Concerns before buying Used 2008: Winter-driving and Battery

Is the $12,700 what insurance is giving her for the total? Can she spend any more? Is $12,700 her best and final budget? If is is that is fine. Is she working? Can she afford a car payment?

 

have your mother look at a used corolla or camry, depending on her size preference. and beware the used car salesmen.

 

I agree with Bisco. You're considering car that is 6 years old (next month) and it is a Prius. Hybrid cars are wonderful and have many accolades. However as they get older repairs can be more expensive that a traditional car with only a gasoline engine. Main battery, inverter and transaxle have know to fail in some older cars and the costs to replace can be thousands. Unless your prepared to make those repairs they can be a financial hardship.

New cars are expensive and can depreciate thousands as soon as you drive them off the lot. But you can expect years of worry free motoring which for some is worth plenty. There are plenty of new cars that are reasonable in price. My daughter is very young and purchased a new Honda Civic with electric windows, AC, nice stereo, and it costs just $17,000 plus tax. She used the internet dept. and got a great discount which covered the tax, title and fees and than some. Honda gave her 0% financing. A Prius C is about the same price. She liked the interior of the Civic more and it was not a hybrid which was her hot button. She gets OK mileage so it is economical.

If she has a check for 12K from Insurance and buys a new car for 18K, she is only financing 6K with zero percent financing at 5 years that is very reasonable for many, than again I don't encourage to go into debt financing a car so consider her work stability, cash flow, means to make payments, etc.

If used is her avenue and she cannot consider anything else than sure a used Corolla, Camry, Civic or Accord may be the wisest choice. Those cars can last a long time and repairs are much less than some of those hybrid components. I would stick with the Japanese majors like Honda or Toyota in my humble opinion cause of Quality.

 

Ok say you buy a new Prius C out the door at 18,000. 9,000 down. Loan balance $9,000. The new 5 Year 0% interest offered by Toyota the car payment would be $150 per month for 5 years. You will get 10 years on the car routine maintenance and after that expect some repairs, brakes, etc.

The used car may sound good but the battery will last on average 10 years that a good chance it will need to be replaced. that gives you another 4 years. A rebuilt battery is about $2,000.

So for $4,000 you get a used car, for $9,000 you get a new car.

Used may be good but expect some repairs sooner than later.

 

'08 prius is a great car, but in snow? iffy without snow tyres and still likely no rav4. what if she got a $2,000. repair bill? no prolemo?

 

Wonder how much those Honda CRV are?

 

What about a matrix or vibe? We had a vibe that we absolutely loved until someone totaled it. Right in your price range, wagon, very reliable, decent mpg, really no maintenance required, etc.

IMO I wouldn't bother with a prius if the car isn't driven regularly and you're not really using it enough to save $ on the gas savings vs a regular car.

 

Honda Fit new is awesome $15,000

Honda Fit: Find Dealers and Offers for Fit

 

Let her pick it. Don't become the one she blames anytime something goes wrong. A hybrid makes sense when the spreadsheet says you'll drive enough miles to save enough on gas to more than pay for the extra it is going to cost for the hybrid. The spreadsheet tells all.

Where is the service best available on the car? Does she have someone to get her there and back? Factor in the convenience over 20 trips/10 years.

This story of needing massive maintenance at over 100k, just doesn't happen. I've replaced 2 gas engines and 3 transmissions since '90 on non-hybrids. Sure random cars have multiple random failures. But most Prius need little.

 

Let's think about this, I don't think a "C" or a Fit are a good "fit" for her (pun intended). The C and the Fit are just not as comfy as the liftback Prius (of course that's my opinion). Honestly, if she likes the Prius, they are great cars. I would be very confident if my mom was driving an 08 Prius with just 60+kmiles on it. Omg, the reliability on these cars is virtually unmatched and as mike stated (above), massive maintenance at 100kmiles doesn't happen (the plugs don't even need replaced until 120,000 miles).

Most Prius that I know of are just getting started at 60kmiles. It is a very comfortable car, easy to drive, requires little maintenance and gets great mpgs. Very hard to beat IMO.

 

Sounds like the '08 may be good buy, provided that it was maintained properly. Have you looked at the Carfax on that particular vehicle? After doing a ton of research on the Gen 2 Prius, I bought an '08 a few months ago and love it. Does the particular model that you are looking at have a back-up camera? I can't give any advice about how it would do in the snow though, since where I live snow is not an issue. It sure is nice to only have to pull in for gas half as often and be able to fill the tank for half as much $ as a non-hybrid. With a Gen ll you don't want to risk overfilling the gas tank... (more info on that can be found in other forum threads).