Second attempt at buying a used 4Runner. Any help appreciated.

I’m currently in the buying process for a used 5th gen 4 runner but it has a lift kit installed so I asked what it was. I was shown the invoice from the toyota dealer and it says “HB lift kit” and the item line indicates a cost of $19,500! Anyone know what in the hell this could be? I’m not aware of any lift kit that cost that much money and an internet search didn’t reveal anything. Thanks!

 

"Hey! Bendover!

 

That seems about right. Weird thing is they state it was purchased and installed through Toyota. Does Toyota even make a lift kit for 4 runners?

 

Toyota does not offer lifts, but some dealers will install aftermarket ones. If a dealer installs a lift, they usually offer a warranty since they installed it.

But I cannot believe they'd try to soak anyone for $19.5k for a lift...

 

Agreed, I’m confused and now unsure of what to make of the situation. Wish I could just buy new and avoid these shenanigans.

 

That is usually a dealer cash grab i.e. they install a lift worth $2k and mark it up to $20k. Typically the dealer will outsource the install to a neighboring 4WheelParts because they're cheaper than using dealer techs. Gullible buyers who don't know any better feel more secure because it's dealer-backed. Been happening for decades. The reason Toyota developed the TRD Pro trim was basically to take a portion of that market.

Is "HB" possibly the initials of the dealer name that sold the vehicle?

 

Wow that is a significant cash grab! I don’t know where the vehicle was originally purchased. Hard to believe someone would pay such a significant fee without at least googling the cost. When you say dealer backed do you mean it doesn’t affect the warranty?

 

It is likely one of those stupid MSRP markups like dealerships adding 600 dollars of window tint onto a vehicle pricetag, I would stay away from it unless you can negotiate with them to get the price down

 

Is this at a dealership where we can see it online to see if there are pics?

 

Disclose the dealer and the add for the 4R if you want a real answer to your question. With your very limited info, one can only speculate.
As a rule, I would stay away from any with a modified suspension "lift" as it adds no value and is more often worse than OE.

 

Watch the Toyota certified preowned/used vehicle website. You can specify search anywhere in the Country. Always a good selection of 4runners.
10 months ago I found my daughter a 2019 SR5 with 50,000 miles in excellent condition, no rust anywhere. CarFax revealed some maintenance and all ownership history. Under hood fluids were new. After purchase from dealer my independent mechanic lubed both diffs, tranny, torque converter and propeller/drive shafts. Our opinion was first time these items serviced, but now ready for proper care hauling her family anywhere. We just did 5,000 mile tire rotation oil/filter change. All good.

 

Any mods reduce vehicle value, so having this lift kit should make it cheaper than unmodified 4Runner.

 

It sounds like someone at the dealership miss the location of the decimal point.
19,500.00 vs 1950.00

 

It’s funny you say that because I asked did you mean 1900? It’s a personal sale so I would have to ask the seller the dealership from which they bought it. The car has a little under 20k miles on it so do you think it’s a deal breaker to have lift kit? Do you think in that time it has done damage to the car or voided the warranty? If so I guess I will walk on it.

 

If anything happens with the lift, the selling dealer would cover it. If the lift causes another OEM component to fail, the selling dealer may play along. Any other dealer would point to the aftermarket lift and deny warranty coverage if there's reasonable correlation.

Need to see pictures of the lift. Some taller lifts (4-6") are drop-bracket lifts where they cut away a frame crossmember, making it irreversible. Would be best to avoid such a vehicle unless you're specifically looking for it in your build plan.

 

I couldn't continue to work with a dealer that added $19k for a lift kit. I don't trust their ethics based on this, so I'd look elsewhere. Big Red flag IMO.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Having a lift in general is not in my build plan but if its reversible I would likely still consider the car since I could hopefully sell the removed lift kit and return to stock. Doubt I'll get 20k for it though

 

You would get less than $1k for a used lift kit.

 

Yeah. That's just a dealer markup labeled as something else. Run fast and far from these people and keep looking. Shady AF!

 

Yeah I don’t expect to get much of anything for it. I looked into it turns out it was just insanely marked up, nothing special like you all said.

 

Especially when this dealer installed “Toyota lift kit” is probably just a rough country spacer kit lol.

 

A dealer trying to charge $19.5k for a spacer kit would be a new low.

 

^Pretty common for over a decade before covid. Usually the $19.5k includes a set of gaudy aftermarket wheels and tires valued at $5k on the window sticker. Of course everything then gets rolled into the financing. Toyota corporate saw this and decided to create TX Baja / Trail Teams / TRD Pro trims to get in on the profits.

 

$19.5k? Unless that's a mistake, holy hell! You could do a full, long travel, top-of-the-line / Baja ready suspension setup on that thing for less.

 

It was literally a 2 inch spacer lift. It did have some trd wheels and 33 inch tires but still doesn't come close to justifying that price

 

I thought it might be a set of Portals for the price.

 

$19.5k isn't enough for either, just sayin'...

 

So at least it isn't a butchery drop-bracket lift. If the vehicle is priced similar to stock ones of similar vintage, then it's still worthy of consideration. You can always remove the spacers and/or upgrade. Plenty of decent budget lift options from Bilstein/Eibach/OME/Dobinson...

 

I think one of the advantages was the dealer who did the work said it didn't void the warranty since they did the work. Still not worth all that money imo but I guess some advantage.

 

It’s a 2023 and has under 20k miles. If there was damage from the lift kit say to the front diff or cv joints is this something a pre purchase inspection could catch? With such low mileage might the car still be in good enough condition to consider purchase?