I'm new to the forum, but have been looking around for the last couple of weeks to learn what I can before buying a 4Runner. I think I found one, but there is one issue with it and I would love your opinion on what I should do.
I found a 2006 4Runner Limited for a great price. The guy bought it CPO'ed and got the Platinum Extended Warranty with it. When I pulled the Carfax I found an issue. It had fire damage from the 1st owner. I called up the Toyota dealer that fixed the car and talked to the body shop manager who actually remembered fixing the 4Runner. The 4Runner was never on fire. The car next to it was, so the damage was melted plastic parts. The manager told me that it was about $4k in damage and that all that was done was replacing a bunch of plastic parts and repainting one side.
I don't think the 2nd owner knows about this. I told him I was getting the Carfax and he sounded confident that it would be clean. I highly doubt he looked at a Carfax before buying it himself. He's a military guy at one of the local bases and seems like an honest family man. We're going on Monday to one of the local Toyota dealers to get a pre-purchase inspection done and so I was going to ask the Toyota dealer to check to make sure all the damage was taken care of properly.
My question to you is since it has this blemish in it's history, should I be wary of buying it? Even though the 4Runner wasn't the cause of the fire, will having this in it's history significantly lower it's selling value if I ever sell it? I probably won't sell it, but there's that "just in case" issue. I keep my cars for a long time. My current car (a '97 Tacoma) is now 14 years old, so I keep them for the long haul. I've been waiting to buy a 4Runner since 1987 when I was just a kid and have loved them ever since. I can finally buy one, but I don't want to make a mistake just because I'm eager to get one.
Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!
I found a 2006 4Runner Limited for a great price. The guy bought it CPO'ed and got the Platinum Extended Warranty with it. When I pulled the Carfax I found an issue. It had fire damage from the 1st owner. I called up the Toyota dealer that fixed the car and talked to the body shop manager who actually remembered fixing the 4Runner. The 4Runner was never on fire. The car next to it was, so the damage was melted plastic parts. The manager told me that it was about $4k in damage and that all that was done was replacing a bunch of plastic parts and repainting one side.
I don't think the 2nd owner knows about this. I told him I was getting the Carfax and he sounded confident that it would be clean. I highly doubt he looked at a Carfax before buying it himself. He's a military guy at one of the local bases and seems like an honest family man. We're going on Monday to one of the local Toyota dealers to get a pre-purchase inspection done and so I was going to ask the Toyota dealer to check to make sure all the damage was taken care of properly.
My question to you is since it has this blemish in it's history, should I be wary of buying it? Even though the 4Runner wasn't the cause of the fire, will having this in it's history significantly lower it's selling value if I ever sell it? I probably won't sell it, but there's that "just in case" issue. I keep my cars for a long time. My current car (a '97 Tacoma) is now 14 years old, so I keep them for the long haul. I've been waiting to buy a 4Runner since 1987 when I was just a kid and have loved them ever since. I can finally buy one, but I don't want to make a mistake just because I'm eager to get one.
Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!
