on the lot at a local dealer about 2 years ago; They were asking $7,500! This truck had some minor body rust, and in addition to not having A/C and intermittent wipers, it also did not have tilt steering!

 

Not surprising LOL. I got an almost 2 year old V6 rental car, as my compromise. Not the X-Runner or TRD OR I envisioned back in the day, but it was my primary for 5 years. I actually envied one guy at school with an '07 RC 4x4 5-lug 5mt.

 

Wow. I just didn't know what I'm dealing with, in regards to dealers and used Tacos. The bank is being stupid, considering I recently paid off an expensive auto loan account in 17 months and had many other vehicle loans, yet acting like I have 5 repos or no history. Only 1 late payment in all my history. Just the dealer making it difficult.

 

https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/264474857937

 

I know a guy who lives in Hong Kong, who drives an old Rolls-Royce. Trucks are the polar opposite of what he likes in a vehicle, and while he praised me for buying a Toyota over a Ford, he told me he couldn't understand why Americans loved their SUVs and pickups so much. To be quite honest, he makes a good point, because even I don't know why I love trucks so much. However, back in 2009 the Tacoma was just a free brand new vehicle given to me by my parents because I had done good in school and managed (for the most part) to stay out of trouble (I've never been arrested, but I did get suspended a couple times in middle school for getting into fights with kids who bullied me). I really had my heart set on a pickup truck, but I would have been happy with whatever my parents gave me. My only requirements were good A/C, good heat, and a stereo system with an AUX input for my iPod. In September 2009, when we bought the 2010 Tacoma I still have, there's a good chance my parents may have decided not to buy a new Tacoma and I could have ended up with any one of the three following vehicles:

• The 1996 Nissan Pathfinder we ended up trading for the Tacoma
• My mom's 2004 Honda Odyssey EX
  
• My Grandma's 2000 Buick LeSabre Limited

 

Dunno about now, but at one time Marines were most certainly in charge of security and the Brig on large ships.
A buddy was on the USS America, late Vietnam War.
He got caught with a little weed and was in the Brig for awhile.
The Gyrenes were not nice to him.
At all.
Anybody know what Gorilla Jumps are?

Anyway, if I were the OP I wouldn't touch that Tacoma in post #1. Ugh.
And I'd reconsider expanding the search radius and potential travel distance.

 

@GRN245

The Tacoma met all three of my requirements (A/C, heat, and an AUX input), but the factory stereo sucked. Up until I finally got fed up with the lack of "oomph" and replaced the entire stereo in April 2013, all three vehicles listed above had way better sounds systems than my Tacoma. The Pathfinder had an aftermarket Alpine CD player with six factory speakers (though the Pathfinder's stereo did not have an iPod hookup); The Honda had a factory AM/FM stereo with cassette, CD, and six speakers; The Buick also had CD and cassette, and like eight speakers (It was called Concert Sound II and sounded amazing for a factory system in a literal Grandma car).

My dad drives a 2018 GMC Yukon SLT and my mom drives a 2013 Nissan Murano SV; Both have factory Bose stereo systems. In my opinion, the Bose system in the Nissan sounds good but has absolutely no balls in terms of bass or overall "oomph". The Yukon's Bose system sounds better than the Nissan's, but still cannot hold a candle to what I've got in my Tacoma right now; My Tacoma presently has a Pioneer touch-screen head unit, a JBL GTO component speaker system, a Rockford Fosgate Prime external amplifier that powers the JBL speakers, and a Kicker Hideaway 8" powered subwoofer with its own built-in amp. There are plenty of hardcore systems that are much louder and bassier than the one in my truck, but very few high-end factory systems can touch the $600 system in my truck in terms of overall sound quality.

 

Enlighten us; What's a Gorilla Jump?!?! And also, possession of weed wasn't grounds for a dishonorable discharge?

 

They made you semi squat and bend over.
Then you had to pound your chest with your fists and jump.
And yell A-ooh-gah!
You had to do it until you got it right.
Or else.

I think they let him finish his hitch with an honorable discharge.
He had plenty of company back then.

 

My dad joined the Navy right out of college and as such was an officer; He joined in 1982, when seemingly everybody was doing the Colombian nose candy...

He told me that he disciplined a few of his subordinates severely after he made them take a drug test and they tested positive for cocaine. Failing tests for weed was also common; The guy would claim they were only around someone else who was smoking weed, but I know from experience that this is bullshit...

I'd be lying if I told you I didn't smoke weed once, but that was back in 2015 and I literally did it only once when a friend offered it to me and I was curious about it. I've never done coke, meth, or any harder drugs, and I never will...

From September 2018 to June 2019, I detailed cars at a dealership. On December 29th, 2018, I had a minor fender bender while backing a 2016 Subaru Outback out of the wash bay. I had been hanging out in close proximity to a friend who was smoking weed in her bedroom not even a week earlier; Guess what? I passed the mandatory drug test, and since it was my first "offense" I didn't have to pay for the damage to the car. I gave my two weeks notice in June 2019 and left on good terms because I realized that detailing vehicles other than my own was not for me...

I have been in the presence people smoking weed on a few occasions, and I can tell you it is not possible to get a "contact high" under normal circumstances.

I still feel bad about the damage I did to that Subaru though; Keep mind that the car was a 2016 and it was December 2018 when this happened. This 2-year old Subaru had only 3,900 miles and was immaculate. The buyer had put a deposit down on the car and planned on picking it up less than an hour after I'd sideswiped a pole.

 

I’ll trade you a 07 Tacoma for said raptor..........

 

I've seen that truck for sale, but felt it was too worn down for the age (see shift knob), suspicious (old taillights?) and too far away (Oregon). I have to think a bit harder about the advent of buying online from elsewhere, as that might become very important.

That Pathfinder would've been a nice first vehicle, so I can see your point. I've not only owned trucks (in my name) and particularly when push comes to shove, I am very narrow minded in terms of truck selection. At Ford, only a Raptor or nothing (maybe a Mexican Ranger, not US I4). The only other truck I am willing to pay for, would be a Tacoma, but that's solely because of 4x4 6-cylinder + 6MT combo. Frontier is nothing special to me, like the first generation, so will never consider it.

Only because of retaining utility, that I decided to stick to a truck for now. Otherwise, I was considering a Civic Si or Accord Sport 2.0t 6MT. Anything is better right now than paying almost $900 a month!

Well, I have very little choice unfortunately in this case. As someone finishing up his BSME, I can't travel around for to buy a vehicle, unless it's delivered. Very senseless risk, but I would very likely need to fly. Spending any money (other than a downpayment or towards equity), isn't a good idea for me. The only vehicle I can use to head out away from my area, is my current truck, which is nearly 100k in mileage and my goal is to sell before it reaches that exact 6 digit figure.

I am going to simply tell the dealer, I will only do business at $16-17k flat and nothing more. If they take issue with that, they can find another buyer willing to swallow $20k+ for a 10-year old Tacoma, subjective mods. The light bar is nasty, which thankfully can be removed. I imagine the aftermarket headunit with Nav/backup camera in dash (supplementing 2009-11 mirror cam), is the only real benefit I see with that truck.

The biggest thing I can't stand, is the steering is quite vague from the oversized mud tires and those are noisy themselves.

 

Is it a TRD OR 6-speed? I do not own the title to my truck and owe money on it still, so likely not feasible. I never intended to buy my Raptor, but a momentary lapse in judgement led to me signing papers and throwing away $5k in cash. In hindsight, would've just bought this instead.

 

“I've seen that truck for sale, but felt it was too worn down for the age (see shift knob), suspicious (old taillights?) and too far away (Oregon). I have to think a bit harder about the advent of buying online from elsewhere, as that might become very important.”




I understand completely about making that kind of a purchase that far away. I wouldn’t do it. Especially a northern region vehicle. Just an example of what your looking for Your manual transmission fixation coupled with dealer gouging is making your search very difficult.

 

Not a 6 speed but saving 900 a month will get you one pretty quickly..

 

Yep, I knew I wasn't imagining "Northern region" concerns lol. But weirdly enough, that's where the majority seem to be. Trying to understand why the market seems to be devoid of southern/southwestern examples of that time period (Sept '04 to July 2011 prod)?

You're more likely to find newer ones in SW states, but in my specific area, the market is just utter sh*t. Whether new or old. Two dealers within city limits or 2-3 others (in USA) in Southern NM.

I walked away from it. Hopefully they can't sell it, but a lot of people will fall for it I imagine. Market here is just awful, in this stupidly isolated metro. Ideally a Speedway Blue, TRD OR Access Cab 4x4 is my top choice. Followed by 2011 TX Pro. Too bad I guess.

 

I know beggars can't always be choosers, but I think right now it's the only vehicle type, that will help me get over my vehicle fetish and stick with something for a very long time. A few people keep trying to say it's also "too much" vehicle. I hardly think so, coming from a Raptor. One person thinks paying even $14-15k for a 10 year old 130k mi Toyota is stupid (but what do they know?), let alone $20k+.