I just bought a 2006 Prius. I had a 2002 Prius (38K miles, great condition, nav and CD changer), and had been keeping an eye on the used market for the few months leading up to January. Demand for used Prius' seemed good here in Portland, Oregon, and based on the prices listed on Kelly Blue Book (kbb.com) I was anticipating having no problems selling my old Prius. So I made a big mistake... I bought the new one before selling the old one. Well starting in January, dozens of used Prius' appeared on the market in Portland, and the prices plumeted. I had my 2002 listed in the newspaper, and on criagslist, for about the past 4 weeks. I've only had 3-4 calls, mostly from other Prius owners wanting to know if I'm having any luck and from people who are thinking about buying a new one. I started with the car listed for about $17,400, which was $1000 below the blue book "private party" value. After two weeks, I dropped the price to $16,400. Still no calls. Finally, I sold my used one this week to the dealer. They gave me upper end of "wholesale" blue book value for the car $15,600. So I ended up selling for almost $3000 less than I thought I would get for it. But I couldn't wait any longer. So much for my $3000 US tax incentive So... if you are selling a used Prius... be aware the KBB values may not represent market realities. Note: I live in Portland, Oregon, which may be the Prius "center of the universe". So there seem to be a LOT of used Prius' on the market now... which probably affected my price. So your experience elsewhere in the country may be different.
Well in my area, there are only a handful (I've seen 2 Seasides and a Salsa so far) on the used car market. There doesn't seem to be a demand for used ones.
Even though you were selling a Gen-1 and had a difficult time, think of how amazingly well you did on a 4 year old vehicle. I'm assuming you paid around $20k originally. Now compare that to a kia or something.. How many miles did you have on it? When you started selling the car in January, it was probably the worst possible time. Many people did the same thing you did and bought a 2006 for tax purposes and filled the market with used Prii. For the money, most people would rather buy new for about $5,000 more, get the $3000 tax incentive.....instead of a 4 year old car. It's all about timing. It's hard in today's market to sell a Gen-1 because they look so "normal" and people mostly are aware of the Prius II versions. I actually had some guy tell me I shouldn't rebadge my Echo and to show respect for the Prius... And, of course, people are still a little wierd about the "replace the battery" myth. We bought our 2002 Silver Gen-1 (to replace Insight) about 3 weeks ago and absolutely love it. Purchased with 41,000 miles, I only use it to commute 4 miles per day. At this rate, I'll only have to fuel up every 3 months or so. Sure, I could have bought a new one - but I was at the other end of your coin. While people were trading in their old ones, I was waiting...looking for a used, 4-door, hybrid commuter - with the depreciation already done Our Gen II is the family car that stays in the garage.
Makes perfect sense - I just bought a brand new 2005 with Nav for 26K plus tax and tags. It qualified for the $3150 Fed tax credit and a $500 state refund ( a used car would not). That means I have a brand new car with warranty for a little over $22K plus tax and tags. If I could not afford the extra $6K I would have bought a new Corolla instead for about $16K. Once the tax credit goes away - the prices may rebound a bit. I would have been very surprised if the used prices had not dropped in direct relationship to the amount of the tax credit. Springtime
yeah, forgot to add the part about just getting a new Corolla for the same price.... thanks Springtime
The used car market is flooded due to the incentives of the past 3 years. Nobody's getting KBB values for anything.
[edit] whoops! Just reread original post, seems like you already sold it. Anyway, advice below might help other Prius sellers...[/edit] Just some thoughts: Why don't you try selling outside of the Portland market? Maybe there is cheap way to ship it to "nearby" market like Boise or something? Also, you might have to work a little to get your price up some. What's your car got that makes it better than the other cars/prius' out there (your competition). Revisit your ad from buyers perspective. Tout some of the general prius advantages, you might get some crossover traffic from folks shopping for other types of cars, not just prius. What about eBay motors? Don't have experience with that, but seems it would reach much broader audience than local paper.... Good luck!
OP received ~ 68% of original price 4 -5 years after purchase, at a time when $4000 in credits are available, from a dealer no less. That is amazing.
