Looking at 2008 Prius with 205,000k

The woman that told you the check engine light means nothing is lying to you, just like all politicians do

Most likely issue is a bad 3 way coolant valve, which is $500 repair at the dealer. Or a more expensive catalytic converter problem, which is a $1500+ repair.

Then there's the hv battery, when it fails, it'll cost $3000 to get a reliable new one.

I don't think you should buy it, especially as a first prius

 

Find one with 115k miles or lessfor 5.5k 2007+ only imo. Otherwise I'd just pay the extra 3k and get a 2011 model with 110k miles for 8.5k, which makes for a newer car that still has battery warrenty. The prius is expensive to fix if the battery goes bad, or the miles go really high unless you can do it yourself.

 

Welcome.

Run away from an unknown trouble code! If the light is on there is a code that the Toyota dealer can read. Not all code readers can read some of the Prius codes.
If we knew where you were located (state is fine if in the US) we may be able to make better suggestions.

 

Check NADA.com for value, that sounds CRAZY high, most likely the dealer offered her $1500 on trade, so she's trying to sell it for a 50% premium on the market value of about $3k.

Prii are great cars if safety and fuel economy are your goals, but as with ANY used car, repairs can be costly.

Either the seller is lying, or the dealer does not know how/want to fix it, hard to explain why. If you can find out what code(s) are there when the light was on, you would have enough data to make an informed decision. For the asking price tho, no way!

 

We are assuming the "dealership" in the OP was a Toyota dealership. It if were not, they likely would not have a code reader able to read Prius codes.

This means ignorance may be the issue rather than untruthfulness.

 

2008 was a great year, but the problem is, you don't know what you'll get over the course of a few years.
might be trouble free, or might run you thousands of dollars in repairs.

with a low budget, i would look for a corolla type vehicle with less miles on it.

 

I think the feedback here is reasonable, but I will add my own take since I bought 2007 and 2008 very low mileage Prii several months ago and received some similar feedback - after my 2007 Prius was totaled by my stepdaughter. First of all, good luck in buying a used Prius! Used car buying can be challenging for sure. There's just inherent risk and impossible to really know the future, as some have pointed out. Could turn out to be great or could have thousands in repairs, which is not acceptable obviously.

I see you're in Portland for the person who wondered if you're in the U.S. to give more specific advice. I really wanted to stay with the Prius, so I definitely didn't want to hear advice to get something else if I couldn't afford newer Prii. I love these cars, especially Gen II. Anyway, I'll try to make my main points here. 200,000+ miles is quite a bit on any car, including this one. Clearly it has been reliable, but it is not clear how long that can continue at this point. It's good it has been driven regularly. I would have it checked out by a Toyota dealer for sure. I would consider what the MPG is registering on the display and for how many miles it has been driven to calculate that I would notice if the battery life indicator seems steady or if it bounces around from charged to low charge and back up, which apparently indicates the hybrid battery is about to go. I would read in the 200,000+ miles thread and ask over there what they think about this purchase. I think hard and fast rules about how much it should cost are hard to follow depending on your individual market, though I know estimates are available based on individual markets. In any case, look it up on Edmunds.com or some other database and see what they suggest and make an offer based more on that than what she is asking, emphasizing that buying a car with these many miles is risky, especially with the check engine light coming on and the age of the battery. She is buying a new Prius for a reason, after all. As far as replacing the battery, I found a lot of different opinions on whether a refurbished or repaired battery is an acceptable thing to do, so you might search that topic specifically and see what you come up with. It isn't necessarily straight-forward though. The hybrid battery is supposed to last the life of the car, but I don't know how they determine the upper limits of what that is. The rate of it going out seems to be between 3-15%, so the statistics are in your favor. Oh, and I disagree with your family about the Prius not being a good car until 2012! I don't know where they came up with that opinion, but I don't think it is supported by the data. Good luck again!

 

That is my point. They could be in Maine, Oregon, some other state, or some other country.

 

You got me! I assumed Portland, OR, knowing full-well there are other Portlands. Must be the show Portlandia has me trained to think of no one else.

 

lol

 

Without seeing pics or maintenance history I think you are paying around $1400 too much. But I'm sure prices are outrageous in Portland, OR.

 

How do you know they are not in Portland Maine?

 

Nobody lives in Portland Maine.

It's like asking, "How do you know they are not in Dallas, Iowa....or Dallas, Arkansas....or Dallas, Oregon" (all real cities) instead of Dallas, Texas to someone that has Dallas in their profile.

There are other clues...Portland, Oregon is well known for loving Toyota Priuses....They are well known for having outrageous prices for used Priuses...Et cetera.

 

The dealer-to-dealer website I use has a 2010 up for buy-it-now $4200 (and $175 auction fee). But it's in Kent, Washington so 3 hour drive from Portland. I am sure in the live auction (which is Wednesday) it will go for $3000 to $3500 tops. I would keep shopping around

Has 240K miles:

Used 2010 Toyota Prius V For Sale in Bremerton WA | Serving Tacoma, Auburn & Silverdale | CV4335A

 

If it is Portland, Oregon, there have to be very experienced independent Prius mechanics who can do a thorough inspection and give you an opinion on the value. I don't think you should buy it without taking this step.

 

Toyota, Mazda... both make sense from a cost of ownership and reliability stand point, but a Fiat?!?!?!?

"All cash", that's GREAT to hear, too many people borrow and get into BIG trouble doing so.

I bet if you offered $4k for a Prius you like with good records and in good shape, they would accept it.