Everyone knows about the buyback at this point.

What you might not have known is that if you are like me and had a 95-00 Taco whose frame failed or was excessively rusted and sold it before the Buyback (and lost 1000's of dollars, and could have made 1000's more), Toyota is willing to work with you. They will give you TODAY's trade in value(kbb not NADA), minus what you sold the truck for. My 1998 today would be worth 3000 trade in according to KBB.

You need three things:
1 Proof of ownership. (Easy, registration or insurance card)

2 Mechanics report. (more difficult, need to have an professional sign off that he inspected the truck and it was totally F-ed)

3 Notarized Bill of Sale(Hard. Unless you sold it to a dealer, you have to track down the guy you sold it to and get him to come to a Notor with you and both sign a Bill of Sale and get it stamped.) If you sold it to a dealer you do not need it to be notarized.


I got so sick of having people come up to me and saying "Hey man, remember that truck you used to have whose frame broke?.You could have gotten so much money!.." As if I didn't know. So I called toyota and cried (2 years after the fact) and they said "We'll hook you up, just get us these three things".

I have the fist 2, and know the guys name. Hes in Florida till may but I think I'll be able to make it work. Just wanted to fill you guys in just in case anyone is in my shoes. Its not nearly as much as the buyback but it sure helps ease the sting.

 

Good info!

On the 3rd step, if the guy needs some motivation to get with a notory you could offer to pay him for his time or something (case of beer maybe).

Good luck with it, Toyota is really trying hard to do the right thing here.

 

Lets not go so far to think all toyota is thinking about is doing the right thing, OHNO, Toyota is not paying for all of this, in fact toyota isn't paying any of it at all, this would be the manufacturers insurance company's that have takin the blow, and toyota is just looking like the good guy.

 

Would that be Dana's insurance company? Any info you'd like to share is welcome.

 

I don't think insurance would cover a goodwill offer. Toyota did this to retain customer loyalty and reinforce their rock solid reputation.

Everyone I have heard of who went through the buy-back took their money and bought another Toyota truck. So even if they are paying for it, a lot of the money is going right back into the company. I see more 05+ tacos on the road than 95.5-04. Maybe its because rust ate them all up here in the frozen north.

 

I traded my 96 in november of 07 right before the buyback, to a toyota dealership. So i have both number 1 and 3, does the mechanic looking at have to be a toyota tech, I never had mine looked at, but do have pictures of the holes.
And since you sold yours for 1,800 and the trade in is 3,000, you would be getting around 1,200 back?
Not sure on how much we got from the trade-in since my dad handled it all but the KBB on mine now is 3,600 who do i contact from toyota?

 

ive got a friend whos taco had rust it was a 99 and he got $14,000 (thats right i didnt put an extra 0 in) I couldnt belive it until he showed me the check that they wrote him1

 

Again, this isn't Toyota's insurance company, It's the manufacturers, they made a bad frame and toyota's reputation was getting hurt buy it, so they got mad at the manufacturers and in turn the manufacturers managed to get there insurance company's to pay for it so there business didn't go under.

lol, can you imagine all the little Asian people yelling at each other...Fihx miy peeckup truck!

 

1rt gen- Gotcha

Ohio- You need to contact toyota corporate. Call 1-800-331-4331. An operator should refer you to a case manager. The money they will issue you, if sucessful, is TODAY's trade in minus what you got for it. So if your truck had an excellent trade in value of 2500, and they gave you 1000 for it, you would be eligible for 1500.

As for having it looked at- You just need an reputable shop to, in writing, verify that they have inspect your truck (and found its frame to be rotted enough to qualify, which yours is). The dealship you traded it in may or may not be willing to do this. Check into it, and check into your KBB 'excellent' trade in to make sure that what you got was significantly less so that its worth it.