Intro Thread / Hoping I didn't buy a 30K lemon... (12 Viewers)

[simple]

Car dealers are not allowed to knowingly lie about the vehicles they are selling. That would be fraud. If anything, a dealer should be help to higher standard than a regular seller or even a casual flipper.

I would love to live in your fantasy world. In my world, the real world, I see cars with temp tags from dealers that are barely road worthy. There are 121 photos and a few videos on the BAT listing and the more trained eyes here caught a lot of flaws. The bidding wasn't a full on war, people were testing the reserve.

If I was a dealer, and I was a self righteous ****, I would sue you for defamation. See how that works?

But please, let's debate this. I'm on the auction sites everyday. It is an amazing way to buy a car with at least 7 days to do some research, talk among other enthusiasts, and even talk to the seller either openly or privately. Easy to get caught up in the moment. I want to buy something everyday, but I limit myself to buying one a year and even then there are surprises.

 

[Old Nick]

I would love to live in your fantasy world. In my world, the real world, I see cars with temp tags from dealers that are barely road worthy. There are 121 photos and a few videos on the BAT listing and the more trained eyes here caught a lot of flaws. The bidding wasn't a full on war, people were testing the reserve.

If I was a dealer, and I was a self righteous ****, I would sue you for defamation. See how that works?

But please, let's debate this. I'm on the auction sites everyday. It is an amazing way to buy a car with at least 7 days to do some research, talk among other enthusiasts, and even talk to the seller either openly or privately. Easy to get caught up in the moment. I want to buy something everyday, but I limit myself to buying one a year and even then there are surprises.

Bruh

 

[COS80]

You can tell who is willing to fill a bad engine with diff oil and screw over some poor sucker (or more likely has) and who isn't throughout this thread.

 

[Gomgwtfbbq]

Sorry to hear about all the issues..

My ‘97 has the vin here on the engine, not sure if they did that on ‘96 as well. Also there are usually 2 holes on the firewall in front of the driver, those are missing.

View attachment 3935239

Just walked out the garage. VIN matches there.

 

[ajax1]

What years did they start putting the vin on the cylinder head? I see more pics of engine bays without the vin than with the vin.

Both my 95 and 96 are on the head, you can drill it off pretty easy, don’t remeber if my 94 has it or not as that truck is not at my house. Usually if the truck has been sprayed again on the inside you won’t have the door vins anymore,

 

[Rwhat]

Accident was a side swipe according to BAT listing.

No catalytic converters? Holy smokes that was sneaky of the seller to slip that by without mentioning in their add. However, a close inspection of the photos does reveal this.

Should have had a check engine light for this. That’s why the OP noticed the check engine light reset battery post.

 

[sjpitts]

I would love to live in your fantasy world. In my world, the real world, I see cars with temp tags from dealers that are barely road worthy. There are 121 photos and a few videos on the BAT listing and the more trained eyes here caught a lot of flaws. The bidding wasn't a full on war, people were testing the reserve.

If I was a dealer, and I was a self righteous ****, I would sue you for defamation. See how that works?

But please, let's debate this. I'm on the auction sites everyday. It is an amazing way to buy a car with at least 7 days to do some research, talk among other enthusiasts, and even talk to the seller either openly or privately. Easy to get caught up in the moment. I want to buy something everyday, but I limit myself to buying one a year and even then there are surprises.

You would lose that lawsuit.

Now I agree with you that it is generally "buyer beware".

But sellers can't just lie. Any seller that knowingly lies about a material fact is committing fraud.

And while we are at it, "title jumping" is illegal in many states. The OP should look into that if he decides the seller lied, and if OP wants to pursue it further.

 

[Montana Cruiser]

Sorry to hear about all the issues..

My ‘97 has the vin here on the engine, not sure if they did that on ‘96 as well. Also there are usually 2 holes on the firewall in front of the driver, those are missing.

View attachment 3935239

I can confirm I have this VIN plate on my 96', but rather then a flat silver, it's got Toyota printed in black on the background. I would have to check the 95' but assume I'll find the same.

 

[Kernal]

IMHO this vehicle was put up for sale by a shady seller looking for a quick buck out of a vehicle with undisclosed issues, not withstanding the photos.

I've seen this happen over and over, when it comes to selling vehicles even people who are normally honest might still misrepresent the condition of the vehicle they're selling. Some will feign ignorance when asked a question about the condition (ie: thinking they didn't really lie because they didn't answer the question) and some will patch things together hoping the vehicle will last long enough for the buyer to drive it out of State.

Definitely talk to BAT.

 

[Batameez]

I've seen this happen over and over, when it comes to selling vehicles even people who go to church every Sunday might still misrepresent the condition of the vehicle they're selling.

LOL, I've noticed way too many used car dealerships in north NJ are run by dudes who are pastors on Sunday morning. Funny how that works.

 

[NeverFinis]

I would love to live in your fantasy world. In my world, the real world, I see cars with temp tags from dealers, that are barely road worthy. There are 121 photos and a few videos on the BAT listing and the more trained eyes here caught a lot of flaws. The bidding wasn't a full on war, people were testing the reserve.

If I was a dealer, and I was a self righteous ****, I would sue you for defamation. See how that works?

But please, let's debate this....

And you would lose if you were the seller in this case.

The seller wrote "the carpet is original", which is objectively false. I mean, it had obvious incorrect cuts which no OEM carpet would have.

Truth is a complete defense in a defamation case.

And while we are at it, "title jumping" is illegal in many states. The OP should look into that if he decides the seller lied, and if OP wants to pursue it further.

I learned something new: Title Jumping.

The vehicle was apparently sold with an Alabama title by a dealer in Florida, which is illegal in Florida.

.

 

[Gomgwtfbbq]

Should have had a check engine light for this. That’s why the OP noticed the check engine light reset battery post.

Would not having cats present drivability issues like I mentioned in the first post? Based on the amount of rust on that straight pipe there i'd imagine its been that way for a long time.

 

[Devils Paw 80]

Would not having cats present drivability issues like I mentioned in the first post? Based on the amount of rust on that straight pipe there i'd imagine its been that way for a long time.

I don't know but it sounds plausible. Does your exhaust have both oxygen sensors?

 

[Gomgwtfbbq]

I don't know but it sounds plausible. Does your exhaust have both oxygen sensors?

It does, and the Torque app was showing good readings according to the wave diagram in the FSM. But like I mentioned, after a 25 min drive getting the engine hot and turning the car off for a bit, once I restarted I got no reading from either of them, along with no reading on STFT.

 

[NeverFinis]

Driving my LX450 today, and I noticed my lit D light...very bright.....very noticeable.

I swapped it out recently, but the original D light was still working when I pulled it at 179K miles.

I believe many high mile FJ80/LX450s have their D light burned out. It is pretty much a meme at this point.

I noticed in the driving video that the seller posted, the D light also appears to be not lit. OP can confirm that.

Below is a capture of dash from the driving video of the seller.

Makes you think...

 

[logicbyondreaso]

The speedometer being off (not at 0 when engine is OFF) but functional is very likely to indicate that the needle has been removed and incorrectly installed. Why was it removed?

 

[onemanarmy]

following.....

 

[Devils Paw 80]

Driving my LX450 today, and I noticed my lit D light...very bright.....very noticeable.

I swapped it out recently, but the original D light was still working when I pulled it at 179K miles.

I believe many high mile FJ80/LX450s have their D light burned out. It is pretty much a meme at this point.

I noticed in the driving video that the seller posted, the D light also appears to be not lit. OP can confirm that.

Below is a capture of dash from the driving video of the seller.
View attachment 3935928



Makes you think...

The speedometer being off (not at 0 when engine is OFF) but functional is very likely to indicate that the needle has been removed and incorrectly installed. Why was it removed?

Sounds like you guys are insinuating the mileage given isn’t accurate. Now that would be a surprise! Not..

 

[logicbyondreaso]

Sounds like you guys are insinuating the mileage given isn’t accurate. Now that would be a surprise! Not..

I was just pointing out that the needle was touched or some damage to the cluster occurred. Did not think the mileage was messed with but who knows.

 

[JoeCova]

Paying $30,000 aside, used cars arent Lemons.

This to me looks like a junkyard build. Something that looks off to me is the fact that the rear axle is black on the bottom and completely rusted on top, it also has a stock number on the back which is super common for junkyard markings. To me it looks like that rear axle was sitting in a yard upside down to prevent oil leaking out the drainplug and why it rusted just sitting on the ground.

The cats are missing, every single hose is replaced (while this is good for maintenance it looks like a rebuild) was involved in a sideswipe collision.

Everything about this screams red flags.

Gomgwtfbbq take it to a dealer and have them scan it a load the vehicle in their system.
When I bought my Landcruiser I logged into Toyota and loaded the VIN and it said it had no history, after I took it to the dealer, had it scanned and loaded, it pulled over ALL of the old archive records and I had a bunch of history that was never reported in the Carfax. The reason for this is when Toyota updated their software and systems none of the old records were transferred over. Only when you brought a vehicle back did it load.