Vehicle rust

jeepinmatt

jeepinmatt

#1 WEBWHEELER
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Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Location
Stanley, NC
I'm trying to sell my wifes 4runner. I thought I had a buyer, but they had it inspected, and the shop said it was too rusty and they would recommend passing on it because it will be hard to work on in the future. I have looked it over personally, both when I bought it in 2014, and multiple times since, and again while I had it up on the lift last week, and it has not changed or progressed in any way. There is ZERO rust on the body. And all other rust is surface rust on heavy parts, and occurs only at the weld seams where Toyota doesn't know how to get paint to adhere, or unpainted stuff like driveshaft flanges. It just so happens that I took pictures of the underside when it was on the lift last week because that's the way I am. They are attached below. So I guess I have a couple questions:
1. Is this bad rust? (vehicle is 10 years old with 115k miles)
2. Will it make the vehicle hard to work on? (it's a Toyota, so nothing will ever break, so I don't know why it matters anyway)
3. Should I disclose this in the ad? To me, it looked fairly normal so I thought nothing of it.
4. Anything else I'm missing? Does it seem like the shop had a fair assessment?

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Looks good to me,look under about any 2000's model Chevy truck and youll see what they're talking about.The shop probably didn't want to have to work on it in the future for any reason.
 
Random guys opinion on the internet follows.

I wouldn't say it is "bad", but it does appear that it has spent some time around snow\salt, or maybe the ocean? If I were looking at it, it would be 50/50 if I would buy it. I would have to base it on the maintenance and how clean it has been kept.

Your right, it's a Toyota, you can throw your wrenches away!

I wouldn't disclose it unless someone asked about it. It isn't that bad.
 
They probably didn't have an intelligent way to say your price was more then they could afford. So instead they blew smoke up your ass.
 
Looks like every normal used Toyota. Nothing out of the ordinary in the pictures given age and mileage. Toyota does a lot of things right, but good paint on an undercarriage is not one of them. Just about every used Toyota over 60k miles looks like it has been lightly sandblasted underneath with road grime.
 
It's a cop out...blaming the wife is soooo early-2000's, so had to come up with another excuse. I wouldn't have given that a 'rust' a second thought. I'd run it that way another 10 years before I actually thought about possibly, maybe springing for a $100 HF sand blaster and another $20 in black rattlecan paint.
 
1-tonmudder said:
Looks good to me,look under about any 2000's model Chevy truck and youll see what they're talking about.The shop probably didn't want to have to work on it in the future for any reason.
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No joke. I had a 2003 Chebby 2500 that was 10 times worse. Of course it had rust starting to show through in the rockers too. But it came that way from the factory.

rabb11d said:
Random guys opinion on the internet follows.

I wouldn't say it is "bad", but it does appear that it has spent some time around snow\salt, or maybe the ocean? If I were looking at it, it would be 50/50 if I would buy it. I would have to base it on the maintenance and how clean it has been kept.
Click to expand...
The first part of it's life was spent in Massachusetts (2008-2014). The rest of it is impeccable with a great service history and an interior/exterior that is as clean as a new one.

Jeff B said:
They probably didn't have an intelligent way to say your price was more then they could afford. So instead they blew smoke up your ass.
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We had already agreed on price a week ago before I had to go out of town, so that's not it. I figured they would find some nitpicky stuff, but was caught off guard by this. I could tell she (the buyer) was genuinely disappointed and shocked by their assessment too. But once that seed was planted, it doesn't matter if it dies. Even if she got a second opinion and they said it was fine, they would always wonder if the first guy was right.

Guess I need to go to Used Car Supply and buy a couple cans of 1 Owner Arizona Car Black. But I don't like to "hide" stuff, which is why I didn't already do that. They will probably ended up buying one for a couple grand more from a used car dealer that knows nothing of the history and has a sprayed up frame :shaking:
 
jeepinmatt said:
We had already agreed on price a week ago before I had to go out of town, so that's not it.
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meh.. they could have just changed their mind or found a deal that tickled their hiney a little better.. I still don't believe this is due to a rust issue.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Guess I need to go to Used Car Supply and buy a couple cans of 1 Owner Arizona Car Black. But I don't like to "hide" stuff, which is why I didn't already do that. They will probably ended up buying one for a couple grand more from a used car dealer that knows nothing of the history and has a sprayed up frame :shaking:
Click to expand...

I would be more hesitant to buy one with a fresh coat of paint on the frame than showing a little rust. At least the way it is, the buyer knows you're not hiding anything. Then again, it all depends on how thorough and knowledgeable the buyer is...
 
Rattle can that mother and be done. Doesn't look bad at all but people are idiots, and I'll bet that's the last person who takes it to a mechanic .
 
jeepinmatt said:
No joke. I had a 2003 Chebby 2500 that was 10 times worse. Of course it had rust starting to show through in the rockers too. But it came that way from the factory.


The first part of it's life was spent in Massachusetts (2008-2014). The rest of it is impeccable with a great service history and an interior/exterior that is as clean as a new one.


We had already agreed on price a week ago before I had to go out of town, so that's not it. I figured they would find some nitpicky stuff, but was caught off guard by this. I could tell she (the buyer) was genuinely disappointed and shocked by their assessment too. But once that seed was planted, it doesn't matter if it dies. Even if she got a second opinion and they said it was fine, they would always wonder if the first guy was right.
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I'd still suggest getting a second opinion, even offer to pay the $20 for Firestone to do their inspection thing.
Sounds like the guy they took it to must only work on brand new cars, and never a Toyota. Or he'd have known this is the factory standard rust they all come with.
 
RatLabGuy said:
I'd still suggest getting a second opinion, even offer to pay the $20 for Firestone to do their inspection thing.
Sounds like the guy they took it to must only work on brand new cars, and never a Toyota. Or he'd have known this is the factory standard rust they all come with.
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They are buying it for their 18 year old son. I figure a second opinion wouldn't really matter.
jeepinmatt said:
I could tell she (the buyer) was genuinely disappointed and shocked by their assessment too. But once that seed was planted, it doesn't matter if it dies. Even if she got a second opinion and they said it was fine, they would always wonder if the first guy was right.
Click to expand...
 
Looks amazing to me but Toyota’s I’ve been mostly owned grew up in Michigan so they looked WAY worse like the 4Runner I had for a while you could unlock the door by sticking your arm through the rust hole in the door. I think their “mechanic” was not all there to give any sort of worry about that one!!
 
Though you were Joking, looking at the first few pics. Most of them, I Wouldn't call rust, just normal! Then the front one under the radiator area, looked a little rusty. And that seems Odd, as clean as the rest is. Maybe some antifreeze is eating the paint, as the 1 small leak that showed. But I figured that was the AC condensation dripping. Either they needed an excuse, or their mechanic is an Idiot.
 
It doesn't look bad. That mechanic needs a kick in the giblets. My 04 expedition is clean as a whistle underneath, but it never spent any time up north.

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