Got a 12 w/ 73K for Xmas...what now?

Toyota Owners Official Web Site
If you go there and enter your VIN, you should be able to see all Dealer Service the car has had.

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omms-s/T-MMS-12Prius/pdf/2012_Toyota_Prius_WMG.pdf
Is your Maintenance manual, 75,000 miles is a minor service, just rotate tires. (page 49 of the PDF)

Not anywhere in the schedule is a drain and fill of the ATF WS in the transaxle, I would do that now, and then every 100,000 miles. If the dealer does it, it should be near $100.
If they get greedy and quote some much higher number, any mechanic (including DIY) can do it. You need about $40 in parts, 4 to 5 quarts of ATF WS and two gaskets at the dealer parts counter. Lots of your tube videos.

 

i fear you will be replacing it before you've finished paying...

 

Hmmmmm.....

This would normally be a wobbler for me.
The G3 is a vary dependable car....until it isn't.
It's also a very cheap car....until it isn't.

However, (COMMA!!!!) If I'm reading your post correctly and IF you really have until Sunday, I'd take it back if I were you.

Here's why:
1.)$14,000 financed over six years tells me that you can't write a check for a new inverter....or transaxle....or bottom end for your motor to say nothing of the traction battery, which probably has about a 50% chance of failing before six years are up.

2.) You're not "mech savy" which means that you have to take somebody else's word for what your car needs to drive out of the place that you drove it into to get maintained or repaired. That's a dangerous combination considering you're asking the person swinging wrenches on your car to determine how much you must pay to drive it back out.

3.) $14,000 is a bit pricey for a 2012...two, and what the HECK is up with that payment??
$315 is what you said in the OP.
That's over a $22,600 payback, and since I'm a product of public ejumacation I won't even take a stab at what the interest rate is!!!
I just checked.
If I'm foolish enough to take out a used car loan at my credit union for 6 years, they will actually loan me the money (I was surprised.)
MY interest rate would be close to seven percent and the monthly payment would be less than $250.
Unless your OP has a typo in it I would take the car right back there right now and investigate!!!
Like.....before you read the rest of this reply!!!

4.) Read 10 of the longest threads in this forum about "sudden oil use" in a g3 (2010-2015) Prius.
They all have the same root cause, which is an owner not lifting the hood to check fluids as prescribed in the maintenance manual every 1000 miles. Your comment about the one previous owner maintaining the interior was very interesting.
This could mean that they were super anal about the car and actually READ the maintenance guide and lifted the hood every now and again to see what's going on inside.
You're betting much on the difference between the car being well maintained or simply being owned by a germ phobe who never lifted the hood on the car and did just enough maintenance to get the car to last until their next new car.
Have you spoken with them?
Have you seen the maintenance records for this vehicle?

5.) Your job (food delivery) does not sound very fault tolerant where reliable transportation is concerned.

6.) Your insurance is interesting. $1800 a year. In Florida. For one driver and one car. A six year old, $14,000 car.

People make their own luck for the most part, and if you're lucky....this could be the cheapest, best car that you've ever owned....ESPECIALLY for food delivery....even if you're paying top dollar for the car to begin with.

In the event that you decide to keep this car, then I would very strongly recommend.....
1. Check your oil level in the next 30 minutes, and every other time you get gas.
2. Refinance that crazy loan at a credit union.
3. Do something about those insurance rates.
4. Start learning to do your own maintenance.
Really.
Drunk rednecks do it all the time, and with Harbor Freight tools. This isn't a heavy lift, and it can be the difference between somebody like me driving the car for 250,000 miles with little maintenance costs or somebody like I don't want somebody like YOU to be, which is a slave to new car payments.
...or worse!

Good Luck!

 

Yeah I've never done anything but cash purchase. This scenario scares me: wait till you can afford the car, or buy a car you can afford, either way.

 

Well....
There are many reasons that people are forced to get their cars at the BUY-HERE....PAY-HERE places, and the sad part is that many times it's not because the purchaser is being foolish.

Defication occurs.

Medical debt, divorce, being a single parent, elder care......there are many causes.
I mean.....the OP is already displaying more common sense that I had when I was in MY twenties because I would have put myself out on a financial precipice over a much more foolish car than a base G3.

I guess what I should have spent more time emphasizing is that a 2012 with 75,000 miles CAN BE a VERY reliable car even if it was marginally maintained.....BUT....people have to get over the "not mechanically inclined" part and take advantage of the fact that every single maintenance item for the Prius can be performed with relatively simple hand tools, and a little bit of time and effort.

@NutzAboutBolts videos are a good place to start!
Internet forums are a good place to start.

 

Yeah, $14K for 2012 Two with 75K miles seems high, but I have no idea what the used car market in your area is like. What surprises me, even more, is that your monthly payment is $315 for $14K 60 month loan. A simple interest rate of this loan is 12.5%. That's waaaay higher than average used car loan I am familiar with. You will be ending up paying a total $18,898. $5K to the bank. Do you really have to do that?

EDIT: Wait, it's not a 60-month loan, it is 6 years loan. That's 72 months. That changes the number to the interest rate of 17.5% and a total payment of $22,706. You will be paying $8,706 interest to the bank.

 

That $315 payment seems like an 18% interest based on $14K. Are we back in the 80's or are you using "alternative" financing? Also, $14K for a 2012 Prius seems high. I think you are being played.

 

85 miles/day x 5 = 425/week x 50 = 21,250 x 6 = 127,500 + 73,000 = 200k

doable, but a lot of potential heartache

 

what would something like a corolla cost?

 

not quite, but they are fairly reliable on average. no knowing if yours will be, but it sounds like you don't have a lot of choice.
save the gas money for the unexpected. if you never use it, put it into a retirement account.

read the egr circuit cleaning threads

 

The Cabin Air Filter is pretty important, but I'd yank open the hood and do the Engine Air Filter first....or at least look at it to determine how gunky it is.
When you're sitting in the cabin, you have the option of buzzing down the window to get fresh air.
Your engine doesn't - and it uses a LOT of air.

(Once again..... @NutzAboutBolts delivers!)

As far as the too big to DIY the oil?
We'll leave that be for now.
The fact that you're CHECKING the oil places you well ahead of the pack.....and you have the chance to turn this into a car that can still save you money in the long run.
It's all about ownership instead of just driving the thing and hoping that all of the pieces stay in the same zip code....and as a bonus cars that RUN well also get better mileage.

Got a tire gauge?