Need help. How to buy rust free LC100 at fair price from the north east. (1 Viewer)

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Looking to buy a fairly priced 100 series cruiser, but dont know how to go about the finance process.

A lot of the time I see a rust free LC100 - it is in the south west (and I am located in north east)- and by the time I ask for under carriage photos - the owner tells me they have a pending offer.

I have many questions with regards to this - but what step by step process from start to finish would you recommend me doing to get a cruiser that isnt going to fall apart on a highway from the seller to my driveway here in the north east?

Car will likely be from the south / south west, but I have no idea how to realistically get the deal done ( inspection done, cash paid, bill of sale done) timely before someone else locally beats me to it.

I would greatly appreciate your help - and I know one thing - I will not have a bidding war due to emotional reasons, as painful as it may be.
 
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Such is the game; at some point you may have to sacrifice a bit of due diligence to get it all done. Maybe going through an auto-broker would help?
 
Such is the game; at some point you may have to sacrifice a bit of due diligence to get it all done. Maybe going through an auto-broker would help?
I dont know how much trust I can give in them finding a non lemon. I'd gladly pay a fair finders fee for a deal but for that I'd need to guarantee the lc isnt shot
 
I found a CA 100 that the previous owner had driven from Santa Monica to take up a new job in NYC.
185k miles, no rust but some sun damage in interior.
Got it at a PA pre owned dealer.
I read all the carfaxs & when I saw this one, I was at the dealers when the business opened the next day.

I had looked at literally hundreds of listings before I found ours.
You are looking for a Unicorn.
They are available, it just takes a lot of searching.
 
I found a CA 100 that the previous owner had driven from Santa Monica to take up a new job in NYC.
185k miles, no rust but some sun damage in interior.
Got it at a PA pre owned dealer.
I read all the carfaxs & when I saw this one, I was at the dealers when the business opened the next day.

I had looked at literally hundreds of listings before I found ours.
You are looking for a Unicorn.
They are available, it just takes a lot of searching.
How much did you pay for it next day? Also was it full asking?
 
The “Ad” appeared on cargurus.com on a Friday night. I saw it on the Sunday night.
I arrived at the business when it opened first thing on the Monday morning.
Because I had been looking for a while, I was prepared for a sale & offered the dealer 10% off for cash.
We settled at 6% (the sales tax) off.
The dealer had bought 3 Land Cruisers at an auction the previous week & tried to convince me that he had people coming that afternoon to buy whichever one I was interested in.
I was only interested in the LC from CA & would have walked if it was not what I wanted.

I’ve found some horrors on baselining it, such as an aftermarket front CV on the LHS but an OEM on the RHS,
giving a wierd driveshaft clunk.
But overall, I’m very happy with the purchase but it took 6 months or so till I found the right truck.
 
If you want a hassle-free process, you could just buy from Miramar Motorsports which seems to specialize in rust free, one or two owner, low mileage Toyotas from Southern California.


I haven’t bought from them but I’ve been looking for a rust free 100 as well. They seem to have really good legit reviews. You could just put a deposit down and claim one, then buy it without a rush.

The prices are a bit on the pricey side but once you factor in your time that you spend searching the country every day for a rare car, contacting the owner, negotiating, figuring out financing and shipping etc, I think it’s well worth it.
 
One of the Jalopnik writers is well known for doing the legwork for you for a fee. Contact him?
 
If you want a hassle-free process, you could just buy from Miramar Motorsports which seems to specialize in rust free, one or two owner, low mileage Toyotas from Southern California.


I haven’t bought from them but I’ve been looking for a rust free 100 as well. They seem to have really good legit reviews. You could just put a deposit down and claim one, then buy it without a rush.

The prices are a bit on the pricey side but once you factor in your time that you spend searching the country every day for a rare car, contacting the owner, negotiating, figuring out financing and shipping etc, I think it’s well worth it.

Those guys are chargin 2x worth. I'd rather take the bus than pay some low life dealer for a 20 yo car. I'm not paying a dime more than worth and if it's not a great deal - also not happening. I've been in similar situations although not multi state where I will just wait for the other side to mentally exhaust by either bidding up and crying later or by the philosphy of going down together.

Let the dirt wash and then you can fish. That is what I'm doing - and exploring alternatives - which only the issue seems to be buying online. Never done it but looks like ill be buying off Copart. Rather 5k for garbo and another 8k into work compared to something thats going to break down anyway at 20k.
 
Those guys are chargin 2x worth. I'd rather take the bus than pay some low life dealer for a 20 yo car. I'm not paying a dime more than worth and if it's not a great deal - also not happening. I've been in similar situations although not multi state where I will just wait for the other side to mentally exhaust by either bidding up and crying later or by the philosphy of going down together.

Let the dirt wash and then you can fish. That is what I'm doing - and exploring alternatives - which only the issue seems to be buying online. Never done it but looks like ill be buying off Copart. Rather 5k for garbo and another 8k into work compared to something thats going to break down anyway at 20k.

Hey I feel ya man, I wish prices were more like they were 10 years ago. Unfortunately 100 series are slowly entering the world of enthusiast vehicles and pricing, like 964s, E30 M3s, R32s, you name it. Is a 30 year old BMW with a 4 cyl actually worth $50K+? Probably shouldn't be, but there are enough people willing to pay those prices and now they are actually worth that much. Same thing is happening with Land Cruisers - you go to the 80 forum and all sorts of guys will tell you the prices now are stupid, "I bought my triple locked rust free '97 for $8K back in 2011" or whatever.

100s aren't there yet, but they're well on their way. Everyone and their dog has posts in the classifieds "WTB clean rust free 06-07 100 Series" (myself included) and at least half, if not more, are willing to pay $20K+ for a good example.

I will say, I saw a 2002 100 series with 180K and 0 rust sell for $13K last week here in Utah. The ad was up for about 6 days. They're out there, but like you said, it's a hassle to get to them in time, even if you're local. I think you have to have cash and be willing to hop on a plane. That's why I mentioned Miramar - for some people, the amount of hassle you save by buying through a specialty dealer is well worth the markup.
 
Buy mine, then fly to ATL and drive it home. It was just listed last night
 
I agree the Miramar guys are over priced. Their inventory doesn't seem to move that fast either from following their repeated adds on SD Craigslist. I found a clean one a few weeks ago on craigslist but I'm local and didn't let it wait around. If you find a possible good one I'm sure you could ask a local member to check it for you or arrange to have it taken for a pre purchase inspection. So much of buying a used car is based on the trust of the seller that is hard to gauge from far away...but a lot of the docs are available (on the Toyota website if it is dealer serviced or on carfax).
 
I agree the Miramar guys are over priced. Their inventory doesn't seem to move that fast either from following their repeated adds on SD Craigslist. I found a clean one a few weeks ago on craigslist but I'm local and didn't let it wait around. If you find a possible good one I'm sure you could ask a local member to check it for you or arrange to have it taken for a pre purchase inspection. So much of buying a used car is based on the trust of the seller that is hard to gauge from far away...but a lot of the docs are available (on the Toyota website if it is dealer serviced or on carfax).

Main issue is that when I spot one (ive spotted a few this month), that it gets sold really quickly. I'm talking 1-2 days, and it makes it nearly impossible to do the traditional inspection.
 
Looking to buy a fairly priced 100 series cruiser, but dont know how to go about the finance process.

A lot of the time I see a rust free LC100 - it is in the south west (and I am located in north east)- and by the time I ask for under carriage photos - the owner tells me they have a pending offer.

I have many questions with regards to this - but what step by step process from start to finish would you recommend me doing to get a cruiser that isnt going to fall apart on a highway from the seller to my driveway here in the north east?

Car will likely be from the south / south west, but I have no idea how to realistically get the deal done ( inspection done, cash paid, bill of sale done) timely before someone else locally beats me to it.

I would greatly appreciate your help - and I know one thing - I will not have a bidding war due to emotional reasons, as painful as it may be.
I paid cash for both our LX470 and Land Cruiser...on the LX, seller around 400 miles north of me insist on cash, so my neighbor and I drove up and I drove the LX back. Neighbor is with the Idaho State Police and wanted a guys-only weekend. Among other things, we took a large Belgian Shepherd with us and he rode back with me.

I found the Land Cruiser the day it posted on a cars for sale website at a Porsche dealer in Oregon. Wife had me on a 6am flight from Boise the next morning and dealer did a pickup at the airport. After a test drive, I picked up a bank check at a shopping center bank branch. I drove home that night, ~ 500 miles iirc.

Good trucks for sale don't last long, as you've noticed. Toyota ships very few to the North American market...I'd say 100 series had around 6-7,000 max in each model year...1/10 the number of 4Runners.

Web rumor has it that Gulf State trucks have a bullet proof undercoating, if ordered, as a port-added option.

Both the LX and Cruiser had spotless maintenance records at local dealers.

Best of luck in avoiding a bidding war. ;)
 
I paid cash for both our LX470 and Land Cruiser...on the LX, seller around 400 miles north of me insist on cash, so my neighbor and I drove up and I drove the LX back. Neighbor is with the Idaho State Police and wanted a guys-only weekend. Among other things, we took a large Belgian Shepherd with us and he rode back with me.

I found the Land Cruiser the day it posted on a cars for sale website at a Porsche dealer in Oregon. Wife had me on a 6am flight from Boise the next morning and dealer did a pickup at the airport. After a test drive, I picked up a bank check at a shopping center bank branch. I drove home that night, ~ 500 miles iirc.

Good trucks for sale don't last long, as you've noticed. Toyota ships very few to the North American market...I'd say 100 series had around 6-7,000 max in each model year...1/10 the number of 4Runners.

Web rumor has it that Gulf State trucks have a bullet proof undercoating, if ordered, as a port-added option.

Both the LX and Cruiser had spotless maintenance records at local dealers.

Best of luck in avoiding a bidding war. ;)

If a sequoia would last me as long as a cruiser, id get the sequoia.
 
Best way to get a good price on a rust free vehicle is to fly down south and drive back or have it shipped back home.

What I noticed up by me is anyone that has a southern truck for sale (which is rare) ALWAYS words their entire for sale ad around the vehicle being rust free and with that comes a much higher price tag.

Most dealers down south don’t really use rust free as a selling point. I’ve personally done this and even convinced my friend to do the same and we both got amazing deals. Just call, put down a nice deposit and cross your fingers it’s a good truck.
 
Best way to get a good price on a rust free vehicle is to fly down south and drive back or have it shipped back home.

What I noticed up by me is anyone that has a southern truck for sale (which is rare) ALWAYS words their entire for sale ad around the vehicle being rust free and with that comes a much higher price tag.

Most dealers down south don’t really use rust free as a selling point. I’ve personally done this and even convinced my friend to do the same and we both got amazing deals. Just call, put down a nice deposit and cross your fingers it’s a good truck.
how much % deposit are we talking about?

are you saying target southern dealers and avoid private southern sellers... or just avoid northern sellers that import the southern cars?
 
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