So I'm finally picking up a tow vehicle this weekend!

ric · **Posted:** Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:41 pm

The price is right in line with NADA and Kelly Blue Book. 2007 with 85k miles is right at 16. I'm paying cash so he went to 15. These trucks are hot and hold their value very well, so dealers asking 18-20 can get it. This truck is in South Florida and the market there is TOUGH. That's the same area I buy all my boats at for 5-10k cheaper than what you guys pay up north. I got my Stingray probably 20 miles away for 14, and sold it for 22 a few months later.

I ran the VIN with Toyota and Carfax. Two owners. First owner did all his service at the dealership and put nearly 70k miles on it, traded it in. Second didn't do dealer service on record and traded it in after a year, that dealer sold it at auction and that's how this dealer got it. All recalls fixed. Spotless carfax. No real red flags except it's an auction car. That doesn't mean anything though, it never lived in an area with any natural disasters or anything. The title is spotless.

Bliss36 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:00 am

ric wrote:

I ran the VIN with Toyota and Carfax. Two owners. First owner did all his service at the dealership and put nearly 70k miles on it, traded it in. Second didn't do dealer service on record and traded it in after a year, that dealer sold it at auction and that's how this dealer got it. All recalls fixed. Spotless carfax. No real red flags except it's an auction car. That doesn't mean anything though, it never lived in an area with any natural disasters or anything. The title is spotless.

Red flags...I see a few. Looks like the airbag was replaced on 4/30/13 at 84,446 miles RO#0099964 and the notes say the airbag light was still on after replacement. That was in April and only a couple hundred miles since? Don't trust a Carfax....check all the panels for their VIN tags and see how many panels have been replaced. Also climb underneath and check the frame for welding or elongated holes in the frame where it was pulled on a rack to be straightened.

6/24/13 @ 13:23:25. 11 DTC's cleared. C1203,C2122,B2799,B1786,C1241,C2121,C2123,C1336,B1785,C2124,B1650. Checked and cleared at Marietta Toyota but no repair notes?

11/20/2008 Mileage 66999 Storage fee incurred at Don McGill Toyota in Katy Texas. Why a storage fee at a dealership? They do have a collision repair center on the premises which would charge a storage fee if it was towed there after an accident but not repaired there.

These are the only repairs or maintenance I see has been done at any Toyota dealer's according to the National database. I'm not saying it's junk, but I think there is a little buyer beware involved with this one. It may have all been repaired and will be a great truck for but who knows. I just don't trust Carfax's because I've seen cars with bent frames that look like they were driven off the top of a parking garage come back with a clean Carfax!!

Tundra's are hot sellers, especially right now. The only way we wouldn't put that Tundra on our lot is if there were some glaring liability issues in which case we would ship it to auction...which is where this one spent some time. Again Ric not trying to rain on your parade because maybe all issues are resolved, but just trying to give you some insight why this truck deserves a closer inspection before laying down your hard earned $$. Good luck on whatever you decide

joet · **Posted:** Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:10 am

Bliss36 wrote:

ric wrote:

I ran the VIN with Toyota and Carfax. Two owners. First owner did all his service at the dealership and put nearly 70k miles on it, traded it in. Second didn't do dealer service on record and traded it in after a year, that dealer sold it at auction and that's how this dealer got it. All recalls fixed. Spotless carfax. No real red flags except it's an auction car. That doesn't mean anything though, it never lived in an area with any natural disasters or anything. The title is spotless.

Red flags...I see a few. Looks like the airbag was replaced on 4/30/13 at 84,446 miles RO#0099964 and the notes say the airbag light was still on after replacement. That was in April and only a couple hundred miles since? Don't trust a Carfax....check all the panels for their VIN tags and see how many panels have been replaced. Also climb underneath and check the frame for welding or elongated holes in the frame where it was pulled on a rack to be straightened.

6/24/13 @ 13:23:25. 11 DTC's cleared. C1203,C2122,B2799,B1786,C1241,C2121,C2123,C1336,B1785,C2124,B1650. Checked and cleared at Marietta Toyota but no repair notes?

11/20/2008 Mileage 66999 Storage fee incurred at Don McGill Toyota in Katy Texas. Why a storage fee at a dealership? They do have a collision repair center on the premises which would charge a storage fee if it was towed there after an accident but not repaired there.

These are the only repairs or maintenance I see has been done at any Toyota dealer's according to the National database. I'm not saying it's junk, but I think there is a little buyer beware involved with this one. It may have all been repaired and will be a great truck for but who knows. I just don't trust Carfax's because I've seen cars with bent frames that look like they were driven off the top of a parking garage come back with a clean Carfax!!

Tundra's are hot sellers, especially right now. The only way we wouldn't put that Tundra on our lot is if there were some glaring liability issues in which case we would ship it to auction...which is where this one spent some time. Again Ric not trying to rain on your parade because maybe all issues are resolved, but just trying to give you some insight why this truck deserves a closer inspection before laying down your hard earned $$. Good luck on whatever you decide

Hurricane Ike made landfall in Texas in Sept. 2008 and caused damage in the Houston area of which Katy is a part of.

kd4pbs · **Joined:** Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:34 am **Posts:** 350

Diesel or go home. That's the mantra I'd be using, since I've been there, done that.

298VISTA2000 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 20, 2013 7:51 pm

Nice detective work bliss36 but knowing ric, he will use this info to get the dealer to knock off another $3k or $4k from the price instead of walking. :lol:

TX H210SS · **Joined:** Thu May 27, 2010 9:10 am **Posts:** 1488

Very good research Bliss....your review and take of the carfax report would scare me away. I wouldn't bother looking for frame rack marks. Nice review!

TX H210SS · **Joined:** Thu May 27, 2010 9:10 am **Posts:** 1488

I just chkd craigslist for south Florida and there's several tundra in that year and mileage range for the 15-16k price...by individual too. Several are te crewmax model which are more desireable anyway

fiznuka · **Posted:** Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:11 pm

kd4pbs wrote:

Diesel or go home. That's the mantra I'd be using, since I've been there, done that.

+1

298VISTA2000 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:33 pm

TX H210SS wrote:

I just chkd craigslist for south Florida and there's several tundra in that year and mileage range for the 15-16k price...by individual too. Several are te crewmax model which are more desireable anyway

With maybe 125,000 to 150,000 in mileage. ric's Tundra only has about 85,000 in mileage and those should be running around $20k if not slightly more. That is low mileage for a 2007. Take it to your tech and see if they can find anything wrong with it and if not, use Bliss36's info to get the price down a few thousand more. Screw the airbag because that monster will run smack over the car it comes into contact with.

ric · **Posted:** Wed Nov 20, 2013 11:43 pm

To be honest, even if it was in a slight bender it's got a clean title and under 100k miles. The truck is worth 20k in other parts of the USA as others have mentioned and would sell for that no questions asked the way it stands in the pictures.

As far as the airbag thing goes, in the Toyota report it states they replaced the airbag and the airbag light was still on. It didn't give any more explanation. From those words it doesn't sound like accident related. If the drivers airbag deployed so would the passenger, and the windshield would be wiped out. That would be an insurance claim for sure, and on the carfax. Might seriously just have been a defective airbag sensor. I'll check for damage/damage repair. Body gap lines out of whack, etc. It's not a 25k CPO, it's 15k. Not expecting perfection, just expecting the usual wear/tear on a 6 year old 85k vehicle.

ric · **Posted:** Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:40 am

Alright got some things to think about here. Due to my lack of credit history (I always pay cash for EVERYTHING) I'm getting a pretty crappy %. 14.75. I seriously have no history at all at 31 years old. My credit union is the only place that will finance me just because they're like family I've done their IT for 8+ years. My goal with financing is to actually build credit (so I can buy a house one day). I think my score is like 600.

Okay so. I'm doing a 4 year loan. All said and done it's around $440/m. The terms are crap but I gotta start somewhere. Full everything I can add to it coverage insurance is $120/m with $500 deductible with my current provider Esurance. Not bad.

$560 a month payment total for 4 years. I plan to pay it off in less than 2. Being a guy that doesn't owe a dime to anyone it's kinda scary. I can afford it, I transfer in my savings account an average of $2000-2200 a month. You can say, well.. why not just buy the dang thing cash? Because it just digs me deeper in a hole of being 31 years old with no credit.

What do ya'll think?

hutch9900 · **Joined:** Tue Mar 22, 2011 7:14 pm **Posts:** 456

Quote:

Alright got some things to think about here. Due to my lack of credit history (I always pay cash for EVERYTHING) I'm getting a pretty crappy %. 14.75. I seriously have no history at all at 31 years old. My credit union is the only place that will finance me just because they're like family I've done their IT for 8+ years. My goal with financing is to actually build credit (so I can buy a house one day). I think my score is like 600.

Okay so. I'm doing a 4 year loan. All said and done it's around $440/m. The terms are crap but I gotta start somewhere. Full everything I can add to it coverage insurance is $120/m with $500 deductible with my current provider Esurance. Not bad.

$560 a month payment total for 4 years. I plan to pay it off in less than 2. Being a guy that doesn't owe a dime to anyone it's kinda scary. I can afford it, I transfer in my savings account an average of $2000-2200 a month. You can say, well.. why not just buy the dang thing cash? Because it just digs me deeper in a hole of being 31 years old with no credit.

Seems pretty ridiculous for you to say these things on a boating forum.

joet · **Posted:** Thu Nov 21, 2013 11:31 am

Pay cash and get a low limit credit card. At least you do intend to pay it off early.

$1400/yr for insurance sure makes me feel good about my $800/yr full coverage on 3 cars. Of course that is about to go up as I add a 16 yr old to the policy.

NiagaraChillin · **Posted:** Thu Nov 21, 2013 11:52 am

That monthly payment is incredibly high. Granted, the high % rate is adding to it. If ya got the savings, make a bigger down payment, to lower the monthly.

joet wrote:

Pay cash and get a low limit credit card.

+1, that helps too...

JohnnyMarlin · **Posted:** Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:20 pm

hutch9900 wrote:

Seems pretty ridiculous for you to say these things on a boating forum.

What's the problem........Aren't we all friends here? :?:

www.iFourWinns.com

So I'm finally picking up a tow vehicle this weekend!

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