Help: I paid too much for my cruiser!

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D

Dibsen

10 Year
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Threads
5
Messages
26
This is literally keeping me up at night. I bought the car from a dealer(mistake 1) that was 5 hrs away. I drove out there because over the phone they wouldn't negotiate, but the Internet sales person said, "if someone come in and offers $4k below asking price, I'd have to sell it." So I left thinking I would be that someone. If I had know they were not going to budge on the price I never would have made the trip. In the end I paid $13k for the car. Now if the car was a 10 out of 10 then it would be a good deal, but its maybe a 7... on a good day.

Here is a list of the bad. The paint is rough from bugs and tar. The worst is around the windscreen, from plowing through swarms of Florida love bugs on the highway and not cleaning it off. It was in an accident. No airbag deploy but visible damage to the front bumper and possibly quarterpanle work and new headlight(I can't tell for sure) driver door has a bad dent, with a scrape about 4 inches, that greets me every time I walk to the car.

Inside is worse. All of the woodgrain panels are sun faded. Doesn't sound bad when you read it but ill post a pic, it really makes the car feel 10 years older than it is. And if anyone has ever tried, it's not an easy fix. Maybe I can find something on eBay to cover it up.

One of the reasons I wanted a cruiser was the 3rd row seats. This one doesn't have them. I thought it would be an easy enough find/fix but it's been hard in my local area. On top of that, the car sells like a wet dog (I'm working on that right now), and from my findings that is probably what spent most of the time in the back of the cruiser. I'v also never seen a seatbelt as bad as this one, its filthy, I want to bleach it!

The sunroof, it doesn't work. Kind of wish it just didn't have one but it does. All of the windows seem a bit slow, driver side being the worst. It had a bad rattle, when I looked inside, the window track had somehow broke off from the door panel (I posted that fix on here if you want to see picks)

Alright, I think that covers the main things that bother me. I did forget to mention the the rear suspension sits about half an inch higher on the passenger side but I still don't know why, hope nothing is broke down there. I also forgot to mention the PS exhaust mani, tic tic tic. Hate that. Oh, and the plastic splash guard that is supposed to cover it, that's MIA. And the underside and engine bay has a coating of what I think is fine limestone powder that's doesn't spray off.
 
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Well, it sounds like you have some good projects. Enjoy the projects and don't look back.
 
Nah, don't worry about it, we all do this. And looking at the money we spend on these rigs, the initial purchase price is just a small part, nothing to worry about. We spend thousands and thousands on upgrades, maintenance, gas and mods without blinking an eye.
It will need (a lot) TLC but it will get better with every step you take. Everything you mention is fixable. Your 100 will be grateful that it finally get the attention it deserves. Sure it will cost you, but good relationships do.
 
I have some seats i would sell cheap but shipping will be steep.

Its had for us to know if it was that bad of a deal without seeing pics, model, millage ect.

But i agree with the others. These vehicles are very rewarding to own, just give it a chance.
 
I've got one buyer one the hook for my third row seats right now, but if that falls through I'd sell you mine if you wanted them (gray interior). Even if you don't buy them from me, keep an eye on the classified section. They come up all the time. I think LoudX just threw two pairs of them away. An immaculate set goes for about 200-300 generally, which is well below what you would pay for them from toyota.
 
Live and learn, I almost always pay to much for big tickets like house/car. Then find deals on the little stuff, go figure, guess I'm a fool.

As mentioned you'll be fine. In the case of mine I often wonder if I should have spent more up front to stop from fixing so much little stuff later. The mods will one day outweigh the purchase price and make a transmission or other similar hit an easy choice to move forward.

To make you feel better, there are guys who spent top dollar on clean rigs then had to drop 4k on a transmission or something. If yours is good to you mechanically you can still come out ahead.

What year/mileage are we talking about? Rip the wood grain off of everything except the center dash and remove the adhesive residue, freshens it up nicely for no $.
 
If it makes you feel any better.

My wife needed a new mini van. She wanted an all wheel drive Town and Country. There were none in Virginia. I ended up flying to New Jersey to look at one I saw listed on the internet. NEVER fly somewhere to buy a car you have only seen in pictures. You feel somewhat compelled to buy it just to get home. The van was a 9.5 out of 10. It looked and felt like new. They did a 112 point check on it. LOL. What ever that means. The entire van sparkled, even the polished battery! It also drove very well. Clean carfax, ect. I paid close to used retail because it was exactly the van my wonderful loving wife asked for. After driving it from New Jersey back to Virginia, I stopped to refill the gas tank. I decided to check the oil. I figured what the heck, even though the dealer did a 112 point check. Lets see the oil. There was NO OIL!!! At least not enough to read on the dip stick. WTF!! I felt very very stupid. The first thing I would have checked would have been the oil, I guess I figured it was also the first thing the dealer would have checked.


The van had about 60K miles on it. My wife has put another 100k on it in the last 3 years. Luckly the motor is still running strong. The transmission, not so much.

BTW, I am still making payments!
 
Did you ask for someone to go inspect the car before driving the 5 hours? How long have you owned it? Have you checked the local laws to see legally how long you have to be able to return it? Did you get a carfax or any type of vehicle history report? If they wouldn't budge on price and it had all these problems then why did you buy it?

On the other hand, it may be time to turn lemons into lemonade. It the Cruiser is straight and mechanically sound then the the projects you list are cosmetic and could end up being a source of pride.

I paid 13k for my 2000 with 109k on the ticker. The paint is not great, it had the side moldings / fender flares that I removed which showed some paint damage. The seats are OK at best, the sun roof has a small leak and to top it off I recently had to put a new tranny in it. I love my Landcruiser!
 
I'm confused by this as well. If you drove to pick it up expecting a price of $4K lower, and didn't get it (or condition was inferior to what you were expecting), why not turn around and go home?
 
Bismarck said:
why not turn around and go home?
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My guess is he got emotionally involved in the car, soon as that happens the dealer knows they have the hook set and will not budge. That's why I always walk straight out at the first sign it's not going my way or they play games. Then watch as my cell phone ring 15 mins later and they cave in.

Good news, everything you posted can easily be fixed, and you will have a great vehicle for many years to come. Cheer up!
 
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Porter said:
For some inspiration, check out the build thread of Aatlas1x. I believe he did quite a major overhaul of a soiled rig and the finished product is quite nice.
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Bingo! I was going to post the same thing. AATLAS1X picked up a former family hauler that was not cleaned very often. He talks about going through the interior and afterward it was as if brand new.

HUGE amount of inspiration in here....

https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/332355-finally-100-owner.html

Dibsen said:
Inside is worse. All of the woodgrain panels are sun faded. Doesn't sound bad when you read it but ill post a pic, it really makes the car feel 10 years older than it is. And if anyone has ever tried, it's not an easy fix. Maybe I can find something on eBay to cover it up.
Click to expand...

On the LX those wood panels are integrated with the panel itself. However on the LC they are faux wood covers applied over the stock black panels with double sided tape at the port by the dealer. In other words, heat them up with a heat gun and yank them off! Then head over to eBay and get yourself a brand new set in your favorite style, or leave them off and enjoy the factory matte black.
 
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i negotiated the price on and purchased my last 3 cars and 1 race car sight unseen. ALL of them turned out to not only be screaming deals but in excellent condition. I take the buyer beware approach and take them through the ringer of questions and get them to take a ton of pictures.

It can be done, and if you are cheap, and particular it almost has to be done.

I live in Houston
LC-Atlanta
Touareg-Tyler, TX-delivered by dealer to my door(even took my trade back!)
335-Long Island NY
Spec Miata-Michigan
 
So you drove 5 hours and sat in a dirty, smelly, dented up LC with no 3rd row seat and then overpaid for it? Just because you drove 5 hours didn't mean you had to buy it! If you sat in a POS why on earth did you purchase it?

I'd clean it up and try to sell it yourself. Or perhaps if you clean it up you may be happy with it. People on here have done some great refurb's on a worn LC. Actually, that's probably you're best choice, you're kinda stuck with it. Make it nice.

However, before you spend money on the cosmetics or mods you'll need to make sure it's baselined and replace any worn parts, brakes, tires, shocks, timing belt, etc. I'm sure there is a ton of maintenance long overdue. You'll need a few grand set aside for those repairs, unless you can do them yourself.
 
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