Just got hosed on a 1st Gen Tundra (HELP!)

True enough!

 

So YOU are the exception to the Craigslist rule!

 

@jwatt did his due diligence

 

In my old age, “Trust but verify” is the right way to approach things.

 

Unless the personalized plate is Swaggart....

 

Excellent reminder! I won't quote who said that first.........ha!

 

Great (old) minds think alike! With age comes wisdom. Fools are those that choose not to heed what those who are older and more wise offer for advice.

 

A wise person told me about buying stuff on Craigslist - they are selling something for a reason and it’s usually because they’re trying to unload a piece of shit.

 

One thing odd about the sellers ad. The way he worded the mileage. In fact he didn t say mileage or odometer reading at all. He said driven. Never seen it refereed to that way before. (Unless he was trying to imply that s how much he drove it, but it doesn t appear he had it long enough to log that many miles.)

 

OH boy. Odo fraud and title hopping? Hope you catch the asshole. That’s 2 BIG no nos

 

Sucks for the OP Rob. You want to trust people and take them for their word these days. I would like to think there may be a remedy to this, but I highly doubt it. You may just have to drive it and hope it lasts....

I like messing around with square body Chevy's. 1973-1987. I bought a 1986 k10 a few years back that was in really good shape and low miles. On these trucks it is really easy to remove the dashes and also swap out cabs. The VIN # is on the drivers side dash. I took a guy for his word as he was probably the biggest straight shooter and I have never been burned. Come to find out the dash had been swapped out and vin # was coming back to a suburban. My truck said 89k, but 3 years later I pulled a car fax for the hell of it and discovered it. The vin # and odometer did come back with right mileage, just wrong vehicle.

To a certain extent, I didn't care as I got parts out of it worth more than I paid.

Would it be possible truck was in a wreck and a new cab or something like that was put on? I know it is not highly likely but maybe something like that happened?

 

well if not Craigslist what the heck is the medium for classifieds. I’ve have great experiences on Craigslist. Both as a buyer and seller. But I do my due diligence.

 

…and flat towed 120,000. There you have it!

 

This is what I get for frequently eating more than my alotted share of free samples at Costco

 

Thank you for this.

I cannot believe your comment doesn’t have more likes. How many uncultured swine here have not seen lethal weapon.

 

Maybe car fax is wrong? Mine has 62k miles but Before I bought it Jiffy Lube put in 162k miles so now it’s off on the car fax. I’m not sure how to fix it but maybe it’s a car fax issue

edit: never mind your situation sounds different

 

[QUOTE="T-Rex266, post: 2248999, ... and I already don’t trust 99% of people[/QUOTE]


You're way too trusting.

 

I recently went through something similar in California with a very nice 86 4Runner. My title was washed to hide the fact it was totaled.

 

Seems to me Facebook Marketplace has put Craigslist in the dirt.

 

#1 FB Market Place
#2 Letgo/Offer up
#3 Craigslist

 

For those of us who avoid FB have limited options! It’s a crazy world.

 

I just went through the process of buying a used Tundra, and focused almost exclusively on Craigslist. For one thing I find people on there are generally more reliably in responses and have a more business like approach. But I was also after a very specific truck (1st gen 4wd DC Tundra) and was looking to buy across the country because I live in the rustiest corner of the rust belt. Craiglist has a far superior search function - allowed me to accurately search for the specific truck I wanted, eliminate overpriced shady dealers ("owners" only), and reliably returned only the results I wanted to see. The phone app specifically allowed me to move my saved search around a visual map of the US a 250 mile radius at a time. You would think Facebook would have all of that functionality, but they are really terrible for it. It was more than easy with CL.

Of course, none of that addresses the shady nature of CL, but you can find plenty of shady people on Facebook too. It appears the OPs truck was listed on both. Using your head is always smart. A deal that is too good to be true probably is unless you are dealing with gramps. Talk on the phone first. Double check everything. Ask the right questions. Look for the right listing (detailed, proper grammar, lots of pictures). I ended up flying out to Minnesota (to buy a Texas truck), bought the truck with cash, and drove it home. I took an Uber to meet him at the police station nearest him in daylight and left with the truck. He took a picture of my drivers license and let me take my bag and test drive the truck myself. We did the paperwork right there in the parking lot. The seller, the truck, and my money were never together in one place that wasn't surrounded by cops. It helped he actually had a dealer's license because he buys and sells buses, but he was also up front and gave me his information, address, and dealer # ahead of time.

My overall point here is CL can be fine and actually has its advantages if you take the proper precautions. I use Facebook for most stuff these days, but for buying a specific truck across the country CL was the best tool I found, hands down.

 

Don't use Facebook myself either, just use my wife's account if I need to make an offer. Then just give seller my number and boom-done deal.

 

This is my solution as well.

 

Of course use all methods you have available. This only broadens your search but there is a bit more caution you must use on CL vice other mediums like FB and Offer up. CL doesn't offer any way to "verify" a person such as, is this a real person, number of sales, can you see their profile, how long have they been selling, what are other items they sell. You can weed out scammers pretty easily on FB and Offer-up. I think you're more likely to get murdered from a CL post than FB/OU. haha

 

Seriously. I deleted Instagram and my other social media but I sell so much on Facebook I can’t delete it. Wish marketplace had its own app

 

100%

 

Not to derail but I'm intrigued... What the hell is a "Jabba the Hut" pizza?

 

Pizza Hut!