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Buying high milage Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon, not an uppercase)?

Discussion in 'Dealers & Pricing' started by prius121212, Nov 10, 2014.

  1. prius121212

    prius121212 New Member

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    I am interested in getting a Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v, not an uppercase v) used, but I live in a remote area and there arnt any reasonable deals within 400 miles. So I might have to travel as far as 700 miles to get one. I dont mind traveling the distance, but then I have to deal with the fact that I dont really know what I will get for a tradein since a dealer cant give me an estimate without an appraisal.

    So I was looking at Autotrader. The website offered about $800 below the KBB trade-in value. I am hoping that if I go to a dealer to buy my Prius and they try to screw me on the tradein, I can just sell it to Autotrader or one of the other companies.

    But has anyone had experience with these companies that offer you cash without buying a car from them? Will I actually get the price they offered on the website assuming I was honest in filling out the condition appraisal?
     
    #1 prius121212, Nov 10, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2014
  2. IMkenNY

    IMkenNY Im just being nosy

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    Are there tax advantages of trading the car into the dealer where you purchase your new vehicle?
    Here in New York, we pay sales tax based on the vehicle purchase price minus the trade in which can be significant.
     
    #2 IMkenNY, Nov 10, 2014
  3. prius121212

    prius121212 New Member

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    Yes, but on a $15,000 car it's only a $500 tax difference, and the difference between trade ins can exceed that easily.
     
    #3 prius121212, Nov 10, 2014
  4. Dex

    Dex Junior Member

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    If using Carmax, you bring the vehicle into the dealer and they will inspect the vehicle. This usually only last about 15-20 minutes max, then the salesperson you dealt with will bring you in the office and talk with you etc.. Then he/she will give you the appraisal paper and if you decide to sell your vehicle to them, it will take at LEAST 7-10 days for them to give you the money (which will be by check or bank transfer, I can not remember).

    I personally go to Carmax and get the appraisal paper and use it as my bargaining chip, I've only done this once and it worked out perfect.
     
    #4 Dex, Nov 10, 2014
  5. ggood

    ggood Senior Member

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    I've used Carmax twice now to get better trade in offers from the dealer. Texas has a sales tax reduction for trade ins, so it often works out better economically to trade-in in Texas.
     
    #5 ggood, Nov 10, 2014
  6. prius121212

    prius121212 New Member

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    What did Carmax offer for your car relative to the KBB published trade-in value? Autotrader seems to offer about $800 below KBB trade in on a $9,300 deal, but I have heard Carmax only offers about $3,000 below KBB trade in published values?
     
    #6 prius121212, Nov 11, 2014
  7. ggood

    ggood Senior Member

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    I really don't think you can make any generalization about either of them. KBB and Edmunds can give you a ballpark, but they are both usually high, relative to what you can actually get. In my 2 experiences the first offers from dealers were lower than the carmax quote, and the carmax quote was lower than KBB or edmunds. Your autotrader quote being $800 less than kbb is typical. I doubt very much there's much difference between autotrader and carmax. Totally depends on the car and the supply/demand of the particular people you are dealing with.

    For what it is worth, I found nadaguides.com to be pretty accurate, and they seem to have some sort of tie-in with autotraders.com.
     
    #7 ggood, Nov 11, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2014
  8. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    Does carmax have a v in your area or close enough by to transfer in at a reasonable charge?
     
    #8 fotomoto, Nov 11, 2014
  9. prius121212

    prius121212 New Member

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    Probably, but Carmax is a huge ripoff. The charge way over Blue Book on every car they sell, and that excludes the transfer fee. You can do way better on eBay or Autotrader if you're willing to travel a bit.

    Interesting, nadaguides.com quotes a higher price than KBB. KBB is $9336 and NADA is $9950.

    I am looking at getting a used Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon, not an uppercase)I have about $16,500 to spend and I am willing to drive 750 miles to buy one if needed. Anyway, it seems my options are a 2012 base model Two (not II as Roman numerals in uppercase were used for model year 2010) with around 40,000 miles, or something nicer like a model v with around 90,000 miles. The model v is nicer, but that's a lot of miles.

    Any idea how long these things last? Is it worth it to trade low miles for a high trim level, or maybe just save some money and buy a higher-mile car. I can get a model Two for around $14,000 if I am willing to go to around 100k miles.

    This is about the Prius v, not the liftback.
     
    #9 prius121212, Nov 11, 2014
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    absolutely. i mean, you're gonna get a 10/150 warranty in your state, and these cars are built to go 250,000 miles. now, i'm not saying you're not gonna have to do some repairs in those miles, but you know what i mean. how many miles a year are you gonna put on her? are you a big fan of bells and whistles?
     
    #10 bisco, Jan 9, 2015
  11. prius121212

    prius121212 New Member

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    I though the warranty is 36k / 3 years? You are referring to the hybrid warranty, and that only applies in CA, which I dont live in. I will put about 20,000 miles a year on the car, mostly highway miles. I travel around the country, so if something breaks down I am not going to be able to fix it myself unless it's something really simple. I know the dealership is a complete rip off, so I suspect a single breakdown could easily cost the difference between a high- and low-mileage prius.
     
    #11 prius121212, Jan 9, 2015
  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    it applies in all carb states.
     
    #12 bisco, Jan 9, 2015
  13. prius121212

    prius121212 New Member

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    What's a carb state? I am registering the vehicle in ND, although it very likely wont be purchased in ND and most certainly wont be fixed in ND if it has to go into the dealer.
     
    #13 prius121212, Jan 9, 2015
  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    ya, if your worried about a breakdown, i would buy new and trade every 4-5 yearssorry, i thought you were in xcvcxv. not a carb state, so you get 3/36, 5/50 and 8/100.
     
    #14 bisco, Jan 9, 2015
  15. E. Dennis

    E. Dennis Junior Member

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    *****Hold up there, Amigo....*****

    Tossing 16,500 for a used car with a significant amount of miles---or a significant amount of years-- might not be in your best interest, and I don't understand why you're focusing on used Prius models. For that price, you might consider other economical Toyota, Mazda, or even Honda products. Please do the research yourself....

    There's a nice selection of new, or near-new gas-miser cars out there that you might find closer to your budget.

    A new , leftover '14 v three, for example, can be had for about 22,400.00 with little armwrestling.
    So, for 16,500, you might want to consider a NEW economical car, or float a nice loan on the balance of your 16,500 to get into a well-equipped v three.

    Just my humble, learned opinion, of course.
     
    #15 E. Dennis, Jan 9, 2015
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2015
  16. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    I would go for the lowest miles given the same year regardless of trim.
     
    #16 rjparker, Jan 9, 2015
  17. prius121212

    prius121212 New Member

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    I have always found new cars to kind of be not worth it. All new cars depreciate in value extremely quickly. It's not uncommon for a new car to loose $5000 in the first year alone. I got a 2009 VW Jetta with 4900 miles back in 2010 for $7500 below new car MSRP because I negotiated a good deal and because it was used. So for the wear of driving from CA to FL and back twice, I saved $7500—pretty good deal.

    As far as other vehicles go, I live in my car for extended periods and I drive cross country. Accordingly I want something large enough to sleep in (a Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v) is as small as I can go) and something that still gets good MPG as I drive about 20,000 miles every summer.

    For example, a used Honda Element, which is well known to be good for living out of, costs roughly the same as the Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v) for the same amount of miles, but one year older, and much worse fuel economy. I am not sure what else I would get that gets good fuel economy, costs around the same and is at least the same size as the v (lowercase v for the Prius v). The closest I can think of is the Mazda CX-5. The only other Toyota product I can think of that is around the same size is the Highlander, which is way more expensive than the v (lowercase v for the Prius v) and gets far worse fuel economy.

    Where can you find a leftover v (lowercase v for the Prius v) 3 for $22.xxx? MSRP on those are almost $30k, and 22 is way, way under invoice.
     
    #17 prius121212, Jan 10, 2015
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2015
  18. E. Dennis

    E. Dennis Junior Member

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    ++Sorry, pal, I wasn't following this post....++

    You could buy a new 2014 v three in the greater SAC, CA area for 22,478.00 in December. The 2014 stock, obviously has shrunk with the intro of the new 2015 v style. My point was--and still is-- if you shop around and do a little research you can find your bargain. My new v three was 6100.00+ -off MSRP. No F&I add-ons, just tax and license. A genuine bargain.

    In the last few days, I've found fewer 2014 v models available...and it's getting to the point where several dealers in my area (0-75 miles away) only have leftover v two models, with obviously limited exterior/interior color choices.

    There's some research and timing involved if you're really interested in getting a good price. Sometimes...a new a new car is worth it, IF you know when to buy and get the best possible price. For example, I could sell my car--right now-- with 1800 miles on it and suffer no significant financial loss....because typical depreciation is mitigated by the fact I bought it for 21% off....and it's a Toyota, and it's a Prius--people will buy it.

    Just my humble opinion...
     
    #18 E. Dennis, Feb 7, 2015
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2015
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