Buying 2000 4runner tomorrow but Total Loss on carfax?

[chris360hawks]

Tell him to go **** himself

 

[TheDurk]

I am sure there are lots of ways to total a 12 year old vehicle without deploying air bags--rear end, side swipe, rollover, anything that does not involve the front end. There are also ways that a Total Loss does not end up with a salvage title. Carfax states in their report:

Total Loss Vehicle
An insurance or fleet company declares a vehicle a total loss when a claim exceeds ~ 75% of its pre-damage value or if the vehicle is stolen and not recovered. This damage threshold varies by company. These companies typically take possession and obtain the title. Not all total loss vehicles result in a DMV-reported branded title. This may occur when an insurance company's definition of a total loss is different than the state DMV's definition for a branded title or when the owner of the vehicle is a self-insured company, like a fleet or rental company.

It also happens that in Wisconsin a salvage title is only required on vehicles less than seven years old:

Brand disclosure
A "brand" is a permanent note on a title that gives a prospective buyer important information about the history of a vehicle.

Note: There are penalties up to $5,000 for failing to disclose title brand information.
Your title must be branded if, during the time you owned the vehicle, you could answer "yes" to any of the following questions:

* Was your vehicle used as a taxi or for public transportation?
* Was it salvaged? A "salvage" brand is needed if your vehicle is less than 7 model years old and was damaged more than 70% of its fair market value.
* Was it flood damaged? A "flood damaged" brand is needed if water damage was more than 70% of its fair market value.
* Was it used as a police vehicle?
* Was it imported without US emission and safety certification?

Above from Wisconsin DOT website: Linky

Google is a wonderful thing. So yeah, it was totaled, title is clean, and the dealer is a lying SOB. And Carfax has it right, this time...

 

[runrunner]

Carfax is a good resource, but it isnt always 100% accurate.

Look at the actual title, what does it say on it? In Oregon if it has a salvage title it will be stamped on the actual title. You coul always contact DMV as well and inquire.

As far as the salespeople not knowing... They usually dont know what they are talking about anyway, especially on a used car. They are just puppets used to entertain you while the sales mgr is scheming up ways to hose you. (I dont care for dealers if you couldnt tell).

Keep looking around, there are plenty out there especially for that price.

 

[sonjason]

There was a recent post about how many 3rd Gen T4R's sold in the US recently... right at 750K. You should be able to find one for a good price that has a clean title. :biggrin2:

 

[firstbat71]

Finding one seems to be the hard part. I have the cash ready to buy but they seem rare around chicago. I did find a 2001 with 124,000 miles for 7,000. But the person selling it replied to only 1 of my several emails to let me know that "it is still for sale". No contact info, no time as to when I can purchase it, just a strange email saying it was still for sale. What the hell is wrong with people these days. I searched a 250 mile radius of chicago and there's not much around here. Unless someone knows of a good search engine for vehicles? I tried craigslist, ebay active and completed listings, cars.com, autotrader, yahoo autos, google, and the carfax search.

 

[MAD 69]

I'm tempted to go to Texas to buy this 4Runner - $7000 for a 99 Highlander, I'm in NJ and there are a ton of them just not any Highlanders which is what I want:
1999 TOYOTA 4RUNNER SR5 96,548 CLEAN FOR SALE (northsuburbs) $7000 – Toyota For Sale

 

[fenrisx]

Finding one seems to be the hard part. I have the cash ready to buy but they seem rare around chicago. I did find a 2001 with 124,000 miles for 7,000. But the person selling it replied to only 1 of my several emails to let me know that "it is still for sale". No contact info, no time as to when I can purchase it, just a strange email saying it was still for sale. What the hell is wrong with people these days. I searched a 250 mile radius of chicago and there's not much around here. Unless someone knows of a good search engine for vehicles? I tried craigslist, ebay active and completed listings, cars.com, autotrader, yahoo autos, google, and the carfax search.

We were just looking for a second 3rd gen for the wife a few weeks back.. and we were looking at >$7k price.. there wasn't much in that range that was clean and low miles.

Carsoup.com can be a pretty decent place to search.

 

[firstbat71]

Talk about lucky. Today I bought a 2000 4runner Limited with 110,000 miles for 7,400 from a private owner. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, I drove it for 3 or 4 hours it runs like new. I'm sold on carfax, if it wasn't for that report I would have bought that total loss sr5.

 

[49Runner]

Talk about lucky. Today I bought a 2000 4runner Limited with 110,000 miles for 7,400 from a private owner. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, I drove it for 3 or 4 hours it runs like new. I'm sold on carfax, if it wasn't for that report I would have bought that total loss sr5.

Congrats!!! You made the right call!

Now go make 15 copies of that car fax, walk onto the lot and hide a copy under each floormat, under the cargo mat, in the storage boxes in the back hatch, under the sun visors and in the glove box.

 

[dd210]

Glad to see you found a better deal then before congrats

 

[Hepar]

That's great to hear. Very glad you didn't get the first one and it sounds like you got an even better one. Post some pics.

 

[cek77]

Post some pics.

Coming from a long time impulse car buyer, you did a great job of waiting until you found the right one. I almost bought a beat up 4runner with a sketchy history but a carfax with mileage that didnt match the odometer made me keep looking.