First post new member buying a prius help

I think you can get a brand new 2013 III with solar. Why get one for $21000 with an accident and 40,000 miles on it? A new 2014 should be marked down quite a bit, my guess would be around $25000 or less.

CA has a 10 year/150k miles warranty on the hybrid system. However since your car was purchased at auction, it may not be a CA car. If this car was purchased from a non CARB state, your warranty would be only 8 year/100k miles.

For roughly $4000 off a new car, I would finance a new one. No mysteries behind it and definitely no accident. The risk is quite high when you are dealing with a hybrid vehicle that's been in an accident. If not repaired right, you can have lots of problems down the road.

 

When I buy used, I want better than a "fair price", I want a DEAL! You never know what has been done to the car, how it was treated, what accident was it in, or why did the previous owner give it up. I lived in Napa, for many years, and would always search Auto trader . com for used cars, or kbb com too. When it came to Honda's or Toyota's though, their resale value was so often so high, that buying used, was just not worth it in savings, Vs. the small cost of getting a new one, and KNOWING it was new, not abused, or wrecked. When searching for used, often times you will find the "best buy's" out there, are actually cars that were wrecked, and repaired by body shops, or individuals, some even with salvage titles. I looked at a few of those salvage titled cars, sure enough they looked great,, but no thanks. If you want used, save way more money, and buy something other than Honda or Toyota. If you want Honda or Toy, just buy it new, or find a "steal of a deal" from a person, not a dealer. Get a true car . com quote for what you are looking for new, find a 2014 model, then tell the dealership your looking to go used, unless they can go below the true car quote price. (I used a true car quote, for a Lompoc Toy dealer, to get the best price, from my Local SLO Toy dealership). I bet they will deal to clear the lot of the 2014's. Be willing to drive,, a lot, to get the best price possible. When living in Napa, I went to Windsor for one car, Tracy for another. Now living near Pismo Beach, My last brand new Honda, I purchased from Westminster, near L.A. for the best deal.. Use the phone, call around, find a dealership that is hungry to sell. The Toy dealer in San Luis Obispo has about 20 2014 Pri left, a few with the solar option, call them. Most dealers have internet sales these days, just make sure the deal, is real, before driving a lot. The down side of driving a lot, is I have also been told the used car was "perfect", never painted, never wrecked, only to find no vin#'s on various panels, and for sure, painted! (Walked away from those). But then, it was all a learning process that it was always better, to just buy NEW when it came to Honda's or Toy's! If you must do used, with a Stealership, then make sure you negotiate, HARD with them! Get them as low as they will go, then go $500 below that! Purposely get up, and say no thank you, I cant pay that, unless you can come down that extra $500, and walk away. Watch them chase after you, or call you the next day, or, split it with you, and you get $250 more off. There will always be "another car" out there, don't fall in love with just ONE! Good Luck, and learn!

 

Get the vin and check online at the Toyota site for maintenance performed, including recalls. All recalls are warranty on Prius so there is no worry if they weren't done yet. AFAIK there is only the one at this time, the inverter reprogramming.

 

welcome to priuschat, at 40,000, you have many years/miles of trouble free driving ahead of you, as long as the accident didn't affect any of the systems. these cars don't need anything besides oil, filters and tyre rotations until 100,000 miles. all the best!

 

Make sure you get a spare key! They are about 450 $, and Toyota's policy is to give only 1 key by default--even for certified used vehicles!

 

I am uneasy when I cannot talk to the previous owner of a vehicle and get an idea how he/she treated it, so that "salvage" title really worries me a lot. But second best is to check the official Toyota database records about the maintenance record for your vehicle to make sure inspections and oil changes were done on time. Also check if the inverter programming recall has been performed on it (black mark if it has not been done).
PLEASE have a really thorough check of the frame underneath that flawless body work!--if the "crush space" members have been at all stressed or crushed in that accident, even if they are straightened to be within spec they will NOT crush at the same controlled rate when the next accident occurs. You do NOT want uncontrolled G-forces on you when you get into a crash! The crash pic is better than nothing, but the underneath damage is hard to tell from a picture of the surface, so somebody with expertise must check the frame and crush pieces.

One other poster mentioned the high resale value of Toyotas and Hondas, and I support his recommendation to "buy new" if you can possibly swing it---after seeing linear rather than exponential depreciation of Toyota Tundras, I bought that new, and similarly for our 2012 Prius, and they are the only new vehicles we have purchased in 50 years.

 

congrats! fyi, if you lose the key before getting another one, instead of $3-400., it's more like $1,200. because they have to replace the computer. all the best!

 

Total Congrats! Sounds like you got them down lower than the $21k if you got it out the door with tax and lisc. and all the rest of the "add on fees" for $22K! Did you get any warranty with it? Was it "certified used Toyota"? If it was certified used toy, they may have already replaced those fluids, and if it had any dealer warranty, I would wait for that to expire before doing any fluid changes, so if something messes up, they can not blame it on your fluid change..... Depending on your driving style, and terrain, 40 mpg may not be all that bad. Concord CA, I got my Scuba certification there, at the "Anchor Shack" back in the old day's. Have fun driving the highways and byways!

 

mpg is a difficult stat to figure when you have never owned one before. for many, that's all they ever get. it's usually due to driving style, but could be a combination of issues.

 

I just bought a 2012 prius IV w/ 40k for 22k OTD. I also made the dealership throw in maintenance / road side assistance for 1 year. They are also going to be doing my springs and rear sway bar installs for $40 bucks. I literally bought this car on 9/17/14 hope this helps.