Question to those of you that use Toyota Owners portal...

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by TwoUnderPar, Mar 16, 2013.

  1. TwoUnderPar

    TwoUnderPar Member

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    In my continued quest shopping for that "perfect" late-model Prius, I found a place in Missouri with 3 previously owned hatchbacks. Woody's Automotive Group in Chillicothe, MO. However, there are no service records (none, zero, nada) for all 3 cars. I have never found "zero" records before.

    Question: Shouldn't there at least be 1 (one) record for every car? My previous investigations have always brought up at least one record for pre-delivery inspection/prep before the car was first sold.

    I'm not jumping to conclusions... but this seemed odd.
     
    #1 TwoUnderPar, Mar 16, 2013
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    If the VIN# is accurate then at the very least the place where the car was delivered will be in it... Have you tried CARFAX yet? If all 3 cars have VIN# that don't exist on record anywhere then yes that is suspicious. Of course there are multiple VIN# locations on a car, or even other numbers that can trace back to vehicles true VIN#.
     
    #2 PriusCamper, Mar 16, 2013
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    In Canada our car has two records: one for a dead 12 volt the purchase dealership replaced at time of purchase (it had been on the lot a while), and one from another dealership, very soon thereafter, when I had snow tires and rims installed. But that's it. Nothing about dealer prep, don't think that's counted. I've done everything myself, from there on out.
     
    #3 Mendel Leisk, Mar 16, 2013
  4. TwoUnderPar

    TwoUnderPar Member

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    The Toyota Owners website "accepted" all 3 of the VIN numbers (one at a time) and brought up a picture of a Prius that was the same color(s) as the cars shown on the dealers website. No service records whatsoever. One car did have a CARFAX report (link below). It shows the car was originally unloaded/delivered in the State of Florida. It shows some history, but no service/maintenance records until the Missouri dealer acquired it at auction.

    CARFAX Vehicle History Report for this 2011 TOYOTA PRIUS

    Probably no big deal, but I've researched approximately 20 Prii at the Owners portal and this was the first time I found no service records at all, and it happened for 3 cars, all currently at the same dealer, at the same time.
     
    #4 TwoUnderPar, Mar 17, 2013
  5. dragonfly13

    dragonfly13 Junior Member

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    I'd be very careful about believing "car fax" tv in our area just ran a special on car fax. They went to three different dealerships got a car fax on three different cars. Then they did an in depth investigation and all three cras and the carfax's were incomplete. The tv station went directly to carfax and they admitted that the reports sometime's aren't complete.

    Good luck.
     
    #5 dragonfly13, Mar 17, 2013
  6. stream

    stream Senior Member

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    Agree with the comment about not taking Carfax as 100% accurate. I onced helped a friend sell a car, and we ran a Carfax on it for kicks, and it didn't list the repairs it had for an accident it had 2 years prior.

    Speaking of Carfax, the one you linked to says the car was registered as a rental vehicle. Probably why no subsequent service show until after it was sold at auction.

    FWIW, I would stay far away from a former rental car, since you no they never got any TLC! ;)
     
    #6 stream, Mar 17, 2013
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