This March I will pay off my 2007 Prius with 47,000 miles. I have a 6 year/1000,000 mile warranty. The car has had no problems, in fact, I’m all but certain that my next car will be a Prius. I am interested in some advice. I apologize if I am asking in the wrong area. I fear owning the car out of warranty. I’ve had a couple of repairs, and despite the adage, the warranty has paid for itself. Should I worry about owning the car past the six year warranty?
"No problems", but "the warranty has paid for itself"? In either case, take the total cost of repairs (no matter who paid for them) and average them over the age of the car. Then ask yourself how much new car you could buy for the same money. Almost certainly it is much less expensive to keep the Prius.
Prius 2010 Calendar shows all zeros Hello, I have a 2010 Prius. H0w do you correct a calendar showwing all zeros?
I apologize for the two confounding statements. What I'm really asking is this: Am I likely to run into repairs that are more serious than usual for a low mileage car that is over five years old? Are the drivers of cars with 60K+ miles running into difficulties?
The Prius is no Big3 machine. Taxis have gone hundreds of thousands of miles (300K, 400K, 500K+) with no issues other than regular maintenance. Just follow the owners manual, and perhaps change the ATF now and every 30K to 60K thereafter just to be extra nice to your Prius.
Well, do what you wish. But if it was me? I'd just keep your vehicle. A 5 model year old vehicle with only 47000 miles on it? You've barely scratched the surface. With any machine, you can't really predict the future. But there is every reason to believe you easily double or triple that mileage on a Prius, and even then not really have to worry. I think you really lose the potential benefit of buying a new car, if you immediately trade it in upon paying it off. If you've taken good care of it, if it is running well? Then once you pay it off why not enjoy NOT having car payments for a while? Looking ahead, even significantly ahead, let's say 5-6 more years, the worst specter that could rise up, might be the hybrid battery. If it fails out of warranty, and you have full dealership replacement, that could be upwards of $3000+ give or take...but think about it? That's still much, much cheaper than a new vehicle. If it was me? I'd enjoy having a paid off Prius with less than 50,000 miles on it. I'd perhaps open an account and take my Non-Car payment, and my gas savings and slowly deposit X amount against any future repairs. If you use it? Or need it? it's there...if you don't...then in 6 more years, you can use that repair money as a nice down payment on something new. But to me? You are right on the verge of the greatest advantage of buying a new car and keeping it... An advantage a lot of people throw away, just out of boredom, or desire for something "new". It's up to you, but I vote keep it.
Keep that car! It will be paid off. You will have 50,000 more miles under warranty. Toyota's have an excellent reputation for reliability. Reaching 150,000+ miles shouldn't require any major repairs at all. That's like two more cars for you! What are your monthly payments, $300-$400? That's $3,600~$4,800 per year that you won't be spending. Statistically, it's extremely unlikely that your repair bills will ever come close to that amount in a single year, even if you need to replace the engine or battery. You certainly won't spend that much every year; you probably won't spend even $400 in most years. (A set of tires, for example, maybe $500 every three or four years). I've owned high mileage vehicles, and they've needed repairs, but never major repairs like transmission/engine replacement. Take care of the maintenance things. At 47,000 miles, you should consider having the transaxle fluid replaced, even though Toyota wants you to wait until 60,000 miles. The other maintenance item is the "check-ups." Toyota lists a lot of inspections that don't really matter when you change the oil at 30,000 miles, but might catch something at 75,000 miles. In other words, make sure the maintenance is well done and the car is well inspected, or learn how to do it yourself. It isn't hard. The other thing is that the only difference between a repair inside and outside of warranty is who pays. It still gets done. When your warranty gets close to expiration, use PriusChat to find a good independent garage in your area that has a reputation for affordable Prius repair. They are beginning to crop up. There's an amazing one in San Francisco called Luscious Garage. They have a great website, where they post most of their major repair costs. They maintain many of the SF Prius taxis, so they have a lot of experience.
My 2010 is coming up on 40,000 miles. I plan to keep mine for at least ten years, unless I decide to trade it in on a PHEV Prius before then. With the Toyota reliability I have no trouble driving well beyond the warranty. As long as you are realistic about the cost of repair, such as the hybrid battery at $2-3,000, and be sure you have the ability to pay for this if needed. You may even want to set a few car payments aside, after paying off the car, for a maintenance kitty.
Was that warranty coverage also worth the very high depreciation cost of keeping relatively young cars? My household has disposed of two problem cars at age 13, a non-problem but old car at age 23, and still has cars aged 23 and 15. Our occasional expensive repairs have been far, far, far less expensive than replacing young reliable paid-for cars with something new and $hiny an $parkly.
Anecdotes don't mean a lot. Consumer Reports shows Prius to be very reliable. I'm keeping mine; at 60K it hasn't even begun to fall apart.
OP - You have really low miles for a 07 - for comparison I have 67k on my 2009 - if you were to sell it, the car would be snapped up pretty quickly by someone who would be thrilled to get it. Are you looking for an excuse to get a new car - if so there is nothing wrong with that. If repairs are really a worry take a big chunk of your car payment and put it a separate bank account. That should take the sting out of any repair, but I would imagine that the more likely scenario is that it would be a sizable down payment in a few years for a new car. The Prius has proven itself to be a very reliable car but any car will start to have problems that crop up with age. If I were you and did not really want a new car I'd keep it until I got close to 100,000 miles and then reassess. Given the amount that you drive that should be at least 3 to 4 years.
I am in the exact same situation as you... Coming to end of lease in March next year and am thinking whether to trade in for either a Mazda 3 skyactiv or a Prius c... But after read numerous reports and advice from the helpful lots here at priuschat, my decision to keep the current one is made a little easier. Plus, the gen 3 prius has just been determined to be the most reliable car in Germany! (source: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...porsche-911-are-germany’s-most-reliable-cars/) That means a lot because it beats some of the German cars for reliability! Now I just talked myself into keeping the car now... Good luck with your choice, whatever that may be. GT-I9100T ?
Our 06 Prius has 190,000 kms on it (118,000 miles). We have changed the transmission fluid, brake fluid, brakes and coolents. That's about a total of ~$700 That's all that has been done to it. I would suggest keeping the car as, from my own experiance witih these cars, they truely are one of the best cars on the road!
What I would suggest is after the car payments end, take the amount of money you put into the car payment each month, and put it into a savings account at your local credit union. After 6 months or a year (aim for ~$3,000-$4,500), you can stop doing this, and possibly move the money to a higher interest earning account at the credit union. Since this is the money you are already spending, you don't really have to adjust your budget much. This is your "major repair" fund. If you don't use it by the time you replace your Prius, it becomes your down payment on the next Prius. If you want to make sure you have a really healthy downpayment, just don't stop at the $4,500 mark and keep going with the same amount of $ as your current car payment. If possible setup with your work for the $ to automatically go into this credit union account with a split direct deposit, and don't carry a debit card tied to the account (keep it at home, etc). We have a 2005 that is virtually off warranty at 70,000 miles, (we had the 7 year / 100K), and a 2007 that is at 60,000 miles with some time left on it's warranty. The only reason we are buying a PiP is that my parents 2002 Prius died with enough repairs pending that it did not make sense to fix, at about 150,000 miles, and it had been kissed by a firetruck at about 80,000 miles, and never fully recovered from that. My parents are getting the 2005, and unless my work is willing to put in a charging station, my wife is getting the PiP, and I am getting the 2007.
Here is an idea. Put your (previous) monthly payment into a separate account every month. When you have a repair, pay for it out of that account. When the account is empty, sell the car. I suspect when the car finally dies, you will likely have enough to buy the replacement outright.
That is a great plan. Also add: if you manage to build up something of a nest egg, do a one time dip into this account to do something to the car to 'freshen it up' so you can get that new car feel again-- add leather seats, get it repainted, pick a mod and have it done....
