Advice needed, Could be a steal of a deal

[BFEATHER2008]

So here is my situation, I left a post earlier about a 98 limited model I am looking at buying. It was on ebay. I live in KY and the car is in FL. So on their website the car was posted at going for $8,995 and after a couple days of talking back and forth to one of the guys there he said he can give it to me for $6500. The bidding ended at $6,800 but said reserve not met. I asked him why he would sell it to me for $6,500 and he said because he knows I'll buy the car and he won't have to waste his time calling the winning bidder because half the time he said he'll put cars on there and people won't stay true to the bid. Does this sound like an accurate cost for a 98 limited model with 136,000 miles 1 owner and carfax looked good. Only thing about carfax is all it really had was the owner paid registration every year and a couple service things done. I've heard you can't rely on carfax, but for those that do, it was clean. Is this too good to be true, or should I go for it? I'd pay a $500 deposit and either fly down there and drive it back, or have it shipped to KY.

Any thoughts are appreciated

Thanks

Lets see sounds ok to me. But i paid 3900 for mine and it was listed at 7000. Now when i went and looked at the truck i didnt tell the salesman i worked for Toyota and could tell what it needed. Mine needed Brakes all the way around. So we talked and talked for about 2 days and he finally said his manager could do 3900 out the door and there is no rust at all mine only rust was on the rear bumper which i replaced and looks like it just came off the showroom floor.

 

[Nelsonmd]

Lets see sounds ok to me. But i paid 3900 for mine and it was listed at 7000. Now when i went and looked at the truck i didnt tell the salesman i worked for Toyota and could tell what it needed. Mine needed Brakes all the way around. So we talked and talked for about 2 days and he finally said his manager could do 3900 out the door and there is no rust at all mine only rust was on the rear bumper which i replaced and looks like it just came off the showroom floor.

Props to you for getting an amazing deal, but I think that is pretty irregular. I don't know many dealers that will lower the price from 7k to 3.9k unless the market for them is just not present, and it has been sitting for a year.

 

[MAD 69]

You could ask the guy to knock off $500 and have it put on a train and delivered to you (it cost me $500 to put my car on CarTrain from NJ to FLA) you can pay the shipping cost and as long you get some kind of warranty you should be good. If its a legit dealer they shouldnt be able to scam or rip you off - hopefully!

 

[Nelsonmd]

you could ask the guy to knock off $500 and have it put on a train and delivered to you (it cost me $500 to put my car on cartrain from nj to fla) you can pay the shipping cost and as long you get some kind of warranty you should be good. If its a legit dealer they shouldnt be able to scam or rip you off - hopefully!

chooo chooo!!!

 

[Cox]

OP here

So if everything comes back clean on the inspection, should I have it shipped by train, truck, ect, or go pick it up and drive it back? the drive for me would be about 1000 miles.....

Thanks

 

[BFEATHER2008]

Props to you for getting an amazing deal, but I think that is pretty irregular. I don't know many dealers that will lower the price from 7k to 3.9k unless the market for them is just not present, and it has been sitting for a year.

Yea thanks. It needed some stuff done to it also. It needed brakes all the way around, timing belt accy. belts, muffler, rear bumper was rusted as hell, driver seat was tore, and it had a misfire which was just plugs and wires, then it started to miss again and had to replace a coil. The reason i got it so low was because i told them what i would have had to spend to get it running right. I work for Toyota so i got the parts and things for cheap. My labor was free because my Dad is a Mechanic. So i got a really good deal ill have to post pics sometime.

 

[MAD 69]

OP here

So if everything comes back clean on the inspection, should I have it shipped by train, truck, ect, or go pick it up and drive it back? the drive for me would be about 1000 miles.....

Thanks

How much money would you lose if you were to go down there and drive it back? I'm assuming your going to miss some work? At 17mpg what will fuel costs run you? You have to add in the cost of the plane ticket to get there too, so if you put it on a train + plane ticket your looking at what - $1000? Maybe you would be better off trying to find a better deal closer to home, but if this is the truck you have been looking for go for it, make it an adventure...

 

[Nelsonmd]

Fly down there, should be pretty cheap. You can drive back in a day (I did 2k miles in 2 days). $200 for the flight. 1k miles should be 3-4 tanks, so $200 tops. Throw in a motel for a night if you prefer, and you are looking at less than $500 being fairly conservative.