Bought a hacked prius

Do you mind sharing where in the great state of California this occurred?

Should help other members or those searching prior to purchasing a Prius of what is out there in their geographic area.

Have you opened up the fob to see what the condition is?

Good luck with your Prius and making the most of what you’ve spent.

 

My guess is there is not much wrong with your car. Many prius cars get sold cheap because the cat is bad and it can't get smogged for registration. That's the most probable reason why the previous owner sold the car. Probably sold it for $2000-$2500 with the high mileage. The scam artist bought it and flipped it.

So you probably would just have to replace the cat next time the smogged registration comes up

If you have a base model prius, there's no smart key functions

 

Where are you in California?

Battery can go in the red areas if it's weak and you're climbing hills

 

$3000 is still a decent price for a running prius, even with 230k miles. It's just not the killer deal you thought you had with 130k miles on the clock

You probably can sell the car as is for $3000 now, just let the buyers know the mileage is not original.

 

Even without smart key function, you still should be able to use the buttons on the fob to remotely lock and unlock the doors.

 

sounds like a bad battery. does it keep bouncing up and down from high to low and back again?

 

That sounds like it's getting bad. You might improve it with a Prolong grid charger. Or it's too far gone and you'll need to replace one or more bad modules. If so, the charger is going to make that repair more effective.

On the fob, perhaps that fob doesn't go with that car. There's a rather lengthy thread on how to reprogram it here on PC.

 

I thought if you did not have a working fob, the car needs to be reseeded by a dealer. I may be mistaken, though.
If you have one working fob, I believe there is a process to program another "virgin" fob for your vehicle.

 

Another person getting jacked again. Never buy a car without pulling a carfax report and not get it inspected by a pro mechanic. Its most common mistakes i see when people pull the trigger buying a used car. The main computer could have possibly been replaced as I can't think of any reason why the VIN is not readable.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I seem to remember that for the SKS, but didn't remember it for the non-SKS. This morning I read the steps and it does appear you need the old fob even for the non SKS, which makes sense from a security standpoint.

In the case of not having any fob set up with the car, that sounds like it needs a dealer and the title of the car (or at least registration, I would think). This post explains it and would show the steps if it wasn't based on pictures with broken links.

 

With sincere apologies to the OP.
If it was me?
I wouldn't even bother continuing to invest into this deal.
I'll caveat this advice by saying I could be totally wrong, and some of these things could be hedged by how much D.I.Y. skill or motivation the OP has, or wants to apply.
But it sounds to me like damage control on the Titanic.

I think I'd cut losses now. Sell or trade in with an HONEST disclosure to the next person. -Don't want to pay bad karma forward. Then just look back at this as an unfortunate and expensive life lesson.
When I was young, I made some BAD used car purchases. It happens.
For me? Once I found out I was burned, it became nearly impossible for me to ever reach a point where I was going to enjoy the car. Moving on, one way or the other was the only thing I could really do.

 

If it sounds too good, it probably is; lots of scams out there. You've learned an expensive but ultimately valuable lesson.

This car is a money pit. When you find yourself in a hole, the very first rule is to STOP digging!

GOOD LUCK!

 

@ small claims:
What are your actual damages?
You bought a 13-year-old creme-puff only to find out that it has a sullied past......but it's still a 13-year-old car.
Just for grins, I asked the Googles what a show-room-new condition 2004 would be worth in LA with only 10,000 on the odometer, and they said about $5000, so that means that the very most that you could have possibly been defrauded in this case would have been about $2000.....and even if you managed to get the seller into small claims....AND convince the judge of this....AND get a settlement, your chances of actually seeing any money from this case would be about the same as getting a 7-figure lottery payout.

@ Odometer fraud:
Much easier to do electronically than mechanically.
I won't go into details because little ears are listening, but a 13-year-old kid who isn't even smart enough to use an Android based phone can do it during his (or her) lunch break.
It's just that it's harder to go undetected, but in the end.....it's mostly a mattress-tag law downmarket, which is where these crimes usually occur.

@ Where to go now:
If "project car" for you means paint and fins, then you need to loudly announce "Eject-Eject-Eject!" three times and pull the yellow and black looped lanyard.
Make sure that your knees and elbows are tucked in.


Good Luck!

 

Production of the then gen2 first began in August of 2003* so the car could (potentially) be turning 15 years old if it's an early build. Time flies......

*Toyota Prius - Wikipedia