I'm going to look at a 2003 Double Cab Prerunner v6 tomorrow to possibly purchase and did a carfax to see if the first owner or second owner had any problems. Carfax reports a vehicle inspection after an accident or incident - 'damage to left center pillar', and the reports not a salvage title, truck is a clean title. Should I be concerned? Also what is the left center pillar? Is that the Passenger side pillar that the rear door is connected too? The piece between the front and rear door?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Left center pillar would be the driver side "B" pillar between the front & rear doors. If this was not repaired correctly, you could have excess wind noise & water leaks. You would need to check the pillar & make sure the lower door sills are straight. Look underneath the truck along the sills & body seam, any repairs there should be readily visible. Get it inspected by a body shop if possible.

Good luck,
Paul

 

Thanks SocalPaul. I'll check the drive side as well as the passenger side just to make sure carfax or the repair place inputted the information wrong. According to carfax this happened with the first owner at around 12K miles and the truck has about 87K miles with the second owner (who bought the truck around 50K miles). I don't know if I will be able to get a shop to inspect it before I buy as there are one or two other buyers interested in the truck. I'll have to use pretty good judgement if I pull the trigger on this purchase. Thanks for the info.

 

Try to compare the left & right sides, you should be able to see any imperfections.

 

Thanks again. Any thoughts on the range I can bring down the price if everything looks good and also if this don't look good?

 

Not really sure, but repaired vehicles are definitely worth less than original condition ones.

 

Thanks SocalPaul. I'll discuss it with the owner and see what he thinks would be good compromise and if it sounds reasonable and the repair looks good I won't push the issue too much.

 

Let me give a quick story as food for thought.

When I was in high school 4 friends of mine were in a Grand Cherokee driving to the mall. They got in an accident and the B pillar on the passenger side failed. It collapsed into the vehicle and my friend siting in the back seat on the passenger side struck his head on it. 2 days later he passed away in the hospital due to massive brain trauma. It was later determined that the B pillar failed due to a manufacturing error.

Now, I gotta ask you. Do you really want to compromise on a vehicle whose structural integrity may be in question. I wouldn't be worried about leaking windows, I'd be worried if that thing was going to do it's job in case of an accident.

 

This was my concern more than anything. Was the cherokee your friends where in had any repairs to the B pillar that wasn't done correctly?

 

As i remember, the truck was brand new.