Any tips on how to buy without getting a lemon?

[CaboTruck]

I'm not mechanically minded and unfortunately have no experience repairing vehicles etc.

When buying a 3rd gen 4runner, what can I do to make sure I don't buy a lemon?

I'm thinking find a local garage and offer to pay them for a checkover of the car? (California area).

 

[98OzarksRunner]

Buy a Toyota!

Seriously, get a carfax, and log on to toyota.com/owners and enter the VIN for the service history. Anything done at a Toyota dealer in the last 7 or 8 years should be listed, including mileage. Be sure and do both - I bought a 98 (with a lot of mile so it didn't really matter) and the carfax showed no wrecks but the dealer history showed extensive damage (including straightening the frame). Usually a shop will do an inspection for $50-100, cheap compared to buying something with serious problems, though there are just a few typical things these need. Timing belt and water pump every 90K, ball joints every 100K or so, check for 'pink milkshake' (transmission cooler/radiator breach). See the 'sticky' on 'stickies' for the buyer's guide.

 

[spoiler900]

Bring it to a mechanic. Firestone offers full vehicle inspections for pretty cheap, i think i saw it once for around $20! They do that to find every little thing wrong so they hope you fix it there, but they will do a full inspection and let you know what your getting into and tell you what has to be replaced immiediatly and what can be replaced down the road! Also, try and get a good vibe from the seller, if he seems sketchy or something thats a red flag, but if its a one or two owner car thats clean and looks like its been well taken care of then you should be fine. Good luck!

 

[Nunyabiz]

Best thing is to find a good trusty mechanic.
The Toyota.com site is good if by chance the previous owner ever took it to a dealership.
Carfax is wrong at least as much as it is right and sometimes things show up that never happened or stuff that happened never shows up, so do not trust Carfax at all. It can possibly help is as much as you should expect from it.

A good mechanic that does a thorough check should have no problem seeing if it were ever in an accident, if something is not right with the trans or engine and just overall shape of the vehicle which would clue you in on how it was treated over the years.

 

[Hacker]

When I found one in the classifieds that I liked, the seller allowed me to take it to the local Toyota dealer service department for a pre-buy inspection.

Cost me about $50, and was thoroughly worth it.

 

[myers0ma]

For the love of pete crawl under it,if buying ANYWHERE near a state that see's more than a snowflake.I test drove many that shined like a diamond on shiny upper body parts to see rotten nasty hell underneath,so goes the let the buyer beware adage.....