Buying a salvaged Prius?

Steve is great at autobeyours.com

 

If the title is branded "salvage" there is no warranty. The dealer might give it if they mess up but Toyota won't pay the dealer. Unless Toyota somehow doesn't see/find the salvage record which would be unusual.

It's the state's responsibility to only brand cars that are actually totaled, the insurance companies also bear some responsibility.

It's sort of silly to expect Toyota to cover accident damage, that's the reason behind the policy. In a perfect world they should still cover things unrelated to crash damage but it's a tough call.

 

i recently purchased an '07 GM w/ a salvage title. it was a previous rental car.
i gotta tell you, the damage was questionable/very minimal to actually designate it as "salvage".

nevertheless, the insurance company paid off the rental company at full value and sold off the vehicle as salvage. it was repaired for minimal cost with all bolt-on parts.

it now runs and looks like new.

i can assure you that any future mechanical work that is needed will be totally unrelated to the damage which resulted in a "salvage" designation.

that's why i say the process is a scam...

 

New member here...first time post.

Here is my relevant, long-winded reply which I think readers will enjoy...

I had been looking at Prii for a few weeks and after test driving a 2008 and 2011, I decided I wanted a used 2010 Prius. Last night (no joke) I went to look at a 2010 Prius II with 13,700 miles being sold by a private seller. The ad had just been posted online earlier that afternoon. When I had asked the seller on the phone, he said the car was in excellent condition. Having spent two weeks pricing new and used Prii here in the Utah area, I could not believe the low selling price being offered by this particular seller. (Price revealed later in the post) .

I left work early and hurried my way to look and hopefully buy the car before anyone else. When we arrived to look at the car, I saw minor blemishes on the exterior, but nothing of concern. The seller did reveal upon inquiry that the car had some body damage repaired on the front, right side. He made it sound like no big deal. We asked if we could take the car for a spin and be back real soon...which turned out to be 2 hours.

During the test drive, I found some paperwork in the glove box indicating the car had been wrecked and auctioned. Even though I saw no physical damage, the low asking price now made sense. Without contacting the seller, I immediately took the car to the nearest Toyota dealership to get a thorough inspection. I emphasized that the car apparently had been wrecked and needed a thorough check.

While the car was being inspected, I asked for and received a Car Fax from the dealership. Making the most of our wait, my wife and I opted to look at used cars sitting on the lot. There was one Prius that was same year and package as ours but with twice as many miles...but it was certified, meaning it still had same warranties as new cars. Thinking I had negotiating leverage, I revealed to the salesman that we were having another prospective car inspected because it apparently had been wrecked, "totaled", and auctioned. He responded with how the warranty would be void and really talked up the expense behind the electrical components should they fail. After crunching the numbers, the dealership gave me a quote on their certified car...bottom line, approximately $27,500! The car had 27,000 miles on it. I felt insulted.

A few minutes later the inspection was completed. The mechanic told me almost word for word, "it's the same inspection we give to used cars that the dealership want to certify...except for the paperwork." He also had taken care of the the TSB recall on the brakes. The mechanic passed the car off with flying colors...it had been hit in the right front panel, which I already knew and which he found for himself based on missing VIN tags. The mechanic said the rebuild workmanship was very good. THE MECHANIC ALSO TOLD ME THAT ITEMS NOT AFFECTED BY THE LOCATION OF THE COLLISION ARE STILL VALID UNDER WARRANTY! He proceeded to tell me that the most important/expensive components were not near the collision area and thus, will still be covered under the normal warranty. I realize the mechanic may be incorrect, but I still had the assurance I was looking for.

Cost for the TSB fix...free of course, the Car Fax...free, the dealership inspection...$100, the confidence I now had....priceless! With (1) Car Fax in hand, (2) evidence of a recent inspection from the seller, (3) my own inspection from the dealership, and (4) the knowledge of Toyota's reliability, and to some extent the mechanic's claim that much of the warranty will still be valid, and also the fact that they fixed the TSB issue, oh yeah, and (5) the dealer's over-priced quote....it was a no-brainer decision for me.

Within an hour, we had bought the car from the private seller. Mere minutes later we got a text from the salesman asking what it would take for us to buy their certified used car...yes, a text. Little did he know I already bought and was actually driving MY NEW CAR bought at asking price of $18,200! May not seem like a steal to others, but considering it is nine grand cheaper than a certified dealership car with twice as many miles, frankly, I feel like I just stole cookies from the cookie jar!

Picture of my new car attached. Looking forward to learning from others on this forum! Howdy all!

 

hopefully it'll work out for you. owning a salvaged title Prius definitely has worked for me.
that said...it's not for everybody.

 

:welcome:

Great writeup. Good story.

 

Here is the exclusion out of my .pdf of the warranty booklet

There might be states that don't allow that exclusion. Or there might not

"Salvage" could indicate some conditions, such as flood damage, that are a good reason to cancel a warranty. I don't think Toyota wants top get in the business of inspecting salvage title cars to see if the warranty should still be valid so they use that blanket exclusion.

 

i love this one...

so understand this:
- the manufacturer/dealer (Toyota, et al) has absolutely no say in whether a vehicle title is designated as "salvaged"
- yet, once the salvage designation is made by the insurance company, the vehicle is blackballed forever by the manufacturer/dealer
- this occurs even though the manufacturer/dealer has no idea why the insurance company "totaled" the vehicle in the first place
- and, in many cases, this same damaged vehicle could have been repaired by the insurance company & claimant after the two came to an agreement, thus resulting in vehicle not being designated as salvage

it's a sham and a scam!

 

lol...everybody to their own...

I WOULD BUY SALVAGE if you want to save money!
I buy Salvage ALL the time and NEVER even once bought from the "stealer".
I fix cars myself and do EVERYTHING myself. So it's probably easier for me.

But all Prius's that I fix are 100% fixed as they were before damage.
No electrical/sensors/airbag/etc damage..

And selling a Salvage Prius is a breeze!
I had an 08 Prius sold withing 5 days of posting for sale!
But ofcourse....I price them WAAY below the Clean Title price.
So for people it makes sense to buy Salvage and save.

Good luck to you.

~Serge~

 

It makes sense that the original warranty is Voided in case of a salvage. If you get your salvage vehicle poorly repaired and then it has issues, you could try to hold toyota accountable, even though there have been most likely very major changes to the condition of the car.

For example a water damaged prius could be totaled at 6 months old, and lets just say 5000 miles. now if you buy it for cheap, and kinda fix it, but now 2 years and 25,000 miles down the road you have lots of electrical problems, should toyota really be held accountable for that?

The 09 That I totaled earlier this year is now on salvage auction. Personally if someone bought it to repair i don't think they should try and skirt some of the repair bill to toyota, just to add to their bottom line.

 

As long as the no factory warranty on salvage title cars is near universal, and I think it is, it's completely fair because it will be reflected in the price the buyer is willing to pay.

Where the problem comes in is when a novice buys a salvage car without being aware of that limitation. Can't blame the novices ignorance on the car manufacturer.

 

if you've been following the many "salvage Prius" threads/stories on this site, you will find that the policy..."no factory warranty on salvage title cars" is NOT universal.

and as i've previously stated, i had $2000 worth of warranty service done on my salvaged Prius at 35,000 miles. no hesitance by the dealer, no questions asked!

 

I'm James! This is my first post on the board!

I just bought a 2009 Prius with a Salvage title last Saturday for 10,000$ that only had 40k miles. The car was hit on the passenger side with no apparent damage to the engine bay. This is my 8th car, and so far, I can honestly say this is my favorite vehicle I have ever owned, and am completely content with it thus far (gotta LOVE 47.1mpg!). I know that re-selling salvage titles can often be a pain in the rear, but when you plan on putting 150k+ miles on the car in the next 6-7 years, I really have no issue with eventually selling the car for pennies on the dollar......

I guess it just all comes down to what someone else has already said.....buying salvage is not for everyone, but i think in many situations, it works out for the better!

 

you got a good buy.
and as previously stated, if you drive it for 5 years and re-sell it for $5,000 then your total outlay will be $1000/year or $83/month.
most Prius drivers around town are not paying $83/month.

 

For merely the most recent example of the fun that may lurk in a salvage see
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...8-prius-red-triangle-check-enginer-light.html

 

Well good for you, the dealer and Toyota gave you a break but they weren't obligated to give you a break. The wording in the warranty is very clear.

 

My salvage '09 has been going strong for over 56k miles now with no issues so far.

 

yes indeed, the wording is clear.

however, once again...Toyota is not involved in the decision making process when a vehicle is designated "Salvage", it's done by a low-end claims adjuster (the first job i had out of college).

and further...when a vehicle is is damaged to a point where it is a "flip of the coin" as to whether the vehicle should be totaled or not, the claims adjuster does not consult with Toyota as to if or where the vehicle should be repaired.

therefore, it's a scam for Toyota to nullify or make a salvage vehicle ineligible for warranty.

Toyota knows absolutely nothing about where the vehicle was damaged or the circumstances why it's designated salvage...as they know nothing about a vehicle that was greatly damaged and repaired by a low-end (but insurance authorized) shop and still listed as a clean title.

 

I am really having trouble understanding the thought process that leads you to conclude that a salvage vehicle being ineligible for manufacturer's warranty constitutes a "scam".

Here is the definition of that word:
–noun 1. a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; swindle.

–verb (used with object) 2. to cheat or defraud with a scam.
Scam | Define Scam at Dictionary.com


An insurance company has no financial motivation to unnecessarily declare a vehicle as salvage. It is certainly possible that you may be able to find a particular vehicle that you don't think should have been designated salvage. Nevertheless if a company wrote off substantially more accident vehicles than necessary, you would expect that, in a competitive market, that company would eventually lose money and go out of business.

Toyota's warranty policy is clearly stated. Whether or not the policy is consistently enforced depends upon how diligently your VIN was researched before the warranty repairs were performed.

Do you really expect Toyota to investigate every vehicle that has suffered an accident, to decide whether or not the manufacturer's warranty should remain in force? It is much easier and clearer for them to say that if the vehicle is designated salvage, then the warranty no longer is in effect.