any experince with AUTOBEYOURS?

You might also consider posting this in either the Gen II or Gen III forums (depending if you plan on getting a Gen II (2004 - 2009) or a Gen III (201 or later) car. I don't know how many of the forum members who would be able to respond to this question would read down in this forum.

 

Personally I would not touch a salvage Prius no matter what the cost. The failure modes can be very expensive. If you lived in Scottsburg, Indiana and felt VERY comfortable with those people's warranty, maybe. Otherwise no. If you buy a hybrid it probably should be well under 100k miles and no damage ever. Otherwise you would be saving more by finding a good Corolla that most mechanics can work on, spend a couple hundred at an independent shop for inspection and realize you would be saving your dollars up front, not through ultimate mpg.

 

Try to avoid cross-posting. Choose a specific forum and post just once.

I believe Autobeyours deals only in Gen II Prius's because of the higher parts costs for the III's.
I agree their web presence is intriguing. Haven't any experience with them though.

 

Steve, the prime mover at AutoBeYours, is knowledgable and honest. When I brought my Prius in to him with a problem with a replacement battery, he found the problem (a loose connector), repaired it, checked out my car (It had 200k miles on it at the time), gave me a T-shirt and only charged $40. Steve prefers the Gen2 Prius over all the others.

If you are buying a salvaged/refurbished Prius, getting one from him is a good bet, but I would want to live within driving range of his shop in southern Indiana as Toyota dealer won't be easy to deal with on repairs of a salvaged car.

JeffD

 

I would also recommend Autobeyours as an entity with fair pricing and ethical business practices.

However the question of owning a vehicle with salvage title needs to be seriously considered. Although your initial purchase price is reduced substantially, the resale value of such a vehicle is questionable. I recommend you plan to keep the car a very long time as you may otherwise be disappointed when the time comes to sell.

 

Salvage cars do sell for lower prices, so when you buy one for less, you sell it for less too. duh.
You do need to be careful buying them, some can be hack jobs, but some have only minor damage,
as bodywork costs are so high it isn't hard to get a car totalled.
However, if someone tells you why it was totaled for some minor reason, they are almost 100% lying and the car
was probably in a horrible accident and badly repaired (but has a new paint job).

 

I have purchased an 06 Prius from Steve and I couldn't be happier with it. He did an outstanding job on the repair and my car literally looks and drives like new (paint, interior everything). I have had no issues but have kept in periodic contact with him just to let him know how the car's doing. I live about 2.5 hours from him but didn't require any warranty service.

I guess my questions for you are:
1) how long do you expect to keep the car (if a long time, then salvage/rebuilt is ok)?
2) how handy are you (if your car required repairs, towing it to Steve could get costly)?

For me personally, my experience with Autobeyours has been very good. I have not heard anything negative about them from anyone else.

 

Steve and autobeyours.com have a GREAT reputation that I have no doubt is well deserved. Personally, I would view 5 hours away as too far away to chance one of their salvage cars.

 

I would echo what SageBrush just said. Five hour drive is a LONG distance. If you had to tow the car that distance, it would be VERY expensive.

However I have NOT heard anything negative about Autobeyours. If I was close to them, I would use them as a INDY over the stealers here. I have yet to find a GOOD INDY that I trust that is hybrid friendly in my area.

Ron

 

Carolyn, the owner and Prius expert extraordinaire of Luscious Garage in SanFran, kindly answered an email of mine asking her for an opinion about the future of Prius remanufactured traction batteries. Her opinions are very much worth hearing, so I repost here for the PC community with her permission. My bolding of the tidbit I was unaware of (although she is careful to point out in a later email that nothing to buy yet exists.)

 

thank you all for your kind words,
I hope to have your business.
as an update, the staff here at AutoBeYours welcomes Prius V service work when it becomes needed.

 

I bought my first PHEV hybrid from AutobeYours.com. My Florida PHEV-200 had 36,000 miles when I bought it and it now has 101,000+ trouble free miles and has been coast to coast 3 times. It is a 2006 and has a PlugInSupply.com 10kw add on power supply. My next Prius will be a rebuild from Steve, Jenny and their crew at Autobeyours.com and their rebuilds are complete with a 1 year warranty. Great company !

 

Steve is one of the few people I would ever consider buying a salvage vehicle from.

He is ethical and reputable and has been a supporter of the Prius community for many years.

 

Yep... I'm about to take a 1 1/2 day drive to pick up my second Prius from Steve & Jenny. Great folks and a great crew. My 2006 was purchased from autobeyours.com in 2011 and has been coast to coast and through all 48 of the lower States since - totally trouble free I might add. I have absolutely no worries about the reliability of one of Steve's rebuilds.
Pat. wa4eqw

 

I used autobeyours to correct a wrecked 2005 .They charged me 1900 that dealer quoted
$8000.00 for very happy . I drove 5 hrs to use them and would again

 

I purchased many things from them and have even chatted with Steve on the phone once on my Nav install. Great guy and a great dealer.