Pull the trigger? 13 TRD off road

Hey all! Back from the dead potentially, after 2 Tundras I'm looking to get back into a truck that isn't the size of a small country.

In passing I happened to find a 2013 TRD off road, thing was sitting in the weeds at repair shop with a faded for sale sign in the window. Asked the shop owner for the guys details and eventually got ahold of him

79,000 miles, one owner truck, originally from California but moved to VT. It's been hot oil undercoated every year since his move, frame and underbody are in great shape rust wise, and it's been serviced by the owners manual intervals

Cosmetically the truck is pretty poor. Both front and rear bumpers are beat up (not shown on the front, damage is on pass side), headlights are starting to get yellowed, paint is full of tree branch scratches, and there's significant rust bleeding from the lumber rack all over the paint as well. Also some actual paint missing by the rear corner of the bed (all in the pics)

The owner was very honest and admitted to freighting the absolute crap out of it multiple times (2500-3000 lbs of lumber on the rack) to the point I suspect he may have even bent the frame ever so slightly (look at the cab and bed gaps from top to bottom. I know side to side gaps are common, but not up and down).

He's asking $17,500 for it.

Basically I'm wondering if you all would pull the trigger and risk it on a cosmetically poor and hard worked truck, or pony up for a cream puff... I'm thinking the latter, but winter is coming and I'm getting a bit antsy as my lowered sc400s days are numbered here in VT

 

That gap is bad news. I've only seen it on 1st gens that are rotted out, but if its caused by abuse then its just the same to be worried about.

17k I'd want it to be in better shape than that. I'd rather have 150,000miles with better exterior condition.

 

Basically my sentiments exactly. But with the market as bullshit as it is right now I haven't been able to forget about this thing. I've been looking for months and anything reasonably priced is gone within hours or even minutes around here. But taking the rose colored desperation glasses off, the thing is pretty far from nice

 

That's a hard pass for me. If I was in the market for a vehicle I'd try like hell to postpone it for a couple years until the supply chain & market (hopefully) mean revert. And in the meantime just try to be patient, keep looking, and broaden the mile radius of where you're searching.

 

Id keep looking. Wait until the 2022’s start hitting the lot and you probably get a nice turn in. I looked for almost three months before I snagged mine at a small used car lot

 

Offer him 13k, be straight up and tell him it’s a beat up truck.

 

What if you loosen the bolts that hold the rear parts on and re-align them into position before final tightening
I imagine 3k lbs of lumber being loaded on pushed it down; I don't know if that's enough weight to bend a frame

 

bent frame and 17k don't mix. Walk far away from this one.

 

Yeah I'm with you all, I'll keep looking for a better one. The bent frame is just personal speculation at the end of the day, but it definitely doesn't look good by the body lines. Thanks for the input! I had basically come to the same conclusion but wanted to hear it from some others haha

 

I've been passively looking for almost 2 years, and actively for about 7 months. I just can't get over how awful the current market is. I really disliked my tundra but I'm sort of wishing I had held onto it right about now

 

I've been postponing as long possible for sure. I don't disagree at all, but my current winter car is getting to be a bit of a problem child due to rust and high mileage.

I'm waiting for that one diamond in the rough to pop up when I'm not working 6 days a damn week...

 

Tried that lol.

Got the whole "I never cared about looks" spiel from him.

Explains why it's been sitting long enough to fade the for sale sign I guess!