Tips On Buying A Salvaged Prius

I have inspected many salvaged Prii here in he SF bay area. Here are some tips.

Sellers will always say it's minor damage and 99% of the time don't have pictures of the original damage. What a coincidence... Ask for the VIN and run it on google. Most likely you will find pictures of the crashed vehicle from the insurance company or the company(copart) selling it. Print out the pictures and take them with you. Ask the seller to describe the original damage. I bet he/she will down play the damage. Take out the pics and see what they say...

Take pictures of the engine compartment of a Prius that has never been in an accident. Take the pics along with you and compare the location of the parts. i.e... the fuse box is against the fender in the salvage Prius..but not in the clean title Prius. This could lead to wiring issues.

Take an OBDII scanner. Some errors will not trigger any lights to appear on the dash. One example is the A/C pressure error. 99% of the lights I have seen are brake related issues. Usually foreign object on the Driver side speed sensor.


- Rear Crashed
The biggest issue I've seen with rear end crash is leaks. Take everything out in the back including the spare tire and look for water/moisture. I've seen the aux battery compartment with several inches of water. The word at the auto body shops has gotten around about me telling my clients where to look for water. Instead of fixing the leaks, they have come up with new ways of "Fixing" the water issue. They throw away the rubber cap in the spare tire compartment. This prevents any water to build up. In the aux battery compartment they are drilling holes into the metal where the battery sits. This allows the water that's getting into the car to drain out.

Check the bolts holding down the hybrid(Traction) battery. Have never seen a a rear end so damaged to where it reaches the battery. Signs the bolts were tampered with can mean they replaced the battery with a higher mileage battery or refurbished.


- Front End
Most sellers do not give any type of warranty. I suggest you at least work out an A/C warranty of 2 weeks or longer. That's the biggest problem I see with salvage Prii. The A/C is nice and cool when you buy it because they charge it right before you test drive it. If the seller doesn't want to give an AC warranty, walk away...

Make sure your Coolant Heat storage tank is in the car. Inspected a Prius once where the tank was missing. No aftermarket tanks are made so the shops try to save money.

If the hood feels heavy...its a sign it was replaced with a cheap non aluminum hood. No big deal.

If the trim model your buying has HID lights. Take a look at the bulbs. No aftermarket light enclosure is made for the HID bulb. A used enclosure is about 4 times more expensive than a brand new halogen aftermarket enclosure. Many shops put in the halogen enclosure...I once saw a prius with one side HID and the other halogen.

Lift the car up and check for any leaks. If the cars looks very clean underneath...The seller might be hiding something.

Check for any suspension/steering component problems by comparing one side to the other. 90% of the cars I've seen are usually front end driver side crash. If you see anything welded underneath. Walk away!!

Remove the side panels where the seatbelt go into and look for a resistor. Usually covered in electrical tape and right at the plug where it goes into the squib. This is placed there to fool the system that a new component has been placed. If you get into an accident, the pre-tensioner will not work.

On most front end accidents, the engine coolant tank reservoir gets damaged. An empty reservoir will not trigger any alarms. Many sellers don't replace it as the OEM tank is attached to the fan assembly shroud. A lot of work to take out. Check for cracks, leaks and even glue.

A salvage car can be a great buy or a nightmare.