No VIN tag in door.

Hey guys I have a quick question about the VIN tags in the door. I just bought a used 2017 TRD Pro last week and noticed today that it does not have a VIN tag in the door.

The Carfax says the vehicle has not been in any accidents and no airbags have been deployed. The only thing noted was damage reported one time with no other info. And the service intervals/oil change schedule didn't seem to be affected by the damage.

When I was looking through the owners manuals today I found a piece of sheet metal with a VIN tag on it.

Any thoughts?

 

Well does that vin match your paperwork or the vin on the dash?

 

Yeah, everything matches up.

 

Might have been bit hard enough to require replacing that section of the Uni side.
ETA: Carfax is only as good as the people giving information to it. They’ve got good marketing.

 

You could probably see some evidence of repair i assume....i can tell on my Tacoma where it was wrecked

 

It's definitely had body work. Look at the under side, and or pull a weatherstrip molding at the B pillar.

 

Pull the body side door opening weatherstrip off in the area that the vin tag should be. The pinch weld probably tells a much different story than your Carfax.

 

I just pulled the weather stripping off of the b pillar. I can't see any obvious evidence of damage or repairs. The pinch weld looks consistent and I can't see anything resembling a repair.

 

Pull up the trim where the carpet meets the body on the floor. Lots of welds there as well.

 

Well I think I found it. Underneath the bottom trim on the inside where it's hard to see. A couple newish spot welds for that panel.

 

Something serious had to happen for that whole pillar to be replaced like that.

 

It looks like it was just the outer portion of the pillar skin. The other two layers weren't impacted or replaced as far as I can tell. Everything else in the area is straight and looks good. Either it was all repaired very well or it wasn't serious enough to replace more than that.

Or maybe I'm just trying to be optimistic because there is nothing I can do at this point and I love the truck so far haha.

 

If you're happy with the truck and no negative carfax info for a resell, I'd say you are doing well.
Welcome to the forum from Dallas..

 

Car fax's aren't worth a shit IMHO. I have had two vehicles with multiple wrecks on one of them. (None my fault ) (Frigging millenials had it out for me one year. One turned left across my lane. Another was a hit and run at a stop light) Neither vehicle showed the wrecks despite insurance and legitimate local body shops being involved every time.

 

A few years ago we traded in my wife's MKC about a month after she was hit by a teenager that was texting.
Got it out for the body shop 2 days earlier.
The accident had already hit Carfax because of the police report, not because of the body shop..

 

That's some crazy hail. I'm not going to get too carried away worrying about it. Everything looks like it's in great shape and the repair isn't noticeable so I'm going to let it go. It's still a great truck.

 

If you’re not going to do anything about it, I would at least paint those bare metal spots where they welded. My tactic would probably be some rustoleum primer and some matching white topcoat. Doesn’t need to be perfect but just protected.

 

Yeah I'm definitely going to touch them up to stop potential rust. It shouldn't be too much of a problem in New Mexico but I'd like to stop any future problems.

 

That was one ugly strom...

 

Dang. That's intense. I've been in some bad ones here in NM and a few up around Wyoming, but I've never seen one like that.

 

We got a taco in with a clean Carfax on a dealer trade for used cars.. started digging into it and found out the whole bed and the b pillar had been replaced. Clean Carfax though... they don’t report everything because some shops don’t report the damage

 

Hail is quite literally my worst nightmare.
Other than tornado.
My corolla had its roof repainted. 4 days later hail destroyed the fresh paint. Ended up having them weld a new damn roof on because it was so mangled. And a hood. And a trunk...

 

Welcome from NH and congrats on finding a cement pro

 

Thanks. I've got some big plans for it when I get some money saved up.