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I'd like to get a nice Toyota Tundra (2002/3), V8 Automatic, 4WD, Access Cab, etc. I know some guys have bought vehicles on EBay, cars.com, carmax.com, and other places. I've started searching and what I'm looking for is out there in the cyber classifieds. I'm not a novice at 54 years old but I'm not a mechanic either.
What would you look for? Are there some areas (Florida? the south?) that are better than others? How about taxes? .... are some places preferable? Is EBay the way to go or are the online classifieds better for a non-expert? I'm thinking that there will be some dealer trade-ins in the Fall with the new models coming out. I know I'll find what I'm looking for but not sure how to go about it.
Thanks for any help and I apologize if I missed recent threads on this (did I?).
I bought one that was originally advertised on Ebay. Three suggestions. First, check out your seller. My seller was an established car dealer in Fort Worth, Texas. Made me feel fairly secure. The second thing I did was to buy a CarFax report on the vehicle. Cost about $20. Everything looked fine. The third thing I did was to hire an inspection service to completely examine and evaluate the car. I got a 160 point inspection for about $150. They even smell the interior and seats for you and tell you whether the car smells like it has ever been smoked in. You can find them on line pretty easily. Finally, I believe that Ebay has some type of buyer protection program. You may want to check out the details. Shipping is no problem, but keep in mind that the further away the car is, the more it will cost you. Mine cost about $400 to ship from Texas to Florida, as I recall. I got a great car and saved thousands over what it would have cost locally.
I bought my sweety a 91 jag xj6 on ebay for less than the bank would loan. flew down to LA and drove it home. It has been a great car (knock on wood, touch red)
Just be careful and go look at it yourself!
thom
The only problem I had when shopping for a used Tundra was the price. Most used 2-3 year old used Tundras were almost the same price as a new truck after haggling (maybe $3k cheaper). I was able to get 60 months at 0% on a new '06 Tundra so the new truck cost me the same as a used truck in the long run. They're having problems moving the remaining old-style Tundras before the new model comes out. The price of gas isn't helping either. Don't rule out new. Now is one of those rare times when you may come out ahead purchasing new.
Good luck!
__________________
2005 Sea Hunt 202, Honda BF150 2009 Toyota Tundra
Ask for detailed images of the bed and the tire tread. If it has a trailer hitch get shots of that, too.
If it's an automatic, ask them to pull the stick and take a pic, then wipe it on a white paper towel and take another pic. Ditto on the oil. Have them pull the rad. cap and take a pic with the vehicle COLD.
We set out looking for a good used Toyota after my Toy truck was destroyed in a crash. With good used Toyotas there is no such thing as cheap. So we shopped around for the best selection and most reasonable prices. We found that both the Toyota web site and the Carmax web site were very good resources for tracking down used vehicles.
But we settled on Carmax and had excellent luck. We shopped on line and then bought locally at a lot about 30 miles away. We just set their web site up to email us every time a 4Runner came onto one of their lots so that we could check them out and go look at the ones we liked. They will ship cars from lot to lot but I can't remember if they charge anything for that.
It worked out really well because they don't put crap on their lots and have reliable descriptions. We looked at about five 4Runners and all of them were top quality. We watched for about three weeks until a 4Runner with the mileage and equipment that we wanted appeared. They turn cars over very quickly so we ran right out, test drove it and bought it.
I don't know that you get the absolute cheapest price from Carmax. But you do get quality cars at a decent enough price considering how easy they are to work with. The sales people are super because they get the same commission for each car regardless of how much it costs and the car prices are fixed. So they tend to be genuinely helpful because they make money based on how many they sell instead of how badly they rape each buyer.
Finding good Toyota vehicles at fair prices isn't particularly easy. But my experiences with Carmax were nothing but positive. We ended up with an immaculate 4Runner equipped exactly the way we wanted with only 30,000 miles on it. The three people I know that bought cars off eBay have all been somewhat disappointed in the condition of the cars they received. But that might just be the difference in our buying a newer vehicle as compared to my eBay shopping friends buying older vehicles.
look for local ones. i sold a car on ebay and everyone local responded... They looked at the car and one drove off. I would do the same. i did buy a car from az had it shipped not the worst exp but would not do again. Would have to see teh car in person first and the carfax is crap. i searched a car that i had and knew it had been in two accidents with damage over 5k both times and claimed thru insurance etc.. and nothing popped up
I bought my 2001 Tundra 4wd access cab on eBay. It was the 200th item Ive done on eBay and the 5th BIG ticket item. Once you've established the trucks worth, next is to research the seller. If they have only been on eBay a short while or have only bought & sold small ticket items...then I most likely skip that seller. Location is important to me as I want to see the truck and not have it delivered. I sent a paypal pmt of $500 and brought the balance (Cash. chk) with me. I have had mine for almost a year and it's had no problems at all
Advice for buying a used truck online....... 
