‘People are shady’: Salesman reveals what Toyota owners keep doing to their trucks, and it’s tanking resale value

A Toyota salesman has had enough of truck owners putting fake TRD Off-Road stickers on their vehicles. He says this trick is hurting resale values and tricking buyers. The salesman, who goes by @tatdadbod on TikTok, made a video telling owners of Tacomas, Tundras, and 4Runners to stop adding fake badges to their trucks.

According to Motor1, the TikTok video has gotten thousands of views. In it, the salesman shows a Tacoma that was just traded in. The truck looked nice with TRD rims, but something was wrong. It had a “TRD off road” sticker on the rims, but the truck was actually just an SR5 two-wheel-drive model with an XP package.

Here’s the problem – a real TRD Off-Road can be two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, but it must have one key feature, which is  a locking rear differential. This traded-in SR5 didn’t have that feature. It also wasn’t four-wheel drive. The stickers were fake, and the truck was just a regular SR5.

Fake stickers damage both trust and vehicle value

“It is not that. Stop doing this,” the salesman warned in his video. He told Motor1 that “Customization is great! But don’t add a sticker to make it seem like it’s something it’s not.” Making your truck look cool is fine, but lying about what it can do is a different story. Like other salespeople speaking out about workplace issues, this Toyota employee isn’t afraid to call out problems in the industry.

These fake modifications hurt a vehicle’s value. Unique or extreme modifications lower a car’s worth when you try to sell it. Custom work limits the number of people who might want to buy it. You need someone who likes your exact changes instead of appealing to most buyers.

Even small changes like fake stickers cause real problems. Stickers left on paint for a long time create issues. When you remove them, the glue can strip the paint. You’ll need deep cleaning or professional help to fix it. Damaged paint kills resale value fast.

People watching the TikTok video shared strong reactions. One person said, “A guy on Marketplace had a Tacoma for sale with a TRD sport sticker and said it was 4wd.” That seller even installed a fake 4WD knob that didn’t work. The buyer only found out after looking under the truck and seeing it was 2WD. “People are shady,” the commenter said. 

“Ohhhh that’s dirty! Hahaha the guts some people have,” another commented. This kind of deception at dealerships happens more often than you’d think, as shown in stories about suspicious car sales.