Going to buy soon, what should I inspect before accepting?

Hi all!

I have a '16 SR5 CM and I plan to buy a '23 shortly. I put an order in last year for a wind chill pearl Platinum Hybrid. My dealer finally found one via a trade with another dealer but it's magnetic gray metallic.

I convinced myself to forgo the white for the dark gray. It will be a week or so before my dealer accepts the new Tundra, and I read some posts about finding odd defects while inspecting a delivery such as dings, spilled paint, off-center trim/moulding.

Are there specific things you wished you checked or had the dealer fix before purchase?

Also, any tips for getting a better trade in value on my '16? Any advice will be helpful as I am breaking my moral code of only buying used.

 

trade values have gone down big time , I’m only getting 30k for my 2016, it is what it is I guess

there is a thread here and a guy made a nice pre delivery checklist , search function to find it or maybe someone remembers where it is

 

Walk around it and look at every panel one at a time including the roof. Do the same inside. Every seat, door panel, headliner, dash, console. Try every button to make sure it works. And drive it for up to 30 minutes listening for noises or other problems with windows closed and open. Driving along a building or wall with window open helps you hear noises sometimes. I always ask them to leave it sit overnight so I can do a cold start too.

If you have low miles for the year, you may want to think about listing your truck on Facebook Marketplace. I give my old vehicle a good clean, dress the tires and take at least 8-10 pictures somewhere nice and typically sell it in a week.

I have never traded in a vehicle. Kelly Blue Book will give you a rough idea what trucks like yours are selling for. Id compare that number to what the dealer is offering you. One argument against selling yourself is you pay less sales tax when you trade your truck in. This is true because you pay sales tax on the difference but it’s worth looking at the numbers. 65 for new minus 30 they give you in trade is 35000. If 7% sales tax you pay 7%x 35000= $2450 if trade vs 7%x 65000=$4550 if don’t trade.

So you save $2100 in tax by trading and it is much easier but what if your truck sells for 38550. You walked away from 4000. In the end a lot of people don’t want to mess with selling a vehicle which I understand. But a used Tundra in decent shape is pretty easy to sell. Good luck with your new truck purchase.
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The grey vs the white may be in your favor. Toyota and other manufacturers have had issues for many years with white metallic paints having durability issues- adherence problems, chipping, etc. Google search will verify this as it is fairly common, again not just toyota. Kia/Hyundai have worse issues than toyota with this. Not to say your truck would have those issues but white paint and white metallic has many more issues vs other colors.

 

I offer a marginal vote for selling your used truck to CarMax. I believe you will not get as much as private sale, but in my recent experience selling them two vehicles (Honda Ridgeline and Subaru Outback) they gave a price that exceeded the dealer trade in including tax savings. But still below private sale by maybe $500-1000. But....one can, and I did twice, walk into CarMax and walk out in 45 minutes with check in hand. Also they accept the vehicle in an internal cleanliness condition that private buyers would not be happy with. They "detail" every vehicle they get in. Not that they might object to a filthy vehicle, but those hours I've spent in the past getting the last bit of dirt and dog hair out of the carpet is wasted time when selling to CarMax. I have no affiliation with CarMax and offer this only as an alternative to private sale and dealer trade in that has it's own advantages and disadvantages.

 

Go here. https://www.tundras.com/threads/pre-delivery-inspection-checklist.105148/

 

If your dealer is halfway decent, the delivery process will give you time to check for obvious damage and try all the buttons and switches. I wouldn't worry about mechanical issues- that's what the warranty is for.

 

Trade values will continue to decline according to the experts in the auto industry. So selling now will most likely be better than 6 mos from now.
Also, regarding sales tax private vs dealer/CarMax ,etc. Many states will allow a partial refund of sales tax on your annual return. So the math may work more in your favor. Making 500-1000 more on private party comes down to what your time is worth and the possible issues associated with paperwork.

 

The problem I’m in right now is the dealer is offering for my trade (2015 taco Trd OR, 67k miles) about $4k lower than what I can sell it to another Toyota dealer for outright because my delivery is still 20 days out. They won’t budge and the tax benefit is only about $1500 on a trade for me, so I don’t mind. I could maybe get another $1k on a private party sale but not sure if I want to deal with the hassle of flaky people

 

Do you have another vehicle to use for 20 days? If so, sell that rig and get excited about the new one. Also, remember the 20 days could turn into something longer.

 

Got a camping trip to make with it next week but after that I’m going to pounce on it. Can use my wife’s telluride until the truck comes. Definitely do not want the user car bubble to burst on me while I wait

 

Exactly. Good luck and congrats. Army Green is the best color, of course you know that.

 

Appreciate it! Definitely was not on my radar until I had to sit next to it at the dealer for two hours while I drove both engines!

 

For trade ins get online offers from all over the net and print the highest one out for negotiation. Dealers will not consider a KBB value because is not a quote to buy and therefore represents no competition to them getting the trade in. My experience 2 months ago was KBB was higher than any trade in offer I got. Carvana was the highest offer and I got the Toyo dealer to price match that offer but had to split the ad valorem savings with them. Not ideal but got them up $3k over their first offer, and the total deal was better than the screw jobs I was getting from Ram dealers

 

for grins, I just did a carvana, they only offered 26K, lol. 4K under the dealer

 

Carvana is about to go under. Their offers were part of what led to the used car bubble. But their bubble has popped. For a couple years they were very useful in the process of getting top $ for a trade in a way KBB never was or is

Dealers are actively making decisions on what they can sell immediately and what they might hold and encounter a loss in a depreciating environment. So the number you get is back to being volatile.

 

Carvana is definitely in trouble. Bankruptcy/debt restructuring is on the table. They could still survive. They fact they are way under the dealer offer tells a lot.

 

Agreed, and I did the same when shopping for my Tundra. One thing to note with the online offers: make sure the correct trim level is calculated. When I ran the offers for my 4Runner, all except KBB based the offer on the SR5 trim, whereas my Runner was a TRD Offroad Premium. When I pointed out the error, I was able to get an increase in the offer, which was a few thousand dollars more.

 

Wow, thank you all for the advice. This is super helpful. I'll review that checklist!

My dealer said they use KBB, but that could be BS. KBB (very good) estimates $28k for private sale and $26k for trade in on the higher end so it's probably negligible to sell to private party vs the tax reduction via trade in.

I do like the idea of going to CarMax and getting a bid just for kicks as a negotiation strategy.

 

Here's a list compiled by some thoughtful members @Weenrock

https://www.tundras.com/threads/pre-delivery-inspection-checklist.105148/