Buying A Used Prius

I would recomment lowering your price value. You could almost get a 2010 II for 22,000. I would blue book the value of an 06-08 to see what you should be paying for one.

 

Yes, eaglesight333 is right, lower the price you are willing to pay. Craigslist shows a 2008 with only 1000 miles $15,900 (private seller) in Charlotte, NC. You should be able to find similar deals in your area. Private seller will almost always be $2,000 -$3,000 less.

 

I was able to get a certified used, fully loaded (all options, incl navi and leather) 2007 Prius with 35k miles for just $20k, so your specs are definitely doable.

I definitely recommend buying certified used from a dealer. That means you'll still have a warranty (for 7 years from the ORIGINAL date it was sold as NEW).

 

Yes, but that would be the base model.

I'd rather pay ~$20k for a used Prius (as I did) and get all the options, than max out my budget just to buy a new Prius II with none of the options I want.

Apples to apples, please!

 

The Prius holds well..it has much few parts than a non-Prius which helps and it is of course a Toyota. And generally, repairs are costly compared to non-Prius's. Now, one can purchase a warranty that can cover just about everything for up to 125000 miles with the best price for these are available on this web site. A Toyota Certified Prius comes with 3000 miles and 90 warranty as I remember with my Prius.
Good Luck...

Steve

 

Two months ago, we purchased a 2008 with 32k miles for $17k as a certified preowned vehicle from Toyota. It has most of the goodies: backup camera, stability, traction, and limited slip. It does not have GPS. So far we are very pleased. We have driven it about 3k miles with no problems. We are averaging about 46 mpg and have had two tanks over 50 mpg. It was very clean and appeared to be well maintained. The exterior was in really good condition except for a few small marks on the hood from rocks. The interior was in really good shape. I am hoping for a long pleasant relationship. We did have leather installed. The cloth interior was in good shape but we felt in the long run the leather would hold up better with grand kids. We plan to make many trips to see the grand kids in it.

 

I was loooking for a used Prius for my son online and I found a 2008 fully loaded grey package 6 online with low mileage. The ad says it sustained upper front end damage (hood , right/light, radiator support replacements). All was fixed by a certified body shop. The title is reconstructed, the car passed state inspection. It looks great in the pictures. The ad says the car is no longer under warranty. Would an accident similar to this one void a toyota 3 year warranty? If I purchased this car for my son, could I get a warranty from another source?

Thanks!

 

Salvage cars trade for 50% of normal book value. Run away unless the price is unbelievable good

 

On mileage, if you value an extended warranty, remember you could buy a factory extended warranty if the the vehicle is still within the 3 yr. 30,000 period. Search here about that - they are selling at a relatively low cost if you like that peace of mind.

 

Wereworf34 and PeteJE,
Thank you for your reply. The car was evidently sold on Ebay the other day. It was a 2008 package 6, advertised as "like new" with only 1,600 miles and the "Buy it now" price was $16,500. There were plenty of photos of the car. The only issue was the warranty. It was being sold by a "well known reputable" used car dealer in my town. My concern was since it was a salvage vehicle, Toyota voided the warranty (I assume) and as a result, no one would offer an extended warranty and I'd be stuck if something happened.

Thanks for your reply .. it was tempting!

 

No problem, remember we've got a serious Prius frenzy going right now. My advice (if you're super cheap like me) is to wait unless you've got a clunker to trade in.

Once C4C dies down, I think the new models will go for 500-1000 under MSRP and the old models (II) will start to seriously drop in price.

Salvage vehicles almost never work out as a deal when you pencil out the deal. Very very hard to sell on the tail

 

I would tend to shy away from rebuilds/salvage titles. They are too much of a gamble even though the price is attractive. They are just never the same....the way toyotas are built is why they are so good. If the whole integrity of the car is different due an accident .....idont know your call

 

My Prius was from a rental complany. The 2008 Prius had 34000 miles when I picked it up and looked new when I picked it up. It was a certified used car. It didn't have the GPS or a smart key or backup camera. But it does have cruise control and HID lights so I'm not sure what package it was as that wasn't on the invoice. Still I was able to get a good deal in late June.

Steve

 

I saw a used 08 Prius for $16K. A one year lease car with 39K miles. Could be a great car, but out of warranty and not certified.

 

What about older models? I am looking at a 2002 prius with 147000 miles for $4,500. It's below kelly blue book (trade in value of 5,830). Will run a carfax report, but it sounds too good to be true. Obviously past warranty - will I have major repair issues? If I'm going to pay under 5K for a car - should it just be a simpler car?