Buying a salvage/reconstructed Prius

that would be Yes and No on water flood "salvage" car especially Prius or recent cars that has many electronics controlled car inside, aka the car drives the driver Not the driver drives the car

Since buying water flood (Do not Buy on salt water Flood) can be tricky and need detail inspection (not simple visual inspection) as follows (from my experience)
1) make sure all connectors are CLEAN to avoid further corrosion and loose connector (due on water contamination)
2) make sure all electronics did not invade by water to avoid corrosion on components and circuit board.
3) make sure, all flushed out aka replace all fluids
4) make sure to check underneat dashboard that mostly easy to spot corrosion due on water.
5) visual inspection........

if I bought 1980-2000 year models, I would inclined to buy flood water car since much less electronics are contorlled inside the car.

electronics troubleshooting is hard, and can be cost mucho money than the car marketprice price
but, once you know what is the problem, this is easy to replace by used parts mostly.

 

i think you're doing a disservice to the community by giving extremely poor and detrimental advice to 99.9999999% of the members here and i hope anyone thinking about this does their due diligence before moving forward. there are a lot more nightmare scenario's than success stories.

 

Would you buy a motorcycle helmet that has been in a crash and refurbished?

Cars are different than they were 50 years, ago. They are no longer metal frames and boxes with an engine and a drive train mounted, with wheels, a suspension and a controls.

The are made of high tech steel, aluminum and other materials, and complicated electronic controls.

Although the industry and the insurance companies, for financial reasons, alone, will claim that a crashed car, where the damage was no more than a crushed panel, there is NO WAY that a car can be bought back to factory standards by a local body shop.

If the other driver's insurance was responsible, I would sue them for the decreased "book value."

If I were to have one of these returned to me and repaired after a crash, it would be traded in for a NEW one immediately.

 

i'm not trying to offend you, and i don't doubt your veracity. i just think your level of expertise is way beyond that of most members here.

 

I used to work at the San Ysidro Border Station.

"Cut and shut" cars are popular in Mexico and third world countries, because safety regulations are lax.

In the US, they are illegal in many states.

 

that's why i always recommend against this type of purchase, both pre and post flip.

 

I heard many time that advice on water/floodline .

I mention on On board "complicated" system including electronics(brains)/cables/connectors/sensors...
troubleshooting cable issue is hard!.. mostly just rip-off all cables and install new/transplant bundle cables

electronics is hard to predict especially connection issues where we have no tools to troubleshooting.

I do not want people to get "cheap" deal, but spend $$$ to fix.

this is my joke for today cars: car drives you, Not you drive the car . all are driving by wire that involves compilcated On-board electronics as a car brain!.

 

Sorry, Duplicate

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but there are many things in life that I have zero experience with that I'm not going to try just because somebody else beat the odds and got away with it.

I don't mean to diss your hobby, but buying a totaled front-wheel drive hybrid and then depending on that car for daily transportation isn't my idea of saving money the right way. I might consider it on a base model pickup that I don't haul kids in, and yes....giving up all warranty claims including the additional CARB warranty might be appealing to some-----but I'll keep doing it my way thank you very much!!
I don't even like the idea of buying a used car because of people out there who try to launder titles and obfuscate vehicle pedigrees.....people on the seedier side of the salvage "hobby."


I ride motorcycles, so I'm hip to the idea of risk management.
Too much risk.
Too little gain.

YMMV.

Good Luck!

 

if you are on this business, you should know all flooded cars are not equal.
I assume, you just flip and sale flooded car that you do not drive for years.

as long as you mentioned about the origin of salvage car, you should be good ...

I know some private dealers(private) do not expose the origin of the car, until someone check online via VIN#
yeah, we can check flooded cars via VIN# too.
I almost bought "nice" mini-van car. until saw some"erk" on the car. the dealer(private) did not mention car history and eagerly cutting some$$ on the deal. and I was needed to sign one document that was strange!.
lucky, I check online (smartphone is useful hah!!). VIN# shown as salvaged car.
at the end... buying new mini-van at the end by dealing via email, since always keeping the car 10-14 year as possible.

moral of the story:
my view as a car owner that would keep till at the end/dying.
this is useless to buy flooded car.
I would buy flooded car , if I knew the owner and know the detail situation/condition of the car.