As some of you probably know I'm in the market for a used Gen 2 Prius. I have 2 different offers from 2 different dealerships. The first is for a 2008 Package 2 with 31000 miles. The car is certified and the dealership has offered me $18459. The second is a 2007 Package 3 w/ leather added with 34000 miles. The dealership has offered $18350. I can't make up my mind. They both have their pros and cons and they are about equal. The 2007 is at a dealership that offers a lifetime warranty on their cars so the warranty is a little better. I don't really like leather but like the warrenty so I can't really make up my mind. I'm currently leaning towards the 07 because of the warranty.
Who's lifetime is the key? Who's the warranty guranteed by and does it cover the whole car including the hybrid compnents?
Lifetime is for the life of the car itself. The warranty is unlimited time/miles as long as I own the vehicle. The coverage is the same as the powertrain warranty. This is a toyota dealership and the 8 yr 100,000 mile warranty on the hybrid system is still on the car from the original warranty.
I understand but the warrany isn't a toyota warranty I'm sure, it must be another company that gurantee's the warrany. I lot of them are in business one day and out of business the next day. And if it's just the powertrain and not the hybrid components it's not that great since the hybrid components is where the expense is when the car gets older. Still it might be a good deal just make real sure you know what's covered and what's not and who's backing up the warranty. Good luck with your purchase, keep us advised .
Check both VIN at http://www.toyotaownersonline.com/index.html and IMO don't bank on the lifetime warranty covering anything. Do you really believe that someone else (not Toyota) is going to buy a new traction battery for you if it fails after 10 years or 150,000 miles?
To be honest I expect nothing. I know that it is just a powertrain warranty so the traction battery isn't going to be covered after 100,000 miles. Even a Toyota Certified only covers just the powertrain on their extended warranty. The only real difference between the lifetime and the certified is time and milage. They cover the exact same thing. The one thing I do like about the Prius after reading around here is how reliable to car appears to be. I did some research and the Prius shows as a very reliable car so my hope is to never need the warranty to begin with One thing that is going to help my decision I got an email from the dealership with the 08 and the car sold yesterday so that helps to make up my mind. I'm going to go test drive the 07 as soon as the snow here melts and then put down a deposit. I'm waiting on 'ol Uncle Sam for the down payment which I'll have in 2 weeks.
I just picked up a 2005 Prius with the Nav package for about $15500 before TTT. 30k miles, excellent condition. hope this helps.
To the OP, I'd recommend the 2007 hands down. It's less expensive. It has a higher package. And it has leather - which I think will grow on you. And you get that warranty you're talking about. The 2008 and 2007 years are as identical as any two consecutive years of the Prius.
Well I did it. I bought the 07 Package 3 today. So far for the 2 hours I've had it I've been very happy. The only thing that bugs me is that the dealer only had 1 SKS key and refused to give me a second key without charging for it.
Whoa whoa. That aint right man. I don't know if it's policy but they HAVE to give you both keys. If they don't it's not your car. What's to stop them from unlocking your doors and stealing it. Go back there, make a fuss. THAT AINT RIGHT.
Congrats on your purchase. From your original post I gather this car was not the "certified" one. If it is "certified" I believe it's suppose to come with everything is had when it was new. Hence they are required to give you 2 functioning SKS keys, if they don't you can make a fuss with Toyota that they are not living up to the "certification"
Was this a Toyota dealer? If so, that car ought to be certified and you are entitled to the 2nd key. I found that writing a letter to the dealer's GM, copied to Corporate, seems to get you the items covered under the certification program. You deserve to have two keys!
It was a Toyota Dealer but the car was not certified. I was told by a couple of people at the dealership that with a used car, since it was not certified, that I get what ever they got from the original owner. I'll try a letter to corporate and see what happens.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey, same thing happened to us. We bought our 2006 Prius last week, package 5, 67,000 miles "Certified Used" from the Toyota dealer and only got one smart key. It cost us $196 for the extra smart key and $110 for programing it. Then we had HID issues a couple days later. We argued about it with them-that it was a safety issued covered by the "Certified Used" program and received 2 new bulbs installed for free (saved $500- $150 per bulb + $70 each installation). Smart Key Tip- I learned that it is important to take both remotes on a vacation in case you loose one. Otherwise, if you bring just one and loose it, you'll have to be towed to a dealer and they automatically issue you 2 new ones for $650.
Call around your dealer's corporate office to complain to the owner or Sales Manager about the missing key. Just because some dumb-nice person employee at the dealership accepted the car without two keys doesn't mean you should. Also complain to Toyota. Would you have accepted the car if it was missing other parts? A spare tire? The jack? The storage tub? The deck? I would have walked out. There are plenty of Prius sitting around everywhere.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Yea, I am definitely going to call corporate about the missing smart key. I wish I'd become a member of this forum and browsed around for a while before I bought the used Prius. Knowledge is power. I also, wouldn't have gone for the HID headlights. It seems the halogens are cheaper to maintain. My last car was a 2001 Honda Insight hybrid. I was a member of the InsightCentral forum and knew the car inside and out. Although I'm mechanically inclined and did 90% of the work on the Insight, it will take me some time to learn the "in and out" of the Prius. It is truly a remarkable engineering feat. This forum will be so helpful to me.
Similar issue has cropped up with an 05 we just bought...One SKS key...They're 'looking' for the 2nd key but we're going to force their hand to knock off the price the fee to get it and program it
Tried the same thing on my 2007 told them I was not signing any thing unless I got two keys. They got me what I wanted no dealer in there right mind will lose a sell over a key that maybe cost them $20.
Smart key cost $198.00 plus $120 to program at the dealer. It's worth a call to Toyota corporate for me since my recent Prius purchase was "Certified Used".
