My friend in Chicago area wants to buy a used Prius ASAP. He does not mind color, mileage, features. He will consider a rebuild one if owner can show the condition before the repair. If you are interested, please PM me with your contact info and details of the car.
You are right, that's what he found out. My suggestion is not to go bottom low. The best value should be around mid level, somewhere between $10-14K I guess. $8K has very limited choices on this market.
After I bought mine, I found couple of 05 under 100K listed for around that $8K here in Northern Virginia. Of course there is always something wrong with the really cheap ones but if you keep looking you will be able to find a decent car. I paid $9K for my one owner 05 with 86K and extended warranty. I had to put additional $500-600 for the head unit upgrade, new mats and tires but overall I am happy with this deal. Keep looking on craigslist and don’t be afraid to drive 3-4 hours to save couple of thousand.
I picked my 04 up with 72k miles for $10k even. It took me weeks to find it and tons of searching and calling. With every other call resulting in another Salvage. I was do a national search, almost bought a car in San Fran, South Dakota, and New Hampshire until I found this one in Michigan. I did discover that the cars were definitely cheaper in the North Eastern States, but you also enter into an increased likely hood of poor condition cars.
