Comparison with other PHEVs?

I just tried Carvana for fun for my 2021 XLE, 4500mil, they offer me $28K

 

Yeah, trade-in value is always the lowest. Private party value is the price you would expect to sell the car if you sell privately. That would be the lowest value you should accept for the "Fair Market Replacement Value" for your totaled car. You are not selling the car. So, you should check the average local cost for buying the car of your model, make, and condition. The insurance company should pay you fair market value to replace your car minus whatever the deductible.

 

I was totally homebound due to the pandemic. I was not driving the car. It just sat on my driveway depreciating the value but I was continuing to pay insurance, tax, registration, etc. We had another car to cover the very little driving we were doing during last year. And I knew I can always buy another PP if my need arise. To sum up, I paid only ~$18K for the 2020 PP LE after all rebates and incentives are counted, and after 10 months and 4kmiles, sold it at ~$22K to Carvana for a net profit of ~$4000.

You said you paid $35k for your 2018 PP Advanced. Didn't you get Toyota cash back, state incentive, and federal tax credit with your purchase? I just bought my 2021 PP Limited a few months ago. The MSRP was over $35K, but I paid only $28K for the car. If the tax law does not change this year, I expect to get a $4500 tax credit next year when I file my tax. That brings the final price of the car to $23.5K.

 

I think that number looks good enough for a fair market value to me. As I asked you before, didn't you buy the car with a Toyota rebate and state incentive as well as a fed tax credit? If you did, the price of the car was probably below $29,156 when it was brand new.

 

Well, if you paid MSRP for the car and did not get the fed tax credit, then no matter how high the valuation is you are at loss. The valuation is based on the market price, but if you did get the tax credit, then your loss would have been less.

 

It depends on what incentives, dealer discount, you actually can get break-even or a little
gain with 3 years old low milleage.
Let assume you live in Ca, below is a list of incentives one can get:
$4500 Toyota cashback
$500 dealer discount
$800 Clean Fuel
$4500 Fed tax

Total discount ranging from $10-12k
For my 2021 XLE, after all discount I paid roughly $22,500, If I sell it now to Carvana at $28000, I can make $4500'right there,
Even if I sell it next year at 10 -15k miles, I will probably get more than $22.5k that what I paid
for.

 

The point is if your PP was purchased with a Toyota rebate and other incentives including the full fed tax credit, with the new valuation, you might have been net gain instead of net loss. That's all.

 

If long trips are an infrequent thing for you, then just rent a car when needed.

You don't seem to be driving many miles on an average day. you'll likely still have enough charge in the battery for the next day if power goes out.

 

If going PHEV, hard to beat Toyota. Prius and Rav4 Primes are where it is at. Efficient. Reliable. Good resale (especially NET cost, after incentives, which is what the discussion above was about)
Hard to locate a Rav, especially at MSRP, and only makes sense if you get the full $7500 tax credit.

Hyundai has the Ioniq and Kia the Niro, also, for options.
At this time, for our use case, a hybrid or PHEV is the best option. EV for all local stuff, hybrid for road trips (which we do 1-2x/month). YMMV, of course.

Final side note - the efficiency of the Prius Prime is actually higher than many (almost all) full EVs. Despite dragging around an engine when in EV mode, the Prius is so efficient - love that.