Would you pay that much?
“That truck made it all that way to the moon and back!”
The 2008 Toyota Tundra has covered 606,431 mi and was ready to roll when I saw it at a Carmax dealer auction. It had some paint damage and the interior was definitely worn but it looked great.
All those miles? A little over 50,000 per year? The 2008 Toyota Tundra Double Cab had already been to the moon and back (238.900 miles each), and was now more than half way to its return trip to orbit… mileage-wise.
Sincerely, I wondered if the previous owner actually lived there. The bottoms of the rear seats had been lifted and there was a half-full water bottle in the middle console that contained tobacco spit. This vehicle’s story was far more complex and disturbing than the few bits of ownership.
This Tundra was purchased nearly seven years ago and has more than 280,000 miles. A high-mileage Toyota would be a great purchase. The truck also came with tons of maintenance records.
It had 61 service records when it was sold to Carmax. It was not in the best of condition. Other than the paint flaking, there wasn’t much else I could complain about.
The undercarriage was solid. It had lived its whole life in the South, where it was rust-free. Even after more than 600,000 miles, the truck’s body still had plenty of life.
The starting bid was $1,000, and it rocketed up to a final offer of $3,000. The auction’s $300 buy fee and the cost of transporting and reconditioning the truck resulted in a final bid of $3,000.