Howdy, I'm new! Wanted to say hi. About to purchase a 2000 100 series and wanted some opinions (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Feb 18, 2021
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Location
portland, or
I currently live in Oregon and my fiancé and I do a whole lot of dispersed camping in our Prius. It's served us very well, but we're upgrading! We've been out too many times down a forest road and not been able to get where we wanted to go.

After considering the Tacoma and 4Runner for quite some time, we determined it wasn't quite enough space and to shell out for a new one was much too expensive. We also really liked the idea of building a drawer / sleeping platform in the back of the LC. And it's an absolutely beautiful and legendary truck, so we are excited.

I'm fairly new to Offroad driving, I can keep a good line in the Prius without dinging anything up for the most part. So I'm sure I'll be here a lot asking questions.

I'm in the final stages of getting a 100 series inspected, it's a salvage title but it seems to be in fairly good condition. I wanted to bring into one of the local land cruiser shops, but their wait time was a bit too long so I decided to get a Lemon Squad inspection, really hoping I don't regret that.

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My biggest concern I've seen is it failed two emissions inspections, one before having an O2 sensor changed and one after. Hoping the inspection can shed some light on that.

The vehicle was involved in two wrecks, both being "moderate" damage according to Carfax. I saw images of the accident, and it looks like they rear ended someone. It didn't look too bad.

The dealer bought it at an auction, so he definitely doesn't know a whole lot about the history. Do you think I should be concerned about this?

On a positive note, I did test drive it and everything felt really good, but I'm definitely a car noob and don't know a whole lot of what to look for. Though I have read the guide for what to look for in the inspection from Slee, so I'm a bit more prepared. If the inspection says that it's all good I'll be doing another test drive / self inspection and most likely purchasing it tomorrow.

I'm rambling a bit here, but hoping someone can either let me know that I shouldn't be too worried or if I should be concerned about the wreck history. I've attached some more images below. I know it's hard to even assess this stuff from pictures, just hoping to have a conversation!

They are asking 11.5K.

Some good things:
has after market apple car play
falken AT tires w/ KMC wheels
bottom has little rust
interior is still in good condition
all service records available on Carfax

Things I'm concerned about:
- the wreck history
- the fact that it failed an emissions test twice
- no record of brake master or water pump being changed

What would you say I should be offering for this? 11.5 seems to be a good deal because most everything on Craigslist is going for over 20k. Just hoping the dealer isn't trying to get rid of this because of some underlying issues that may not be apparent. He says he was using it as his personal car and really wanted to keep it, but MPG was too bad.

I'm sure I'm missing some info here, so I'll update if I think of anything else. Thanks for reading and excited to join the forum!

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IMO, that's too much for a salvage title with a known fault, likely related to cats. Cats are thousands of dollars and can be a lifetime component. I'd count on that O2-related error code to require ~$2,500 or more to fix properly.

Find something better for $11k+.
 
for any toyota you are considering, get the VIN and then head over to www.toyotaowners.com and sign up for a free account. Plug in VIN and you can see what work was performed by Toyota/Lexus dealers.

This truck in particular, if you can drive the cost down due to the title issue, then why not. You should check with insurance to see if they'll cover it first though.

TB/WP are negotiating points, and the brake master is a gamble really.
 
I'd probably pass. Never been comfortable buying or owning a salvage title. And 11,500 is way to high for me to consider a salvage title and a failed emissions test. There are others out there. I'm in Oregon as well probably the other side of the state from you so the Boise and Bend markets are where I watch craigslist but I check for deals on land cruisers all the time. I'd say if you can swing 14k to 17k you'll get a pretty good well taken care of truck. My advise would be don't fall in love with the it and buy it even though your gut is telling you not to. If you're comfortable with it though and the price gets low enough to make up for the concerns then go for it. Also, on older vehicles especially, I would much rather buy from a private party.
 
I don't have issues with salvage titles, but the price of the vehicle should reflect that. Based on the condition and known issues, I think you can do better. They're out there, it just takes time. I looked for six months before I found my white '99 in Colorado and it was worth the wait!
 
First pic: Why is there a wrench on the AC line?

I would also say “pass” for that price for all the above reasons.

I’m in SE PDX and could help with an pre-purchase inspection. Send me a DM if you’d like.
Oh awesome. Thanks for the offer. I’m leaning towards passing as well, so I’ll probably continue my search.
 
First pic: Why is there a wrench on the AC line?

I would also say “pass” for that price for all the above reasons.

I’m in SE PDX and could help with an pre-purchase inspection. Send me a DM if you’d like.
The guy selling it sent me these pictures, didn’t even notice that.
I'd probably pass. Never been comfortable buying or owning a salvage title. And 11,500 is way to high for me to consider a salvage title and a failed emissions test. There are others out there. I'm in Oregon as well probably the other side of the state from you so the Boise and Bend markets are where I watch craigslist but I check for deals on land cruisers all the time. I'd say if you can swing 14k to 17k you'll get a pretty good well taken care of truck. My advise would be don't fall in love with the it and buy it even though your gut is telling you not to. If you're comfortable with it though and the price gets low enough to make up for the concerns then go for it. Also, on older vehicles especially, I would much rather buy from a private party.
Do you feel like you see enough come through on Craigslist? I’ve been keeping my eye out for about 2 months and this is the only one I’ve felt was in my price range. I could probably do that range though, so I’ll kill my impatience and wait most likely 😭
 
That's a hard pass for salvage at that price with the issues. Both my trucks are not the unicorns so many search for on here. I paid very reasonable prices for both.
I do most of my own work and read up on Mud to keep up on what to do and not to do.
If your willing to fly and drive broaden your search.
 
$16k from a 'Mud member just north of us... Looks well-maintained and ready to go.
 
That's a hard pass for salvage at that price with the issues. Both my trucks are not the unicorns so many search for on here. I paid very reasonable prices for both.
I do most of my own work and read up on Mud to keep up on what to do and not to do.
If your willing to fly and drive broaden your search.
So let’s say the emissions thing isn’t a big deal after I get my inspection results and I can talk him down to 8 or 9k, would you still pass?
There are pictures of the damage online, and it doesn’t look like it was too bad: 2000 TOYOTA LAND CRUIS - https://poctra.com/2000-TOYOTA-LAND-CRUIS/id-AplgZrEdyKthX5WS/PORTLAND-OR/Photos

Just curious if folks think this is still too risky even at a lower price if the emissions thing isn’t a big deal. The guy has plates on it so it’s definitely gone through a state inspection to be driveable.
 
The guy has plates on it so it’s definitely gone through a state inspection to be driveable.
But he is a dealer and could have a friend slap a tag on it and call it a day. When you go back for emissions you might not be so lucky.

Go and drive it and do your best to get it for less, you'll gain knowledge by looking at it.

But for me it's a pass.
 
Oregon plate SB10552 (from his CL and OfferUp ads) is indeed registered to that Land Cruiser til 9/21. Car was wrecked before 1/2018.
Hmmm. So you think he's trying to get rid of it because he knows it won't pass a test?
 
So I will break from the pack here and say that I'd be perfectly fine at 10K or so with this truck. Here's why;
1. A salvage title is the result of an insurance claim. Most likely the damage was all cosmetic in nature. This is further evidenced by the under hood pics and you driving it. The core support looks straight with older paint/stickers and it runs and drives fine. Take it from me, cosmetic damage adds up VERY quickly to the point the insurance company will total a vehicle that is perfectly safe to drive.
2. It was only a few years ago this truck was probably worth $6-7K, meaning $4k in damages could have totaled it out. A rear end wreck means a new bumper cap, hood, fenders, headlights, parking lights, labor, paint. Well north of $4K in all likelihood.
3. These trucks are appreciating, quickly. This is probably going to peak very soon, but the value they are today is north of what they were just a couple years ago. It was easy to find an early run LX470 with ratty seats, but otherwise perfect, for $3-4K. Now those trucks start at $7K

Point of all this is that a salvage title does hurt the value because it can hide damage. A car with a salvage title could be a total rollover with a bent frame, or it could be a few bent panels. Without the history it adds risk to the buyer. BTW, you assume the same risk anyway. I bet 9 out of 10 of these trucks don't have comprehensive coverage on them anymore, meaning most would never have been totaled by insurance, meaning they would have a clean title today even if they were totally eff'd up and fixed before you went to go look at it.
 
I’m in the Portland area. I looked for a Land Cruiser for a few months on Craigslist. I’m pretty certain that any really good private party sale gets quickly snatched up by used car dealers; within hours. I saw a few LX’s at killer prices go in hours while I thought about going to look at it.

I posted my Tacoma for what I thought was a reasonable price and had at least 12 emails and some offers to buy sight unseen within 30 minutes or an hour. I sold it to the first guy who then posted it to resell it at a higher price.


I’d recommend putting a search alert on Craigslist and be ready to move very quickly on it. Have cash on hand, do your research on what to look for so you can get in before the used car dealers. If you can get them to agree to an inspection by someplace like Land Cruiser specialties then it would be with the $200 charge.

I got a 2000 a few months ago for 7500, which seemed like a fair price compared to the other Land Cruisers that were advertised.) had to travel to Washington.

I had an inspection done after the fact which found some things. It gave me a good list to work on.
 
I’m in the Portland area. I looked for a Land Cruiser for a few months on Craigslist. I’m pretty certain that any really good private party sale gets quickly snatched up by used car dealers; within hours. I saw a few LX’s at killer prices go in hours while I thought about going to look at it.

I posted my Tacoma for what I thought was a reasonable price and had at least 12 emails and some offers to buy sight unseen within 30 minutes or an hour. I sold it to the first guy who then posted it to resell it at a higher price.


I’d recommend putting a search alert on Craigslist and be ready to move very quickly on it. Have cash on hand, do your research on what to look for so you can get in before the used car dealers. If you can get them to agree to an inspection by someplace like Land Cruiser specialties then it would be with the $200 charge.

I got a 2000 a few months ago for 7500, which seemed like a fair price compared to the other Land Cruisers that were advertised.) had to travel to Washington.

I had an inspection done after the fact which found some things. It gave me a good list to work on.
This guy is a private dealer though. It's been posted for about 13 days, I went and looked at it after it was up for about 3 or 4. He had a few folks wanting to come look at it but doesn't look like any followed through.
 

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