Where do you find a mechanic to inspect a used Prius before purchase?

yes, a dealer is your best bet. they would love to find problems to repair.

the price seems very high, have you shopped around?

 

Assuming the vehicle is in excellent condition (3% of used cars), the price is on the high side but within parameters. If you purchase a carfax report, it will help identify the accuracy of the miles, the number of owners, status of the title, and the accident history. This is also very important when purchasing a car from an area where flood damage could have occurred from a hurricane.

I believe that many used cars are traded in because of pending repairs. The used car dealers that purchase these cars from auctions and then sell them are probably not putting in much money for repairs and maintenance. They might only detail the car and change the oil. So, I don't think the risk is that much greater for private party sales over a local used car dealer- as long as you have some kind of vehicle history.

The advantage of the private party seller over a dealer is the private party seller can hand you a folder with all of the receipts for repairs and maintenance. But at 40,000 miles, there's a chance that the only work done were oil changes and possibly air/cabin filters. I purchased my Prius via a private party sale at 29,000 miles and asked for the repair records. The owner shrugged his shoulders and said he only changed the oil twice and it's now due for another oil change.

But to answer your question- yes, a dealer works. But I'd probably bring it to my trusted mechanic, especially if the Prius is still within the warranty for the hybrid battery. Where would you bring the Prius to be inspected if you were purchasing from a used car lot?

 

the lack of maintenance over a year and 1100 miles is of no concern. if it is running fine, the gas isn't a problem. run it low and refill.

 

Depending on how far, Tampa Hybrids is known here as an excellent Prius expert. In fact they sell used too. @jerrymildred here has bought several vehicles from them over the years.

In fact, his site has a 2012 Prius IV and a 2013 Plugin Prius for about that same price. Or a 2014 IV Deluxe with Solar Sunroof.

Listings - Tampa Hybrids Inc.

 

I would go for the 30 min and $75.....at 40k miles all you need to do is have them look for obvious problems. Odds are nothing is wrong with the car anyway and you have records of maintenance visits twice a year. .

 

Sorry I was hoping you were still looking.

 

A fun anecdote; I sold my first Gen 2, bought 10/03, a couple of years after I bought it to a private party. The market was still new/hot and so was the whole Prius concept...even to dealers. No aftermarket parts to speak of yet...even here on Priuschat yet (I’ve been a junior member since 2004) and non-Toyota mechanics were terrified of the cats overall and kind of refused to work on them.

Potential buyer wanted to have it checked out first by a mechanic before he drove from San Francisco to buy it...he’d pay for it. The *only* place either of us could find to do a pre-sale inspection was dealerships. His local Bay Area dealership quoted him $100 for an inspection so he offered to pay an OC dealer if I’d take the car. “Sure,” I said.

I drove it to South Coast Toyota, where I’d bought it (but had used a different dealership for service), since buyer asked I use “independent dealership” from my own mechanic. The service advisor was confused about what I wanted...which seemed weird...but his answer was perfect (still stands for Gen 2’s!).

Service writer: “Did you drive it here?”
Me: “Yes.”
SW “Then it’s fine...I just saved the guy a hundred bucks...get out of here.”

It was a weird hybrid world out there in those early days...enjoy your new Prius!

 

Wow, I would have went somewhere else!
There are so many things that "could" have been wrong with it, brakes, head gasket, lights out,
bad radio, low on oil, no service ever done, worn tires, 12v battery dying, hybrid battery dying...
but if you drive it there, then it's fine...

Not saying YOUR's was like this, just that he turned away business, money.

 

$13,000 US dollars????

I know that my beloved government is spending money like drunken sailors (I'm subject matter expert!) but I didn't realize that it was having that much of an inflationary effect on car prices.

Here's the thing with 9 year old hybrids....
If you "have to have it inspected", you may be venturing onto a vast sea in a tiny boat, and while this is true of any used car, it's more true of cars equipped with things like inverters, regenerative brakes, traction batteries along with the USUAL stuff that can go wrong with a pre-teen car.
Also......it's 2021.
What is a Floridian car doing being sold in the Bay state?
Aren't people migrating in the OTHER direction these days?

Was the car auctioned?
If so, I would give it a hard pass.
If not I would still be incredibly suspicious.

To be clear, a 2012 Prius with only 40,000 miles on the clock CAN BE an opportunity to have a very reliable, very economical car.....but for $13,000 it better come equipped with about $4000 cash in the glovebox for ME to take a second look.

Private Party Value for this car in Bean Town is $11,500 for an exceptionally clean example......with a verifiable pedigree.

YMMV

 

Hi Rebecca, Speaking as an owner of 3 old problematic Prii, one ok Prius, a few other beat up cars, a former owner of a lot of old cars, and one new one, and having been involved in both sides of many aircraft pre-buy inspections, I'll give you my opinion. Which is worth no more than 0.05c

The only "safe" car purchase is buying new and negotiating the highest level of absolutely free maintenance while under warranty. And then selling before the warranty expires. Other than that you're on your own.

Buying used from a private party is absolutely my preference. Used car dealers make a sometimes very good living ripping people off.

If you can negotiate a price which is acceptable to you, then 40k miles is great!

If you want the highest level of no surprises, and you're able to negotiate it, take the car to a dealer and request the "next major service which will become due on the car". (even if it would only be due at 120,000 miles for example). (not just an oil change and tire rotation). This might be based on time or mileage. Agree that you will pay for the service if and only if the seller agrees to pay to have the dealer fix any and all discrepancies which are unearthed during the service. (this might include worn or old tires, etc). While none of this is any guarantee it does give the dealer the incentive to find rather than gloss over any "issues". Of course the risk, for you, is that the dealer tears the car apart, finds some big issues, the seller refuses to pay for them and demands the dealer put the car back together and you are out the money paying for the service, so you should negotiate that you only pay for the service if the seller fixes issues, otherwise the cost of the service is on him.

The market pretty much determines how much sellers can get for their used cars. And their anxiety to sell comes into play too.

In short, if the price is right, this could be a good deal with only 40k miles. If it was me buying, I'd plug in a scanner, look for any codes, be aware that the seller might have just cleared any which were there, and if the car looked good, offer $11k cash, and settle on $12k tops. People are wandering around with a lot of cash these days, but not too many have $11k immediately available.

Of course I might be wrong about every single point!

 

Hurricane / flood damage?

 

100% THIS.

People went *way* out of their way to keep their insurance/carfax from learning about flood damage. In many areas, every car was underwater for many miles around...even those at dealerships and rental car fleets.

 

My story is from back in the day when Prii were still really new and there was only Gen1 (which was practically unknown to general public when Gen 2's came out) and one-model-year-old Gen 2's...and none of those ever really had any problems by 2005. If it had been serviced by the dealer (mine had, and nobody else would service them anyhow), it was fine. Funny how confident they were.

I was on Priuschat back then, too, and other boards and almost *nobody* had problems we didn't cause ourselves by trying to mod. I realize it's a different world now with all the models/generations. In 2005 there were really nothing failing on Prii Gen 2's at all (and there was a 100,000 mile warranty), enough that I couldn't find a dealer to "inspect" it before another buyer snapped it up (for the same price I'd paid for it a couple of years earlier!) That's what makes it a fun anecdote compared to doing it now.

Sold it because I had moved on-campus in 2005 and my commute was .25 miles...there was no reason for a $500/month payment anymore and gas mileage tanked(!). I loved that car so much I bought a 2006 model 5 years later! That's the one I have now, and I'm about to start the lifting/overlanding process...will probably do a thread here along the way.