Should I buy a 2008 with 266k miles?

Any car salesmen/women here that could offer an informed opinion? If the dealer’s asking $10K, they probably gave the guy ??? in trade-in?

You can also punch the VIN in here to see when it was first put into use and what it came with from the factory:
https://www.toyota.com/owners/my-vehicle/vehicle-specification

It came w the tow package- that’s a good thing whether you tow or not!

 

You can't compare a 5 lug w/ a 4x4. It's damn near two different vehicles.

 

For that price and miles, it better have stacks of maintenance records. PS rack, tie rod ends, lower control arms, front and rear wheel bearings, heater blower resistor, AC compressor, transmission service, serpentine belt, as well as regular oil changes, and diff oil changes. If it doesn't have records for most of the things on that list, walk away. Even if you can get it for $8K, if you have to do all those things, you're gonna be up there in cost where you could have just bought a lower mileage truck.

 

Check frame behind front wheels and cat converters.. it a a box part that gets internal rust

 

It's from a dealer? Screw those guys.

It's a nice truck, but no packages to me makes it a work truck at this stage of its life. I agree with others here that you should only consider buying it if you're prepared to do at least some of the repairs yourself or pay up for them as they come down the road. Assuming its not some cutrate used car outfit, maybe offer them $6.5k out the door including a 6 month drivetrain warranty? If they don't like it, walk away and don't feel bad.

 

I agree with this guy... both my tacomas are high mileage and I have replaced the full front end on one and most of it on another. If you dont like wrench on the weekend and/or not willing to potentially put 2k into new wearable parts then i would pass

 

A used truck with that many miles, I’d stay away from. Now a truck that you’ve been the only owner with that many miles and you know what the truck has been through, is a good truck

 

Depends on maintenance schedule.. You will see many posts on here about people with 200+ miles and claim they have never replaced a thing and how awesome it is... imo it is negligence.

 

Ship it my way if you don’t like it!

 

OP, if you knew that the truck was 100% sorted out and good-to-go then for $10K it would be worth it. Probably. But, the only genuine way to know sure would be talk with the previous owner. And, because you cannot, that $10K figure is high, I think. A price more around $7K seems reasonable to me — assuming you did you due diligence and gathered as much info as possible, and that nothing you saw set off alarm bells.

Even if the truck isn’t totally mint, if it lasts for at least a few years it will have been worth it.

 

I take issue with how little maintenance was recorded for this truck. I bought a used 2008 tacoma this year with almost 200k. The Carfax had a ton of maintenance records including very timely oil changes. I found out after buying it that Carfax was wrong on number of accidents. It showed zero but receipts in the glove box showed 3 repairs from accidents so keep in mind Carfax isn't 100%. It is odd Carfax didn't show "accident" but it did record maintenance for the same date and shop.

Well maintained Tacoma can last a very long time but it looks like you can't confirm for this truck. Unless you are ready to fork out a lot in repairs I would pass for a better one to come along.

 

I just looked at the Carfax on this. From 2016 to 2017, they drove it 70K miles in about 1 1/2 years. Holy Crap! What were they doing, running drugs from South America?

 

6k-8k would be the max I would pay for a Tacoma with 266k miles on it.

 

it wouldnt even come close to getting that kind of mileage

 

I would do a cash only deal $7250.00 or walk away

 

Only thing that concerns me on that truck and the Carfax is very little maintenance was listed on the report. I hope there were more oil changes than what's listed. Not sure with driving that many miles if the owner even bothered keeping up with routine oil changes. 3k miles oil change intervals would sneak up so fast on a truck driven that many miles that I can see the PO skipping a few.

 

This is interesting. Idk how Carfax really works. My Taco got bumped in a parking lot less than a week after I bought it and I had insurance pay after the deductible to get it fixed at a body shop. Is that on my truck's Carfax report as an accident? Also, how does a private seller who did their own oil, spark plugs, air filters, etc prove that the truck was well maintained?

(Sorry, don't wanna jack the thread, I'm just curious.)

 

At that point it is a personal assessment of the truck but you can inspect the wearable parts like bushing etc.. but it is always a gamble. My used tacoma blew a head gasket within the first 8 months i bought it. There was no way to tell that was going to happen.

The point is do your diligence and be prepared for worst case scenario. If you arent willing to wrench or pay for parts then dont buy a high mileage vehicle.

 

Carfax is depending on police or repair shop to report the accident. Not all of them do. Most accidents now don't even need to call the police. There is no way to be 100% sure unless the seller tells you or like me you find the receipts.

Advantage of buying from a private seller directly is you can talk to them about the history. Some may keep receipts from buying parts, oils, filters etc (I always keep these receipts minus a few oil/filter). You can still get a good idea of history even if they lost a few receipts. In the case here there is no way to tell since the 1 owner sold it to a dealer and there are some major maintenance that should have been performed on this truck by now that isn't showing. You would need a qualified mechanic to give it a thorough look over and hope for the best.