2010 Prius III with 49,500 miles...

50k miles is probably time for the "biggest" service, which is...spark plug renewal...

No reason to expect "attention requirements"...

 

We bought our first Prius, a Gen2 with 96k miles on the clock. Now at 170k miles and all it's needed in that time was tyres, a set of brake pads and two springs.

 

The large ticket item is the HV battery and it is warranted for 8 yrs / 100k miles in non-CARB states and 10 yrs /150k miles in CARB states. Since you did not list your location you will need to decide if you reside in a CARB state or not.

I have 75k miles on mine and have not had any problems to date. I expect to keep mine at least 10 years and 150-200k miles.

There were no upgrades between 2010-2011, same car.

As for spark plugs mentioned above they are not due til 120k miles. The basic maintenance is tire rotations every 5k miles and oil and filter changes every 10k miles.

 

My 2010 III has 62,500 or so, and big issue is when the OEM tires will need replacing. Very low maintenance.

 

Ok, here in Europe is every 90,000 km...

 

Mine is at about 55K and just fine. No maintenance other than tire rotations every 5K, and Oil and Filter changes every 10K miles. The last couple of changes I have been using Toyota 0w-20 oil which has got very good reviews here on Priuschat.

Of course, all bets are off if the one you are looking at has been in an accident that adversely affected the performance or otherwise was a lemon or had intractable low MPG issues like some (very few) here have reported. Apart from doing due diligence such as checking the car fax reports and getting an inspection done, I would actually check the actual MPG you could get on a trip that you normally make. Here's what I would do:

1. Make sure the front tires are at 38 PSI
2. The rear tires at 36 PSI
3. Check the oil level on the dip-stick. Make sure it's preferably between half mark and full but certainly not above the full mark which has been known to significantly affect MPG.
4. Make sure the foot brake (e-brake) is off.
5. Reset the trip MPG indicator on the dash. Select the Trip B and keep pressing it in until it resets to zero.
6. Run a trip on a flat piece of highway, say 15 miles each way.
7. See what MPG it shows on the dash for the entire trip.

Granted we are in Winter temps with winter blend fuel in cars, so you can expect to see approximately a 10% or more MPG in spring and fall and some in summer as well (based on your A/C usage).

You can post here your findings and folks here can tell what you see sounds normal or not.

Good luck.

 

About your concern about the "mileage". Some people here consider 50K as barely broken-in.

 

I have a 2011 Prius with 43,000 miles on it. I just have the oil changed, rotate the tires and that's it. If I were you I would do the same and don't worry about anything else at the mileage on your car. Good idea to get a Carfax report. You can get that yourself.

 

Taking it to a Toyota dealer for inspection would be worth your while even though it will probably cost you in the neighborhood of $100. They can hook up the Techstream computer and give you a printout of the basic current condition of the hybrid system along with any stored DTC codes.

If you have access to the VIN you can go to the ToyotaOwners website, create an account and enter the VIN. This will give you a listing of all of the maintenance services performed at a Toyota dealer. It will not list any services not performed at the dealer.

 

I bought mine May 2013 with 76K miles and my fiancee bought hers in about Oct 2013 with 72K miles. Her's was a Toyota Certified car from a Toyota dealer. I bought mine from a small non-Toyota dealership. I now have over 100K mile and she has over 91K miles. About all we have done so far is oil changes and new tires. I am going to have my transmission fluid, engine & inverter coolant, engine oil, and software recall all done this Thursday. I figured 100K miles would be a good point to do these various maintenance items.

 

You can tell the Private Dealer you want to get an inspection done at the Toyota Dealer. They shouldn't have any objection. If they do, I would walk away. While at the Toyota dealer, also ask them to check that the remaining Toyota warranty on the car (60K Mile Powertrain and 100K Hybrid system) is still in good standing, which wouldn't be the case if this was a salvage or rebuilt car. Note that not all of salvage and rebuilt are caught in carfax reports although they might guarantee you against salvage if you pay for and obtain the report yourself directly from Carfax.

 

I would actually have these done one at a time about a week or more apart so:

1. the particular service you took it in for is actually done rather than being missed the tech, if it's one of many.
2. the service didn't adversely affect performance (MPG and otherwise).

I would have actually have these done more around 97K miles while the hybrid warranty is still in effect, since it in involves the inverter...

 

It would be for me unless the price was REAL cheap (11-11500) if it checked out. Why? There are just way too many nice ones out there.


iPad ? HD

 

I would see if Toyota thinks this car is still under warranty. I would check the title with the state to make sure it's a "clear" title (not salvage, rebuilt, etc.) and then further I would have a body shop preferably experienced with Prius vehicles to check the car out and explain to you exactly what damage was repaired and how well and what to expect in the future. There are usually tell-tale signs of body repair once someone experienced gets underneath the vehicle. If these all check out OK, then make sure you are getting a pretty great deal in terms of $$s for all the double you have had to take and the fact the resale value for this car is dented because of the accident. Good Luck!

 

As the others said, once it checks out the price better be more than $4000 under NADA book value. My fiancee & I paid $2000 under book vaue for both of our 2010 Prius cars with no accidents.

 

Personally, I would not buy the car. The Prius has too many complicated components. I would be afraid something critical to the operation of the car may be damaged and could not be repaired. I would pass on this car and look for another.