I'm not a "car" guy- I'm more of a motorcycle guy (I'm JustRon on advrider.com and ThumperTalk). However, I just bought a 2004 V8 Sport with 70k miles, and really love (er, loved) it. It appeared to be in great condition and drove excellent.
In a week, I took it on two road trips (currently in VT), and around 800 miles, I hit a small bump and heard a klunk. Looked underneath, and didn't see anything odd. Then, heard another one a few miles later, and it seemed to pull to the right. Then, I hit the brakes going about 5 mph, and it stopped- wouldn't move and the tranny did nothing. The tow truck driver said the control arm broke and took it to a local mechanic. The mechanic said the control arm didn't break... it ripped out of the frame! He didn't put it on a lift, but he said he won't touch it. He's worried that there are other frame problems lurking beneath the undercoat (courtesy of the previous owner). He doesn't want to be liable if the frame falls apart while I'm cruising down the highway. He said, I'd never put my wife or kid in that thing. Great.
I couldn't figure out what to do, so I called my insurance company- Progressive. They sent an adjuster and he estimated the parts to be around $350 (which seemed really low to me), but said they aren't' covering any frame damage. I called another mechanic and although he didn't see it, he said he won't touch a frame on an '04 4R. I said, no, that's the Tacoma with the frame problems, but he sorta disagreed and said he's seen enough bad 4R's that he doesn't want to get involved. He said to sell it to a salvage yard. Ugh.
It's currently in Stowe, Vt and I'm in NYC. I'm going to call some more shops tomorrow, but am worried that no one will want to work on it.
So, even though the insurable damage is only $350, if no one will fix it- I'm not sure what to do.
I can't imagine Toyota is going to help out with this. They said the VIN doesn't fall into the range of any frame-rot affected vehicles. The crazy thing is, the body hasn't been painted, and there's no rust anywhere.
My family thinks I should go after the seller (I bought it on craigslist... I've done it many times with bikes, but like I said, I'm not a car guy). I specifically asked him about rust (because it had VT plates and he lived in NYC). He said they had it undercoated and always sprayed underneath to keep it clean. I have an email from him where he says "no rust". I figured he probably didn't know, but everyone else thinks he's lying and had it undercoated to hide the rust. That would be pretty tough to prove, but by saying there's no rust, I guess that's a serious misrepresentation.
Aside from the things I've already done wrong, which can't be undone... what would you do now? Any advice? This sucks because I really liked it. But, my gf said she would never feel safe in it again, due to what the first two mechanics have said.
In a week, I took it on two road trips (currently in VT), and around 800 miles, I hit a small bump and heard a klunk. Looked underneath, and didn't see anything odd. Then, heard another one a few miles later, and it seemed to pull to the right. Then, I hit the brakes going about 5 mph, and it stopped- wouldn't move and the tranny did nothing. The tow truck driver said the control arm broke and took it to a local mechanic. The mechanic said the control arm didn't break... it ripped out of the frame! He didn't put it on a lift, but he said he won't touch it. He's worried that there are other frame problems lurking beneath the undercoat (courtesy of the previous owner). He doesn't want to be liable if the frame falls apart while I'm cruising down the highway. He said, I'd never put my wife or kid in that thing. Great.
I couldn't figure out what to do, so I called my insurance company- Progressive. They sent an adjuster and he estimated the parts to be around $350 (which seemed really low to me), but said they aren't' covering any frame damage. I called another mechanic and although he didn't see it, he said he won't touch a frame on an '04 4R. I said, no, that's the Tacoma with the frame problems, but he sorta disagreed and said he's seen enough bad 4R's that he doesn't want to get involved. He said to sell it to a salvage yard. Ugh.
It's currently in Stowe, Vt and I'm in NYC. I'm going to call some more shops tomorrow, but am worried that no one will want to work on it.
So, even though the insurable damage is only $350, if no one will fix it- I'm not sure what to do.
I can't imagine Toyota is going to help out with this. They said the VIN doesn't fall into the range of any frame-rot affected vehicles. The crazy thing is, the body hasn't been painted, and there's no rust anywhere.
My family thinks I should go after the seller (I bought it on craigslist... I've done it many times with bikes, but like I said, I'm not a car guy). I specifically asked him about rust (because it had VT plates and he lived in NYC). He said they had it undercoated and always sprayed underneath to keep it clean. I have an email from him where he says "no rust". I figured he probably didn't know, but everyone else thinks he's lying and had it undercoated to hide the rust. That would be pretty tough to prove, but by saying there's no rust, I guess that's a serious misrepresentation.
Aside from the things I've already done wrong, which can't be undone... what would you do now? Any advice? This sucks because I really liked it. But, my gf said she would never feel safe in it again, due to what the first two mechanics have said.
