Hi all, I have a 2008 prius, now with 116K miles, that I bought new. It has been a great car and I love it, but it may now be time for a new car as I'm having hybrid battery issues. My mechanic can replace the battery for $2500 with a 3 year warrantee but I'm debating using the $2500 toward a new car instead. I'm wondering if anyone has traded in a prius with a bad hybrid battery (2 cells are bad) and the red triangle of death displayed? Not sure how to go about this. Would carvana or carmax be the best way? I prefer not to sell private and deal with strangers. Thanks for any advice.
you'll get more than the cost of the battery by putting the battery in first. you could replace the bad modules and trade if you don't want to drop $2,500. 116k is very low mileage for 1 2008, and it is a valuable asset with a lot of life left in it.
A 2008 with a refurbed battery but everything showing good in the car and the car is clean as it should be at 116K being a one-owner car that car should be almost like new Is this a thing? That's an $8,500 car in this market pretty easily actually how someone was just saying they paid $12,000 3 years ago for the same car basically If I'm not mistaken it's right here in the text I don't know where but this just came up in the last 65 hours I think that was discussed. That's just how crazy people are and on the other end of the scale I'd buy them for $700 to a thousand bucks needing the same battery whether it gets a new one or a refurbed I really don't care at the time I'm on the interested in driving I don't have legal tags on the vehicle and I'm driving it 200 miles a day sometimes but for 700 bucks one of those cars is almost like your 116K mile one owner almost not quite but I also have $700 in it plus the $499 of a refurbed battery actually 450 so I'll take it I'm not interested in $8,000 I'm interested in the car for 10 or 11 years that's worth more than any $8,000 to me.
Thank you. I was wondering if the replacement would help with the resale value and be worth the cost. I will look into this. Thanks again. Question, would you know if the car would have the same resale value if I put in a reconditioned hybrid battery? I'm seeing one that can be installed at $1399. Thanks. It is definitely not like new, but was extremely reliable for 16 years.
Yes in Westchester New York which I know that area quite well I imagine it was possibly garage kept most people in Westchester have garages or parents have or what have you or this was the car that didn't get the garage because whatever reason a little harder than North Carolina for sure. If you can sell the car with everything looking good or reasonable in Dr Prius and everything else is looking okay to reasonable then you should have around a $5,000 car there generally speaking I mean Westchester is one of the most expensive zip codes in the country so I don't know what your personal situation is but that's none of my business I have friends that live there that drive cars that cost more than I'll make in my lifetime so there's always that they're big attorneys for general foods and Nabisco and things like that. Their children drive one off cars from far away. I mean you don't want to sell a car that doesn't start and doesn't run? Then it's not really a car it's a boat anchor a paperweight a toy a project. You want to sell it as get in it and drive it to work not a long list of problems that you don't want to know anything about or any of that. If that's the case then just get the 2000 and be done or whatever you think the trade would be offered by whoever and that's that I would say you should try and take advantage of the market as it currently is was and get maximum dollar extraction from your efforts.
An 08 is getting long in the tooth and a bad hv battery is expected. Other than being a magnet for catalytic converter thieves, overall they are very good, arguably way better than gen3s. However I think a broken car will not get much in the used car market, especially when trading or selling to a dealer. A new car dealer is not going to fix a trade; it will go to auction for a real low ball value. A used car dealer might fix it if it is otherwise exceptional but will still give you less by far than a running vehicle.. I would fix it and net several thousand more than selling it as is.
you don't really need $2500 battery to have it fixed and traded in. There are HV reconditioned batteries you could get from $900+ (greentec for 1 yr transferrable warranty) and if you look at facebook marketplace there are people who can replace modules in your prius for $500-$600. You lose a lot for trading it in but that depends on your comfort level.. check kbb.com for private and trade in price comparison. A car with issues during trade in is like selling for scrap price (especially the prius)
Putting a battery in it will greatly increase what you recover in a private sale. It's not going to do much for a trade-in. Buy a good battery if you're going to sell it yourself. Swap for a slightly less bad battery if this is to be a dealer trade.
Get an offer from carvanna or another dealer for the car as is. Have your mechanic put in the brand new battery. Have your mechanic sell your car privately. Split the difference with him. A one owner car is really valuable. And yours has low miles.
*I also have a 2008 Prius, with 118,500 miles, that I bought new. When my Hybrid battery goes bad, I will go to the Toyota dealer and have a new Hybrid battery installed. I will keep my 2008 Prius for another 16 years. IT IS THE BEST MOST RELIABLE CAR I HAVE EVER OWNED!
No wholesaler will ask about the battery or anything else if the car runs well and there are no dash lights. If you want to sell privately, you may get questions
If you're not willing to deal with private individuals, your only choice is to trade it in. If you don't want to deal with the dead battery, the car dealer isn't going to want to deal with it either. Think about how a car dealer gets treated for their cars. Any perceived imperfection will be used by their buyers to devalue the car. They look at trade-ins with an eye to what their prospective customers will be telling them when they try to sell that car too. They'll only negotiate a deal that makes them money. If they don't, they won't be in business very long. I took a Prius with worn tires to a dealer as a trade-in. They tried to tell me the tires dropped the price of my car by over $1000. I had two Prii at that point and had just put tires on the other one so I knew exactly how much tires cost (in the $500-$600 range, and I bought quality tires. They get their tires wholesale, don't care how long they're going to last, are only concerned with the price and maybe how smooth they ride, and they also have all the tire equipment to replace the tires in their shop). When I balked at their "deal", they took that part out (but I knew they'd make up for it somewhere else, it was just part of the negotiating process for both of us at that point. Again, it's just business.) In the end, someone may put in a battery and sell the car for what it's worth, but a car dealer isn't going to pay you for the car on spec. Especially on a 2008 model anything. Even if they make a little money in the end, it's not going to be that much. That only leaves you with a DIYer, which is a private sale.
Unfortunately, my dashboard is lit up like a Christmas tree. Just took the car for a local ride & it is riding great on local roads. On the highway, there a hesitation on the acceleration that was never there and doesn't feel right, otherwise after acceleration it rides nice, the car recharged the hybrid battery fully per the dashboard & I got up to 42 mph.
In order to get the best value out of it, I would get someone to rebuild the battery for $700 with just the minimum 6 -12 month warranty and then sell it as a private seller. Contrary to common belief, 99% of the prospective buyers that will come in person to see the car are legit. You count some hundred dollar bills, sign the title, remove your plates and all done ✅
