I may have found my Tundra. It's salvage title which doesn't bother me depending on WHY it was salvaged. If anyone has a Carfax account and doesn't mind running the VIN for me 5TBBT44116S473754 and PM here or email to timberlinesolutions@gmail.com I'd appreciate it!
Regardless of the carfax response -- I saw the "before" pictures and they frankly didn't look that bad - not enough to get into the frame much less total the truck. Can a vehicle be re-titled as Salvage w/o being totaled by the insurance company?
My opinion DONT BUY salvage title is crap no matter what it was. A car that is worth 10k is now worth 4k. Think about when u try to sell it one day. Get yourself something better. I used to buy and sell cars i know all about that. But u have the final word not me.
In Florida you can't re title a salvage ever. Each state has different laws. The main reason Florida changed the law on salvage titles was because of flood cars and trucks. After a storm where vehicles have been submerged in water, many times salt water and you don't want any part of them. Every state is different, but with computers every VIN can be tracked. I would not buy one for anything other than a parts vehicle.
Do a search on the net. Car dealers run scams where they "clean" salvage titles by transfering the vehicle from state to state. I bought an 01 Accord EX V6 with a salvage title back in 02 for $12K and sold it a month ago on craigslist in just 12 hours for $6K...which was a lot more than I'd thought I'd get for it. Like you said, it all depends on what it was salvaged for. I'd be reluctant to buy a flooded out vehicle because you're probably going to have electrical problems the entire time you own it. Also...take a look at the parts they used to repair the vehicle. If they used parts from an older truck they may be OK for now but may fail sooner than you'd expect later on down the road.
A truck that was crashed bad enough to salvage the title is no good. It will never run the same. You will prob always have alignment problems and more.
Update - the salvaged truck is OUT. The dealer that had it turned out to be a first-rate jerk, so I walked.
I know, I know... saved myself some trouble anyway - but for the price I thought it was worth checking out.
Got a Carfax on the second one mentioned and it's clean. I also called the dealer who serviced it (per Carfax) and they said it always checked out fine but it's due for the ball joint recall service at no cost. I may go look this one over closer tomorrow.
Found My Tundra.... maybe
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