Shoot, I wish I had run across this thread earlier, I could have saved you some time.
I spent over a week discussing the truck with the owner via email and over the phone, at first he made it sound like the only issue was the cracked windshield but over time the other "small" items such as the axle seal leak and the fact that the timing belt was never changed cropped up. Also, the truck has 120k on it and is still on the stock clutch, the owner claims that if you drive properly the clutch will not wear significantly but I can't help but think it will need to be replaced fairly soon. His rational for not doing the timing belt is that the 90k interval for the belt is a scam by Toyota so that they can make more money, that statement made me really question the level of maintenance he has performed on the truck.
Two or three weeks ago I actually went to the bank to get a cashiers check, made an appointment with Santa Cruz Toyota to check out the truck, and was ready to drive down to SC to see the car. The day before I checked with the owner to make sure the car had been smogged and that he had the title since I didn't want to drive all the way down there if he was not ready to finalize the transaction. During that call I learned that it has not been smogged and that he in fact did not have the title and could not find the registration card either. Since he could not prove ownership I called off our meeting.
I'm not sure if something shady is going on, or if he is just not aware of what needs to be done when selling a car. He owes under $2k on the loan, so I do not understand why he doesn't just pay it off and get a new title in his name. Instead he wanted to send in the final payment when I purchased the truck, and didn't seem to understand when I told him that he can not legally sell the truck unless he is the only person on the title or unless the lender also signs off on the sale.
New issues with the truck seemed to arise each time I spoke to the owner, and he became defensive saying that either he had told me about them before or that they were in the original ad, neither of which was true. When I tried to negotiate for a lower price because of the issues, he indicated that the posted price was a mistake and already lower than he intended, and that he would not adjust the price for such a "perfect" truck.
So I ultimately walked away after wasting a week and $10 for a cashiers check. It's surprising how difficult it is to find a 1999/2000 5spd 4runner in good shape!
- Matt
