Is it really this crazy?

Bought my '18 Sport with 23k miles from Carmax last November for $40k. I'm very happy with it.

 

That's a hell of a deal!

 

I think they’re excluding the modern ones in attempt to not interrupt sales, as the chance of them blowing up before there’s a fix is a gamble they may be willing to take. Slippery slope though, I’ve definitely seen people with 2024s say they’ve had the issue.

 

Have another dealer with a 2019 1794 with less miles than the limited I looked at telling me 48k out the door (or best offer). Nicer truck, less miles, less money, but still higher than I can afford right now. This is a smaller-town Toyota dealership so I might go try my luck today.

 

Autotrader and do a nationwide search. Filter by your budget and see what you want to pay will buy you from looking at all the Tundras for sale in the US.

At least then you are prepared with what is currently considered "reasonable". Holding off for another 6 months shouldn't hurt either. Interest rates will probably stay this way til Sept. Save more and watch the economy and consumer continue to shrink. The market will be forced to continue to adjust.

 

I don't know about increasing mileage....however, my mileage stayed about the same.

17mpg avg

~20mpg cruising on hwy.


keep in mind the S/C bypasses boost when you soft pedal it.

 

I’ve been playing with the market since January. Flew out for my last car to get what I wanted brand new, and if I was buying new 100% would do it again. The problem I’m currently finding when I do this is with how many cars are from the rust belt, or getting shipped in from other countries (like Canada) which is kind of weird to me. Then there’s the cars with accidents, shoddy service records, etc and it has me keep passing. Seeing what I want, I already have a small pool to pull from, so the fact that I now have a second car pop up locally at a dealership with both being local cars is a wild coincidence to me. I’m in the south, so I like the reassurance that something was more of a local car, with a service record, without accidents, but I know sometimes you have to pay for that all or give up some luxuries. Just trying to make this my forever truck.

Your advice is great and spot on, and I am not dismissing it; I’m just venting my frustrations in the process. I follow the pricing trends and this is a bad time of year to buy to be honest, and they’ve just been going up since I’ve started my search. If I have to wait another 6-12 months for the right truck in better circumstances, I will.

 

$40k is what I paid for my 2018 brand new (wasn't a Sport and only 2wd though).

Dan

 

If you have the cash on hand, doing private party sales on Craigslist or Offerup or FB marketplace will net much better deals than the dealer/other lot/autotrader.

 

Got mine for $43k with 50k miles, but it is a 1794 . Took me all summer to find one during covid

 

If you find a really good one and plan to keep it, maybe you can sell the current car to help absorb some of the above expected costs. Then look really hard at the cost spread over many years, is it really terrible? I know it's an excuse, but sometime life requires compromises and you aren't taking it with you either. All that said, be prepared to buy lots of gas, insurance, maintenance, etc. Good luck with the search!!

 

I agree with this, peace of mind is a beautiful thing.

 

Stop looking at dealers and look private party. I found this beauty (2018 White Platinum 4wd w/ 67k miles) for $36k private party on FB Marketplace. Drove 4 hrs to Nevada to purchase (no sales tax), so total price was 36k out the door. Truck got religious 5k mile oil changes at the dealer it was originally bought new at.

 

I wish, private market has been completely dry around here. People are just dumping them on the dealers because the dealers are paying the same as they’d get on private sale without the hassle of selling. Even people I’ve been talking to private sale have bailed and said they sold to a dealer.

intent is to be my forever car. My forever car got totaled out by some kid running a stop sign and I replaced it with a beat $650 Toyota echo I snagged to hold me over until I find the right truck.

just wish I could find something private sale. Going on 6 months now, but I’ll keep waiting. I’ve mostly been pursuing whatever hits my wickets, but it hasn’t been often that something does

 

Where are you located? How wide have you been searching? If it were me, I'd be willing to look far and wide, and fly out to buy the right truck for the right price (obviously willing to fly back home if the seller acts the slightest bit shady as if they're covering up any issues the truck may have).

 

Have you checked Carvana? They don't play games and are generally priced okay. You probably won't find a smoking deal, but it should be fair.

 

Just left dealer 2. This dealer was recommended by a friend who used to work there, and I went through a salesmen they recommended. He told me what they had in the truck on trade in, and said the sales manager was trying to squeeze as much as they can since they just got it. Said he was going to try a different manager on Monday and call me.

Coastal NC searching within 300 miles.

 

There is a 2020 crewmax limited at Dutch Millers Beckley Automall in WV with just under 45,000 miles listed for $44,800.

 

A little further drive/fly but this was just listed today in Syracuse, NY. $46,900. May be able to talk them down.

 

Request frame pics before traveling, don't want rust issues.

 

Ok, last one. Haha Doublecab though.
https://allentown.craigslist.org/cto/d/slatington-2019-toyota-tundra-limited/7752301447.html

 

I’m avoiding cars from the rust belt/north. I grew up in MD and after seeing what cars are supposed to look like when I moved to NC, I swore off buying a northern car ever again.

 

can’t do a double cab, the kids rear facing seats don’t fit. Otherwise I’d be hunting down a Tacoma

 

So you have a Gen 3...

 

I’ve honestly just told myself to avoid northern cars all together to save the hassle. Even most of the dealership cars around here were shipped in from PA/MI and other northern areas when I read the carfax, or they have previous damage, previously commercial vehicles, or they just overall don’t look well taken care of. I know I’m asking for a lot to be complaining about prices.

 

There’s a kernel of truth to this, but the main reason is wildly irresponsible government spending during COVID pandemic, much of which was waste and fraud.
Inflation went thru the roof, and housing, cars, etc have never recovered. From Jan 2019 —> Jan 2022, the avg price of used car went up 50%!!! This wasn’t caused by stupid people wasting their $$$…it’s the governments fault, pure and simple I’m afraid…

 

all good points. We also had it too good for too long. I graduated highschool in 2007 and had to deal with becoming an Adult through the financial crisis, so being frugal was a necessity. Bought my first house in 2013 and it was so cheap, I couldn’t have asked for a better time or price. Almost everything and anything was obtainable for an affordable price. We all have so many luxuries, and now we complain that we can’t afford things we really don’t need. Maybe we needed this; I don’t know, but what I do know is that everything seems to operate as a pendulum, and it’s always one extreme or another with a rare in-between.

 

Did you check CarMax?

Here's a 2021 Limited with 30k miles for $43,900.

https://www.carmax.com/car/25542442

I only scanned the first page.

I bought a 2021 Tundra from Carmax and ended up returning it because it had aftermarket cats. No problem at all after 3 weeks just drove back and took about 10 minutes for full refund. I bought it on line.

Then I ended up with another 2021 from Hardee Auto sales that's not far from you. But found it on CarGuru and just took and Uber there to pick it up 100 miles away. They are really great if they happen to have one you like, but used Tundras are all about the same.

https://www.hardeeauto.com/searchused.aspx?Make=Toyota&Model=Tundra 4WD#srpRow-5TFDY5F15JX751224

I would be very cautious with private sale. Would have to get lucky and find someone who bought it new and you know 100% it's not a scam.

I gave up with deanships. They false advertise to get dummies on the lot.

I got a SR5 and love it. Don't care what anyone thinks. It's reliable transportation and does what I need it to. I don't live in it.

 

I don’t think we needed this, you are being charitable. When you graduated HS, the financial crisis was caused by greedy bankers and Wall Street, poor government housing policies. We bailed out 2 of the 3 big US auto manufacturers (“Government Motors” and Chrysler), and I swore I would never buy a GM product ever (they cost taxpayers >10B$)…I hope your right about pendulum, but I worry that this genie can’t fit back into bottle, and the 20 year old crowd will have a very tough time ever truly owning anything.
I guess we are to blame, in a way, for repeatedly voting these people into office.
Sorry for the negativity

 

Carvana is pretty high in most areas. They want more for Tacomas than what the dealers want for them.